11th May 2025

Leeds marathon 2025 race report

Having been afflicted with the marathon bug since my inaugural marathon in Manchester in 2023, I was pleased to have squeezed in two more in 2024, these being Manchester round two and Eryri (Snowdonia) after I was gifted a last-minute cheap place from an injured Strider. Sadly I missed the boat for Manchester round three this year so after hearing good things about Leeds from other fellow Striders, in early March I booked the ‘Yorkshire Double’ including Leeds and York marathons. Leeds was looking like a solid choice as I knew there would be at least a few of us there and I’d heard various accounts of how good the atmosphere and support was last year.

This was my first marathon where I had an injury to grapple with. Three years ago I had shin splints for a few weeks after the Round Sheffield Run. Although I’d been fine ever since, the shin splints reared their head again after Eryri in October, which I put down to a combination of a lack of leg strength work/training in general and the final 700ft descent where I got a bit carried away in pursuit of a sub 3:30.

The shin splints creeped in over the next few weeks. After putting in a shift at Percy Pud I took about 3 weeks off and tried various home exercises and a return to the gym. All seemed well after I finished a parkrun just before Christmas so I was optimistic that I was cured going into the new year. My hopes were swiftly dashed when the shin splints returned after the Striders cross country in January, albeit less noticeable than before.

I managed to convince myself that if I maintained my gym regimen, wore my compressor socks for any long runs, didn’t overdo it on any upcoming shorter distances and kept my training runs fairly easy-going then I should hopefully be able to get away with booking a spring marathon, followed by a decent break from running before the autumn marathon and probably seeing a physio.

Since following quite a rigid plan for my first training block I’ve settled into a more relaxed schedule by trying to roughly follow the Hal Higdon training programs. This time I went for ‘Intermediate 1’ and did my first long run on 9 March, starting with week 9/18 of the program. The planned weekly mileage ramped up after this and while I was keeping up with the weekly long runs my weekly distance was considerably off! I couldn’t help sprinkling in a few road races during the training block although I had to resist any urges to injure myself further by trying to beat my previous times from last year. I’m a big fan of adding races etc. to a training block to keep things from getting stale so they were all good fun despite a lack of PBs.

Eventually by week 15 I more or less caught up in terms of the planned weekly mileage. My longest long run in week 15 was supposed to be 20 miles but ended up being 23 when I got spectacularly lost on a nature reserve in Cambridgeshire due to my phone battery suddenly depleting. Although the shin splints had lingered, they weren’t too noticeable and I seemed to have avoided them getting any worse.

By the time the marathon rolled around I hadn’t given too much thought to expectations. Given that I got 3:29 at Eryri which had double the elevation of Leeds, and that my 3:19 PB in Manchester had been on basically a flat course, I decided that I’d be pleased with a time somewhere in the middle. The consensus seemed to be that Leeds was not a PB course anyway and it was looking to be a scorcher on the day so I was happy to just try to enjoy the whole experience.

My family had booked an Airbnb in Seacroft outside the city centre for the night before the marathon so we all met up in Leeds on the Saturday. Some of us had a few hours to kill in the city centre and I enjoyed seeing the Royal Armouries which is highly recommended and well worth it especially for a free museum. We only scratched the surface and didn’t even see the famous elephant armour, so I’ve definitely got unfinished business there.

After getting to the Airbnb there was a moment of panic after I discovered the car park near Woodhouse Moor which I’d been planning to use for the marathon was booked up! Luckily there were still some spaces at the Elland Road park and ride so a crisis was narrowly averted. There was much discussion about my family’s plans for the race. Eventually we decided it would be easiest for them to try and park somewhere near Burley where I’d booked a pub lunch for after the race and then find a spot in Headingley where they could try and spot me. There was also a tracking app available which hopefully meant they wouldn’t miss me and not have travelled all the way to Leeds for nought. I retired to my chambers full of pasta and alcohol-free Guinness.

I set off for the park and ride at around 7am and sure enough there was not a cloud in sight. When queuing for the bus, I just so happened to bump into a good pal who had come to pace the half marathon accompanied by fellow Chorlton Runners. It was a nice surprise to start the day as although I knew we’d both be in Leeds I wasn’t sure if we’d cross paths. That being said, he does stand out in a crowd (see below). We claimed the front seats of the top deck before getting off at Headingley and queuing up in the alley next to the stadium. We managed to get a quick selfie in before making our separate ways:

(Me and the esteemed Billy Franks of Chorlton Runners)

After going through security I bumped into fellow Strider Alex Briggs, who I also knew was going to be around and had been hoping to link up with. After bag drop I found Alex again as well as Andy Hinchcliffe and Paul Hargreaves, who had all done the marathon previously. An obligatory Striders selfie was secured before heading to the start.

