Gosport Half Marathon 2018
Once again the mid-November weather was nowhere as chilly as we might have expected a few years ago although my Garmin did say 6.1 degrees C. The Baffineers gathered at Bay House School at Stokes Bay among 1,643 runners, me after my customary journey in Gary's camper van. My main problem was deciding how many layers to wear after getting too hot at the Hayling 10. Gemma Hoare kindly advised me and I went with gloves, but a vest over a short-sleeve. Even that was too hot and I ended up pouring most of the water from those annoying plastic pouches over my head. I also remember squirting water over a spectator in my fumbling attempts to undo the things!
Anyway the race itself was good as usual and well organised and marshalled. The marshals were very helpful and supportive.There were some awesome BFC performances which are in the list I have made below. PBs are given where I know they are. Please advise me if there are any more-I suspect there are and also if anyone has been missed.
Emma Jolley in her COPAC vest won her F35-39 age group and was a superb 3rd lady overall.There was a stunning run by Kevin Gall and Paul Ingleby (now with 2 weeks more of training) got revenge on me for the Hayling 10. Gary Cook continued with his clean sweep of PBs after 15 years of running. A Half PB was added to his recent 5k,10k and 10 mile best efforts. In fact, looking at the list of times, I could justifiably give each one of you a special mention.There were also some fantastic debuts at this distance.
It was really good to be able to wait alongside the finish to cheer others in unlike the GSR where it is too crowded.
One of the highlights of this race is the goodie-bag that actually has useful stuff in it. Things we actually need like a lion bar and home-made cake! Another highlight for me is the out and back course where you see your teammates often going the other way. The drawback is the inevitable long queue to get out of Gosport, but I am sure even more will be back next year. Remember it does sell out early.
| Position | Name | Category | Cat Position | Chip Time | |
| 57 | Emma Jolley | Female 35-39 | 1 | 01:21:06 | |
| 357 | Paul Ingleby | Male 40-44 | 50 | 01:35:16 | |
| 378 | Brett Rumfitt | Male 55-59 | 13 | 01:36:22 | |
| 543 | Kevin Gall | Male Open | 206 | 01:42:15 | PB |
| 550 | Mike Daniels | Male 50-54 | 41 | 01:42:29 | |
| 599 | Gary Cook | Male 40-44 | 92 | 01:44:33 | PB |
| 606 | Mike Rae | Male 55-59 | 42 | 01:44:15 | |
| 640 | Jason Smith | Male 45-49 | 94 | 01:45:37 | |
| 718 | Bella Sanderson | Female Open | 46 | 01:48:21 | PB |
| 784 | Paul Norris | Male 40-44 | 111 | 01:51:46 | |
| 821 | Barbara Hathaway | Female 45-49 | 25 | 01:52:10 | |
| 861 | Jon Olsen | Male Open | 264 | 01:52:57 | |
| 929 | Rich Harris | Male 45-49 | 133 | 01:55:35 | |
| 948 | Nikki Tout | Female 45-49 | 33 | 01:56:16 | |
| 993 | Helen Mayhead | Female 45-49 | 38 | 01:57:40 | |
| 995 | Becca Niles | Female Open | 78 | 01:58:07 | |
| 1100 | Luc Semmens | Male 45-49 | 1580 | 02:02:58 | |
| 1385 | Lee Collier-Williams | Male Open | 330 | 02:16:41 | |
| 1387 | Laura Hyman | Female 35-39 | 99 | 02:17:07 | |
| 1396 | Martyn Threader | Male 55-59 | 85 | 02:17:43 | |
| 1398 | Neil Priddle | Male 45-49 | 82 | 02:17:55 | |
| 1549 | Suzanne Bristow | Female 40-44 | 106 | 02:32:18 | |
| 1581 | Kevin Friery | Male 65-69 | 20 | 02:40:26 | PB |
| 1595 | Harry Barrasford | Male 50-54 | 115 | 02:44:18 | |
| 1596 | Brenda Bradshaw | Female 45-49 | 105 | 02:44:19 | |
| 1616 | Gemma Hoare | Female 35-39 | 122 | 02:54:27 |
