Human Race Event Management

Fast racing at Dorney Lake and PB’s for many…

The inaugural Eton Dorney Windsor Half Marathon which took place on Sunday 7th June, had been billed as a super fast, traffic free course around the 2012 Olympic rowing venue, Dorney lake; and with personal bests set by three of the podium winners, it certainly didn’t disappoint.

With the course having been measured by Hugh Jones (previous London Marathon winner and International Olympic course measurer), runners knew they were in for a 100% accurate route and an opportunity for a very fast time.  

Despite the gale force winds and rain earlier in the morning – which had kept some of the runners in bed – by the time the race started, athletes were treated to almost perfect half marathon racing conditions.

Mark Miles (Belgrave Harriers) led from start to finish in a superb 1:07.31 with Polands’ Grzegorz Sobczyk crossing the line a minute later with a personal best in 1:08.28.  Garrett Ash of Oxford University was also delighted with a personal best of 1:10.54 and third place.  Over the line in fourth overall was first female, Rebecca Robinson (Kendal AC) with a stunning performance and yet another personal best in 1:14:55.  Clapham Chasers’ Lucie Custance was 2nd lady in 1:30:03 and Josephine Bettles took third in 1:30:44.  There were 319 finishers.

John Lunt, race organiser and Human Race Managing Director was thrilled with how it went. ‘Feedback from runners has been superb’ he said. ‘Four laps of Dorney Lake may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but what we’ve seen today is that runners like being able to settle into a rhythm and pace themselves. This course allows them to do just that and we’ve seen some fast times with lots of people running personal bests’.This was echoed by Libby Cameron, who finished 3rd in the Aquathlon ‘I thought I might get a bit fed up running the 4 laps’ she said ‘but it's actually quite a pretty location so the laps went by much quicker than expected’.   Another Eton Dorney Windsor Half Marathon is planned for 5th September. Keep an eye on www.humanrace.co.uk for more information and online entry.

Half Iron Aquathlon – 2km swim/13.1mile run
Taking advantage of the water at Dorney Lake as well as the traffic free tarmac, were athletes participating in the first ever 'Half Iron Aquathlon’ – a 2km swim followed by the same half marathon route.  This event attracted a wide range of long distance triathletes, many in training for an Ironman later in the year.

All the athletes went off in one wave, making for some seriously competitive, fast and furious racing.  Matthew Gallop (Addlestone) was first out of the water in a super-quick 28:28 followed by Deon Coetzee a minute later, but were both quickly overhauled on the run by Harry Johnston.  Johnston took the overall win in 1:48.45, after posting an impressive 1:17.29 run split.  Gallop held off third place Coetzee (1:52.39) to finish second overall in 1:50.55.  Peter Slijkhuis (Science in Sport) finished 4th in 1:52:50, commented ‘This event fits in perfectly for anyone training for full or half Ironman distance triathlons. The course is fast and you know exactly what you're going to get, and is well organised by Human Race, as usual’.