(Left to right: Paul Hargreaves, Alex Briggs, Andy Hinchcliffe, me)

Andy imparted some words of wisdom about what to expect from the race and warned that it was looking like it would be even hotter than Manchester a few weeks earlier which had been particularly challenging.

It turned out that not only were Alex, Paul and I all in the first wave of runners, but our race numbers were also closely aligned – Paul with 5253 and Alex and I with 5265 and 5267! If only Paul had been 5266…

The three of us agreed to try and stick together at about an 8-minute mile pace, although I highly doubted my chances of keeping up with them in the long run given Alex had been far outpacing me in recent races and given Paul’s premier division standing in the Striders road leagues.

Unfortunately there didn’t really seem to be anywhere for us to warm up but the atmosphere at the start was buzzing. Comedians Rosie Jones and Ivo Graham made an appearance, followed by Lindsay Burrow and Kevin Sinfield who gave a short speech including a tribute to the race’s namesake. The first wave set off without delay and I immediately got swept in front of the others. The first three miles or so whizzed by and as usual I got a bit carried away and struggled to stick to the agreed 8-minute mile target.

As we passed the Leeds University buildings before heading up Woodhouse Lane and past the Parkinson Building I was feeling quite nostalgic for all the times I used to visit this part of Leeds when I was still a student in Sheffield. I kept thinking that if you’d told me back then that I’d be running the Leeds marathon in 2025, or any marathon in fact, I think I’d have laughed in your face. The nostalgia intensified when we passed the Library pub and Hyde Park Book Club, which were classic haunts. The support all throughout this first section was fantastic.

I was re-united with Alex and Paul by the time we reached the Headingley high street and we got into a good rhythm pace-wise. As things got more suburban after leaving Headingley and continuing up Otley Road we reached a bit of an incline at around mile 4 and the heat began to pick up. We each managed to grab an ice pop on this section which went down an absolute treat. I think this was also the point where my favourite part of the support was introduced – water sprinklers provided by the locals! This was direly needed on a day like today and I don’t remember ever having this luxury in any of my previous hot races.

At about mile 6 we diverted from Otley Road and headed into the countryside. The support began to peter out but despite the lack of sprinklers or ice pops there was a good amount of tree cover providing us with ample shade. Alex explained his usual hill strategy of taking the downhills at speed to avoid any cramping. I confessed that my shin splints might hold me back at some point but thankfully at this stage I could only feel it slightly in one of the legs and it wasn’t really bothering me.

At about mile 8 we made a left and along a stretch that was a bit more exposed in places but pretty forgiving elevation-wise. Just before mile 10 we briefly re-joined the main road into Bramhope and speculated that this might be the bit of the race where later on we would merge with the half-marathoners for the final few miles. I’d been warned beforehand that this was to come but at least for now we had the road to ourselves.

We left Bramhope and came to a long and winding downhill section which was good fun. Sure enough, while not intending to leave anyone behind Alex took off ahead as he dared not slow down and risk cramps. Paul and I kept up not far behind and we regrouped at the bottom. We made a right onto the main road before doing a U turn and looping back on ourselves. This deceptively felt like the halfway point of the race but we actually had another mile to go before the actual halfway mark.

By the time we hit 13 miles we were starting to get a bit achy and I was feeling it especially in the hips, but at least we could now start counting down the miles. We were still making really good pace at this point and were maintaining roughly 7:30 miles. We concluded that in theory if we kept this pace going we were all on for at least a sub 3:30. I was even beginning to think that a PB was not out of the realms of possibility. We were all very conscious however of the big hill that was coming down the tracks after Otley which would probably slow us down, although we took comfort in the fact that it would be largely downhill past this point.

We ploughed on, eagerly awaiting the support at Otley which I was assured was on par with the support on the Altrincham section of the Manchester marathon and possibly even better. As we passed through Pool I thought for a minute or two that we might already be in Otley and was quite underwhelmed by the support, but a road sign soon proved me wrong.

We passed mile 15 where we were expecting a Red Bull station which had been provided the previous year, which I was also familiar with from a YouTube video I’d watched of last year’s race. Sadly however there was no Red Bull in sight, although we did get electrolytes. We got chatting to another runner who shared our disappointment.

The last stretch before Otley was a bit of a slog and there wasn’t much shade to protect us. At this stage I thought it would be a good idea to announce my pace at regular intervals, but although Alex and I were working in miles Paul was in kms, so his repeated requests for me to translate my announcements into kms were met with unhelpful shrugs. By this point it was impossible to distinguish any pain I may have been getting from my shin splints from the general pain radiating through all of my lower body, which I was trying hard to ignore.

