Race date: Sunday, 24 March 2019

Race report by David Forrest

On the day when the Striders relay squads were doing us proud over in Birkenhead, a hardy Sheffield contingent made their way over to a sunny but windy Hull, for this year’s instalment of the East Hull 20. Described as ‘[t]he ideal ‘warm up for London’, the spectacular sights of the capital couldn’t have felt further away as we trudged our way through the vast flatlands of rural Humberside along an out and back(ish) route. That said, there’s a rustic beauty to this landscape, and the race makes the most of the villages dotted around the East of the city, although I’ve never seen so many tractors!

Personally, I loved this one. East Hull Harriers put on an excellent event: efficient organization; supportive and conscientious marshals; a very useful post-race gift of a quick-drying towel; and an absolutely outstanding and well stocked buffet — we’re talking the very best of beige British cuisine, with sarnies, pork pies and sausage rolls, and cake aplenty.

My plan was to run 10 miles at a steady pace, 7 at Marathon pace, and the last three approaching 5k pace, and I pretty much got there, although the aforementioned wind meant I couldn’t amp it up as much as I would have liked. For the first 10, I had the company of Ben Stittle, on his last big one before Manchester. Ben had his game face on, and told me not to expect much conversation, so I basically talked at him for the first part of the race, sorry, mate! But that didn’t stop him putting in an excellent time of 2:31.

The gold and green were having a great morning, and yet again, it was the Striders women who dominated proceedings, with Sian Evans fourth woman (2:21:36), and Sian, Lucy Broom and Helen Burgess coming first in the team category.

The race was won by Gareth Cooke of Penistone Footpath Runners in 1:52:15. First female was Lyndsey Eastman of Kimberworth Striders in 2:10:40. 607 runners completed the course.

Striders results: