Sanjai Sharma was competing in his final race of the year at the Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon
Featuring a single lap route around the city, the Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon gave Sanjai Sharma an opportunity for one last race in 2025.
Being pretty consistent with his half marathon times so far this year, Sanjai did the Gloucester Half Marathon in 1 hour 35 minutes as part of his London Marathon training in the Spring.
Sanjai had produced consistent half marathon times throughout the year
Completing the Heron Half Marathon at the end of June in 1:34:07, Sanjai then went on to register a time of 1:34:06 at the Gosport Half Marathon in mid-November.
Sanjai was usually hopes for under 1 hour 35 minutes in half marathons
The Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon started at Willen Lake and headed out along the Grand Union Canal before returning via the linear parks throughout Milton Keynes.
Sanjai progressed round the course well at the Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon
Going through three miles in 20 minutes 50 seconds, Sanjai then proceeded to reach the six mile checkpoint in 43:12. He then continued on to reach the nine mile marker in 1 hour 6 minutes, before going on to arrive at the finish line in a chip time of 1:34:16.
Sanjai was on his way to a finishing time of 1:34:16
That put Sanjai in 185th place overall out of 2,413 and he was 3rd out of 78 in the Veteran 60+ category. It was a strong run from Sanjai and he was happy to have again finished in under 1 hour 35 minutes, without really doing any specific training for it.
It was a solid performance which saw Sanjai finish 3rd in his age group
Fittingly, it was Samuel Winters who won the Winter Half Marathon in a time of 1:08:27. He runs for Bedford and County. James Davis of Vale of Aylesbury was 2nd in 1:10:34, with Thomas James taking 3rd in 1:14:03.
Catherine Jepchirchir Kandie of Kent AC was 1st female in a time of 1:22:40, which put her 26th overall. Emma Mears of Milton Keynes Distance Project was 2nd female in 1:23:17, which put her in 30th place overall.
It was a great way to end what has been a decent year on the whole for Sanjai. The highlight was probably his 3 hour 26 minute finish at the Loch Ness Marathon in September in a race that represented his last chance to register a Good For Age time for London 2026.
Amazingly, that will be Sanjai’s 32nd London Marathon and he’ll be hoping to get a Good For Age time there for the following year so he doesn’t have to rely on another autumn marathon qualification this year. If it’s not another hot day like it was last year, that will massively help his quest.