Deal Half Marathon 2025
Deal Half Marathon – Very Hilly but strangely enjoyable!
This weekend’s challenge took the form of Deal Half Marathon: a road race widely described simply as “hilly”. Part of the Kent Grand Prix and Thanet Club Championships, lots of points were up for grabs by today’s runners.
Bitterly cold but dry conditions presented themselves, with the route avoiding most of the offshore wind. With Race HQ at Betteshanger Park, runners had a good half mile warm up to the start line. Beginning with a very slight uphill, the course is positively undulating throughout. Taking the shape of a lollipop, the route stretches inland before looping round and returning the same way. It’s useful for runners to keep this mind, remembering that they’ll traverse the same road on their way back; any uphills on the way out will be downhills on the way back and vice versa.
Canterbury 10 Mile was fresh in many runners’ minds and served as a good comparison for today’s race. Whilst there are more hills in Deal Half, they didn’t seem to stretch on for as long as in Canterbury. Though it’s difficult to keep a steady pace, the downhills allowed runners to gather some speed and make up for the inevitably slower uphills. The route is scenic, skirting fields and giving views of rolling hills, with very welcome bursts of sunshine. This is certainly not a boring race – whether your focus is on pushing up the hill, fearing the next one, or taking in the scenery!
TRAC brought an impressive number of men today who all performed incredibly well, earning them first place team prize! Numbers for the lady’s team were lower than usual, but TRAC still had great representation.
Results
|
Pos |
Gen Pos |
Chip Time |
Name |
Category |
|
2 |
2 |
01:18:06 |
Alex Dugard |
Open |
|
3 |
3 |
01:18:53 |
Lee Hardie |
Open |
|
5 |
5 |
01:22:23 |
Matthew Collyer |
Senior Men |
|
9 |
9 |
01:23:10 |
Matt McCarthy |
Men 40-49 |
|
17 |
17 |
01:25:09 |
William Coles |
Men 40-49 |
|
20 |
20 |
01:26:04 |
Jay Bailey |
Senior Men |
|
25 |
25 |
01:26:56 |
Christopher Brenchley |
Men 50-59 |
|
26 |
26 |
01:27:06 |
Mark Croucher |
Senior Men |
|
32 |
31 |
01:28:44 |
Simon Arter |
Men 40-49 |
|
53 |
6 |
01:37:22 |
Brittany Crombie |
Senior Women |
|
59 |
52 |
01:39:05 |
Stephen Suttle |
Men 60-69 |
|
85 |
73 |
01:45:47 |
Mark Skelton |
Men 40-49 |
|
101 |
17 |
01:48:20 |
Joanne Kemp |
Women 40-49 |
|
122 |
98 |
01:50:36 |
Peter Johnson |
Men 70+ |
|
132 |
105 |
01:52:31 |
Jason Barnes |
Men 50-59 |
|
145 |
116 |
01:54:53 |
Peter Heath |
Men 60-69 |
|
157 |
32 |
01:56:36 |
Tamasin Drumm |
Senior Women |
|
158 |
33 |
01:56:37 |
Julie Williams |
Women 50-59 |
|
198 |
153 |
02:02:21 |
Spencer Hoult |
Men 50-59 |
|
228 |
169 |
02:08:42 |
Mark Hadden |
Men 60-69 |
|
254 |
73 |
02:13:22 |
Lainey Carter |
Women 40-49 |
|
302 |
200 |
02:41:01 |
Tim Kerr |
Men 60-69 |
For many, this was a well-timed opportunity to test the legs during marathon training. Well done to everybody who turned up today to take on the notoriously hilly course. Next Sunday we’ll head to Blean Woods for the final instalment of this year’s Cross Country season. We hope to see as many of you there as possible for one last chance to get suitably muddy!
Thank you to Brittany Crombie for the race report.
To watch the start of this race on our YouTube channel. Click the below link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19IP9Ld_xQY&t=29s
Next Club Championships / Kent Grand Prix race is Dartford Half, 2nd March
For the latest Club Champ standings. Click on the below link:
TRAC Club Championships 2025 (1)