Race report by Dave Wilcock…
Sunday 3rd September saw Sir Mo Farah run his last race as a professional athlete in his home city of London. The Big Half is described by its organisers London Marathon Events, as a vibrant, inclusive half marathon with a fun, festival atmosphere. The 13.1 mile course weaves through London from Tower Bridge to the iconic Cutty Sark in Greenwich.
Sir Mo finished in fourth place in a time of 1:02:43
Isle of Wight Road Runner Dave Wilcock finished in 8323rd place in a time of 2:04:01
In his defence however, Dave is exactly twice Mo’s weight and was actually on holiday in London to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of his wedding to his beautiful wife Karen. The fact that she still tolerates his weird obsession with running half marathons on their holidays is testimony to her wonderfully forgiving character.
The weather on the day was unseasonably warm, with temperatures reaching the mid-to-high twenties during the race. As an athlete with an abundance of insulation, Dave struggled slightly with the heat.
His pre-race goal had been to hit that magic sub-two hour mark. He got to the halfway point at exactly sixty minutes, but was beginning to feel the effects of the sun and so decided to ease off the pace a little to avoid the risk of heat injury. Several runners succumbed to heat illness during the closing stages, so Dave felt justified in taking the sensible approach.
His final time of 2:04:01 was nearly quarter of an hour outside his PB, so to make up for it he destroyed a huge plate of fish, chips and mushy peas to recover and then took Karen to see ABBA Voyage in east London that evening. He might be slightly quicker on his toes than Dave, but Mo wasn’t seen partying like Dave and Kaz were!
