3 October 2013

This Sunday, the Lloyds Bank Cardiff Half Marathon hosts the fifth race in the runbritain Grand Prix as well as the UK Half Marathon Championships on Sunday and its status as such has attracted a top class field. Fourteen British men who have run 66 minutes or less have signed up along with seven British women under 77 minutes. The pace around the streets of Cardiff is sure to be furiously fast!

Nicholas Torry (handicap MINUS 4.9) is in tremendous form and currently heads the runbritain Grand Prix after a big personal best at the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k but he could be challenged for the top spot at Cardiff by Ryan McLeod (handicap MINUS 4.9) who won the Great Yorkshire 10k last weekend. Others to watch are Nick Swinburn (handicap MINUS 3.6), Dave Webb (handicap MINUS 4.3) and Ben Livesey (handicap MINUS 4.2) who have all brought their handicap scores down throughout the summer and should be in amongst the final fireworks in Cardiff. Luke Gunn (handicap MINUS 3.5) and Jon Wills (handicap MINUS 2.4) could also surprise some of the more experienced endurance runners.

We are likely to see changes on the table as some likely contenders have only completed two events out of four that count to the overall score. Frank Tickner (handicap MINUS 2.9) and Dave Webb appear to be the closest challengers at this point, having only completed three events, whilst Aaron Scott (handicap MINUS 3.9), Matt Barnes (handicap MINUS 2.5) and Martin Williams (handicap MINUS 2.5) further down the field are likely to move up.

In the women’s race, Tish Jones (handicap 0.0) will be looking for her third win in the series. She won the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k two weeks ago and also the first race in the series, the Mizuno Reading Half Marathon. She may not have it all her own way though. Katrina Wootton (handicap MINUS 1.0) is currently top of the table and Andrea Whitcombe (handicap 0.7) is third. Both Katrina and Andrea have done three races in the series and Katrina has earned bonus points for fast times in two of them giving her a cushion of more than 200 points. Rebecca Robinson (handicap 1.3), Emma D’Alton (handicap 2.0) and Amanda Crook (handicap 0.5) will also be looking to make a mark in this event.

The Lloyds Bank Cardiff Half Marathon will start at 9am. The wheelchair race will start at 8.50am and both races will start on Castle Street. Good luck to all who are taking part!

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