Like many of the Great Run Events, Bristol Great Run always promises to be a well organised, well spectated event and this year was no different. For the second year running, the Half Marathon and 10k races were run on the same day, with the first 10k waves starting at 9:30 and the first half marathon waves starting at 10:30. In total 42 GWR runners took part, and many more spectating and cheering on the club.

14 GWR runners took part in the 10k, including myself as well as my fiance, Mike, who had never run a 10k race before (and only managed 8k in training). The course has changed since previous years, and it now takes in the windy streets around Queens Square, Baldwin Street, Cumberland Basin and the harbourside, meaning that the route also includes the big hill by castle park. For some reason this stretch of road only feels like a big hill on this 1 day of the year and at all other times doesn’t seem like a hill at all. Thankfully Taryn provided some much needed support on the hill, waving the GWR flag and was definitely the motivation we all needed to get to the top. Despite the hills and the turns many GWR runners ran really good times and I even got a PB (with special thanks to Ian for pushing me in the middle stretch of the run). As I expected, I was pipped to the post by Mike, who started at a steady pace but streamed past me with 800 meters to go, shouting at me to go faster.

After a short break, many 10k runners went out to support the Half Marathon Runners who had set off on the standard Bristol Half Marathon Course. This course starts off along the Portway, before doing a u-turn back along the Portway and then joining the windy 10k course around the city centre. 28 GWR runners ran the Half Marathon, including Kelly who came third lady and also got a new PB! We managed to find a couple of different spots to cheer on the GWR runners and wave our own flag, as well as support all the other runners on the day. It was great to see everyone with big smiles on the route and even bigger smiles in the pub afterwards for a drink.

All in all it was a really great event with an amazing GWR turn out I will definately be taking part again in the future. Full results below and a special shout out to some of the GWR supporters and family including Andy, Kate (and crew), Rich, Callum, Nadia, Taryn, Alun, Harry’s Parents, Will, Tom, Chris and Ian’s Mum (apologies if I missed anyone).

John Cox 1:22:23

Kelly Dicks – 1:22:24

James West 1:24:33

Dan Jones 1:27:36

Jonathon Lines 1:27:58

Marie Monoghan 1:32:58

Seb Nickols 1:34:25

Steve Speak 1:35:27

Rhian Bethell 1:36:43

Thibault Poujol 1:37:35

Dave Wintle 1:37:56

Stephen Collinson 1:42:46

Emma Preston 1:43:09

Paul Craddy 1:43:50

Rob Harrison 1:44:22

Harry Lloyd-Evans 1:45:07

Victoria Davies 1:48:01

Doug Hill 1:48:27

Andrew Laws 1:48:41

Mick Chimenti 1:50:45

Andrew Smith 1:51:50

Jeremy Fagan 1:53:39

Deborah Lockhart 1:56:15

Servane le Goff 1:56:20

John Volanthen 1:57:51

Terence Kemple 2:10:27

Sarh Foster 2:20:00

Paul Foster 2:20:01

Gavin Watkins 39:10

Laurence Caird 47:36

Jessica Bonham 48:56

Ian Hyanes 49:17

Will Hillier 49:49

Awais Rashid 52:39

Caroline Potter 52:49

Gemma Portis 57:21

Roger Haynes 58:33

Rita Davies 59:42

Joe Jackson 1:01:04

Vin Surendran 1:05:00

Malcolm Offer 1:08:01

Terry Offer 1:08:01