From Hilda Coulsey…
Overall a very enjoyable and well organised race. The route starts and finishes at the Marina in Swansea. We headed out towards the Mumbles before an about turn to visit the university and through town before heading out by road again along the coast with the lighthouse in view. Another about turn to run back in, this time along the promenade.
I was ambitious with my initial pace, but hey I was wearing an England vest so why not! This went well for 8k. The remaining 13k was steady paced too but 20 odd secs/ k slower, I’d obviously got too over excited at the start. I was pleased to tough it out and so glad to see the finish.
The weather was good, a little hot and breezy but dry. It’s a fairly flat course hence a PB potential assuming the coastline breeze is reasonable. I’d definitely recommend it.
I’d qualified last year at Chester to run in an England vest at a 2025 home international race by coming first F70 and within the required time. However it wasn’t, at that time, confirmed where the race was to be. Swansea was chosen with Wales as the opponents. As is usual the international rivalry is a very small part of the already existing open race. It was interesting seeing so many Welsh club and fun runners, a few out to beat us qualifiers, together with the other England qualifiers from the two other races elsewhere in England plus a combined Armed Forces team. Obviously, whilst the Forces provided very strong competition at the front end of the race, it was non-existent in the F70 category!
Swansea however clashed with our Peter Shields 10k, which I would have loved to run and put a major shift into the volunteering. As Pete first alerted me to these England Masters opportunities and encouraged me to qualify I felt it would be fitting to run in Swansea.
Andrea Simmons, also England, won my category in a time which tops the F70 UK ranking table for this year so far and is also faster than the top F70 half marathon time in 2024. I was delighted to come second, first of the rest, and receive the silver trophy.
1 1:03:13 Omar Ahmed, Birchfield Harriers
21 1:12:13 Natasha Wilson, Micky Morris Racing
1059 1:42:27 Andrea Simmons, Hayle Runners 1st F70
2292 2:02:26 Hilda Coulsey 2nd F70
5730 finished