There were three BVH members – Leanne Botwright, Greg Howard and Simon Partridge – taking part in the Bedford Running Festival 2019, a three day event which takes place in a beautiful country park within the town. That meant the courses took in tarmac, loose gravel and grass sections, but they were flat and an ideal hunting ground for some good times.
First, saw Simon Partridge racing in the Twilight 10K on the Saturday evening. Conditions were thankfully cooler than earlier in the week and Simon started at the front so to not get caught out on the narrow path at that start. After just the first 500m, Simon and the eventual winner and local runner, Andrew Headley had a good lead over third place. They stayed together for this first couple of kilometres, before Andrew began to push on. Simon briefly heading in the wrong direction at the 5K water station, but quickly recovered to continue on the right track. After what was quite a lonely second half of the race, Simon came across the line with his usual sprint which was even picked up by the finish line commentator, for a new PB in 35m30s.
Sunday morning was cool and autumnal fresh for Leanne and Greg in the half marathon, who were joined by 2,514 other runners on the start line. This was Greg’s first 13.1 mile race. He looked good all around the course, which took in two laps through woods, before coming back to the country park. And he paced it very well, enabling him to press on in the final couple of miles to smash through even his most ambitious target, coming home in 1hr 34m 26s.
Leanne was joined by a couple of friends, warming up well at the Festival bar on Saturday evening before tackling the Half. The music and bar were great incentives on the Sunday too, pushing Leanne to get back to the finish line in 1hr 54m 30s.
Well done everyone, great running all round!!