Race Report by Rob Cook

The Vale of York HM is a flat and fast half held around the lanes outside of Selby. It’s been popular in the past with Striders but this year I was the only Strider in the half, maybe because of a clash with the striders championship races in Wilne and the GNR on the same day.

I entered on the back of a better than expected time at the Sheffield half with the intention of challenging my PB and the 1:20 mark. However between Sheffield and last weekend I’d been short on training due to a lingering ankle issue, and Vale of York didn’t go to plan.

In the race I managed to stay on 1:20 pace through 5 miles but then immediately fell to 6:20 pace and just got slower and slower. At mile 9, over 2 mins behind target pace and continuing to get even slower I decided to pull the plug and run the rest at steady pace. As the route goes to the finish then away again in the last 2.5 miles this was mentally tougher than I was expecting.

As well as being undertrained the heat seemed to make a big difference, lots of people seemed to be struggling with some dropping out from 4 miles in, and lots more complaining about it on the route too.

I can highly recommend Vale of York if you’re in great shape and chasing a PB, it’s the perfect course for it, but on the flip side the long straights and lack of scenery made it tough going once off pb pace.

Although I was the only Strider in the half, I wasn’t the only Strider there as Graham Hague was also out in the 10k that runs alongside the half.

Striders Results:

Half marathon