Report by Sarah Richards
Worthing half marathon is a flat fairly fast course, which is great if you are chasing a PB, although this of course all depends on the weather. Worthing is notoriously nicknamed windy Worthing and it certainly lived up to its name for the half marathon! The weather was fairly cold, drizzly and windy, which didn’t exactly entice the runners on this Sunday morning in February.
On the bright side, the location was incredibly easy to get to, particularly if you are a local Worthing resident. There is plenty of free parking about a mile away from the town centre which is especially good if you want to do a little warmup jog before you start the race. It all seemed really well organised, apart from the baggage drop at the Pavilion. Definitely avoid taking baggage with you as it was organised chaos. No baggage labels, literally a drop and hope your kit was still in the same place you left it when you returned!
The race started at 9am and both the 10km race and the half marathon started at the same time. Both races followed the same route, weaving in and out of the roads around the town centre. It then headed west toward Ferring, while the 10km race headed back towards the finish by the pier.
Running against the headwind was pretty tough, a race where you definitely need to pace yourself to ensure you have enough left in the tank to get you out to Goring gap where the scenery is pretty stunning. This always helps to get you through, especially when fighting against the wind.
The last stretch of the race takes you back east for the final couple of miles to the finish, with at last the wind behind you, to retrieve a well deserved medal. This year it doubled up as a very handy bottle opener which was definitely a bonus! A race that really can’t be missed, especially as it is literally on your doorstep. No doubt we’ll be back next year to beat this year’s time……
