It’s been a slight strategic shift from Simon Hearn this year as he’s decided to pursue the England Masters races. They tend to attract veteran runners from all categories who will then battle it out for qualification to don the famous white and red vest and represent the England Masters team in international events.

Keeping himself remarkably fit over the years, Simon is running at a very good level for man in the V55 category and continues to push himself to faster times and gives whatever he’s targeting, a one hundred per cent focus.

Toward the start of the year Simon was suffering with a chest infection which kept him out of action for a while. Then, when he started running again, he struggled a bit with his breathing. That affected him in the Masters race he did in March, which was the Leicester 10k. In that one he ended up finishing in 96th place and 20th in his age group with a time of 40:12.

For the Essar Chester Half Marathon though, he’d been training solidly for 12 weeks, as he usually does for target races. It had been going really well and he’d been supplementing his running with time in the gym and lots of core work. On the day of the race he felt great and was confident about his plan to stick to 6:40 pace.

On the day of the race it was quite hot, which was likely to make it a tad more difficult. The course including aa few undulations which Simon is most certainly not a fan of and there was one particularly nasty one right near the end which was sure to present a challenge. He was determined to do well though and overcome any hurdle that was put in front of him.

The most mile was mostly uphill but Simon still managed to get through it in 6:35, which was a good sign that he was feeling strong. Then it was back down the hill in the second mile, leading to a 6:32 for Simon. The next two miles were on a mild upward trajectory which put Simon down to around 6:45 pace. Going through 5k in 20:34, it was  decent start

Once he got back on flattish ground he started to kick on a bit, registering a 6:33 and then a 6:38 to take him to 10k in 41:23. Putting his average pace at 6:42, that was pretty much bang on what he was hoping for.

Carrying on at around 6:30 pace for the next couple of miles, Simon then registered a 6:38 for his ninth mile. The next three miles were either flat or on a slight decline. Simon soon found himself back to 6:30 pace and was still feeling really strong. He’d gone through 10 miles in 1:05:25 and his 12th mile was his quickest of the race, at 6:15. Now he had a testing hill to face on the 13th mile though.

Digging deep to find the resolve to keep pushing, Simon made it up the hill, clocking a 6:51 split despite the 66ft of elevation. The race wasn’t over yet for Simon though. Another athlete had overtaken him near the end and Simon wasn’t having it. After he’d managed to pull him back, the guy tried to go again. That was when Simon dropped the hammer down and went into full sprint mode with about 20 metres to the line.

The other guy couldn’t respond and Simon ended the race on a high. Finishing in a chip time of 1:26:50, Simon had taken 114th out of 5,166. He was shocked to have come 3rd in his age group as well, out of 189 runners. That was an impressive feat in a Masters race. Simon’s average pace for the 13.2 miles he covered was 6:34 per mile. That was a decent return given that there was close to 500ft of elevation.

Later in the year Simon will be doing the Great South Run and will be hoping to smash his 10 mile PB there. His last 10 mile race was the Buntingford Year End 10 which he did the day before New Year’s Eve and in that, he completed the course in 1:07:48.

This year’s Great South Run will also be a qualifying race for the 2025 England Masters Half Marathon Representative Race, so that will be a great incentive for Simon to do well there and try to secure a top three place in his age group. He’s training hard at the moment though and fully focused on his running and absolutely loving every minute of it.