Finally we made it into Otley where the support was indeed out in force. It’s hard to exaggerate quite how brilliant the atmosphere was in Otley town centre. I am tempted to say it might be the best support I’ve ever seen in a race. It probably seemed even better given that the support had been lighter for the last few miles of countryside. The cherry on top was seeing Strider Peter Brash out supporting, who managed to get a cracking photo of the three of us. It was probably my favourite one of the day, including the official photos which I paid a silly amount of money for afterwards.

(The dream team themselves in Otley. Photo credit – Peter Brash)

As I tended to be on the right-hand side nearest the crowd, we were also amused by how I seemed to be getting disproportionately singled out by name by the cheerers. Or maybe I just looked like I needed it the most.

Fuelled by all the Otley support we began the long ascent after hitting mile 17. This part was where I think we benefitted the most from each other’s company as we really kept each other going despite all the shared grumbles. In a wildcard move, Alex whipped out some Kendall Mint Cake to share with the group, which of course had been a Nick Burns suggestion. I did partake and have to agree that it made for a nice race snack.

Although the elevation technically wasn’t anything too horrendous the hill up the A660 seemed to go on forever, even with some occasionally stunning views to our left. It was a huge relief to round the bend at about 19 miles where we began to descend and pick up the pace again. The next 2 miles went in the blink of an eye. As we passed a checkpoint in this section, we were pretty sure the announcer said that Kevin Sinfield had just passed through. We gratefully accepted some bottled water only to find that we’d been deceived – it was sparkling! Even in my fatigued state I wasn’t prepared to drink sparkling water and it was disposed of as soon as possible.

After mile 21 began the aforementioned part of the race where we merged with the half marathon. It wasn’t ideal to put it mildly. The combination of everyone being squeezed into a single lane and the fact that we’d entered the thick of the half marathon at about the 1:50 pace meant it was pretty crowded. It did make me ponder why they had organised the races this way and whether it would be feasible just to have them on different days or have separate routes, as it was a bit jarring compared to any previous marathon I’ve done. Our group also got disbanded amongst the crowds which I think had some psychological detriment.

Nevertheless, I did manage to maintain a decent pace and the crowding definitely improved for the final few miles. Alex was able to get ahead and disappeared out of sight. Sadly it was starting to look like the PB might be out of reach this time but I pressed on. As we re-entered Headingley the support was back stronger than ever. Miraculously, Alex’s yellow hat came back into view and I dug deep for any reserve fuel that was left in the tank to try and close the gap. Just before we rounded the corner for the final mile I heard my name screamed again, but this time it was a familiar voice. I managed to give my family a quick wave and look as photogenic as possible under the circumstances:

(A sweaty mess waving to his devoted fans in Headingley)

Boosted by our brief interaction, I was somehow able to catch up with Alex again for a thrilling sprint finish. I managed to overtake him for a second but he was able to quickly take back the lead before getting into the Rugby Stadium where the finish line was awaiting. It was a spectacular venue to finish a marathon!

(Me about to cross the finish line in Headingley Stadium. Worth it for £30? Potentially.)

We finished with about 10 seconds between us, with Alex having nabbed a massive PB by almost 20 minutes. Based on the official finish line time showing over 3:20 for the gun time, I assumed I’d probably not beaten my PB of 3:19:30. Regardless I was still chuffed to have been anywhere near a PB.

As if that wasn’t enough, Alex then revealed that we had finished in line with Kevin Sinfield himself, who Alex had overtaken in the final few seconds! I had been totally oblivious that we had been within metres of him only moments earlier and don’t think I would have recognised him on a good day.

We queued up for our shirts and medals then took a final selfie before I headed off to Burley for a well-earned roast:

(Alex and I showing off our shiny medals, which feature a nice tribute to Rob Burrow)

Later that evening when I was convalescing in the bath back in Sheffield, I got a message from Alex with a screenshot of an article about the race by the Yorkshire Post:

(As you can see I’m clearly very visible up in the top right. Oh and I guess Alex is there too somewhere.)

Although only my legs and torso were visible, we had made it onto regional news representing the Striders alongside Leeds rugby royalty and perhaps in a very minor way secured a place in the history books. Maybe I should retire from running now…

Not only that, but the day after the marathon when I had a semi-functioning brain again, I checked my official chip time and realised I had in fact gotten a PB by 28 seconds – 3:19:02!

A huge thanks to all the support and well done to all the Striders that took part in the marathon and the half marathon, especially on such a hot day up in Leeds.

 

The winning times were 2:28:14 by Tom Charles and 2:42:17 by Melissah Gibson

Strider results