Dymock half marathon 2024

My husband and I recently took part in Dymock half marathon for the first time. The race is part of our club’s race series (more on the race series later in the year!) Dymock is a village in Gloucestershire, close to the Herefordshire border, halfway between Newent and Ledbury.

You get huge half marathons, like the Great North Run and Bath; big local half marathons, like Cheltenham; and smaller local half marathons, like Stroud. Then there’s Dymock. Dymock is based at a village cricket club. It has a capacity of 200 runners, but just over 100 took part. The finish line is the size of a parkrun finish line, but just with the addition of a timing strip. There is also a five mile race taking part at the same time as the half marathon. The five mile race had a similar number of participants, possibly more.

There is no need for a bag drop, as cars are parked on the field at the cricket club. Your car is your bag drop. I queued up to use the one ladies’ toilet cubicle in the clubhouse, but then discovered there were four portable toilets out the back. There were never any queues for these toilets!

I’d heard that Dymock was hilly, so I didn’t have any great expectations for myself. My only aim was to beat other women of my age from the club. I thought somewhere between 1:50 and 1:55 would be good, but anything under 2 hours would be fine.

The five mile race started at the gate to the cricket field and the half marathon runners had to do a small lap of the field before going out the gate. We then followed the same route for about two and a half miles. The weather had been dull and rainy, but the sun started coming out as soon as we started running. I was dressed for the warm weather and had my suncream on.

I started near the front of the pack and we ran through the village. I could see I was running too fast – 7:45 minute/ mile. My half marathon PB pace is about 8:10. I was aware I didn’t want to waste too much energy with it being a hilly course. We ran past the church, with the vicar outside clapping and cheering. And then the hills started. They went on and on and on.

We climbed for about three and a half miles.

At two and a half miles, we crossed a motorway bridge (M50) and the five mile runners went off in a different direction.

Until four miles, I felt unsettled. The hills were tough. The weather was warm. I had no music.

So many races tell you not to have headphones and everyone ignores them. But we had to take it seriously on Dymock half marathon, because it is all on open roads. Bone conducting headphones were acceptable, but I don’t have bone conducting headphones. I’m definitely going to get some.

At three and a half miles, we finally had our first downhill. We were going down more than up for the next mile, which was very welcome. It’s no coincidence that I started feeling a lot more positive and started enjoying myself at four miles.

There were hardly any spectators out on the course, but there were marshals at each turn. It was all just country lanes. The roads weren’t closed and there was the occasional car. The drivers were all careful and respectful. There were just a couple of spectators before the second water stop. The lady shouted ‘brilliant!’ at me in such an enthusiastic tone of voice that it really gave me a boost.

I drank some water at the second water stop at 6.5 miles. It was in plastic cups, so I actually stopped to drink it, as I knew my time wasn’t going to be an issue. Drinking from a plastic cup while running is almost impossible. I carefully splashed some water on my body too (to avoid getting it on my legs and chafing) and it really helped.

There were four water stops – at 2.5, 6.5, 9.7 and 12 miles. Apparently there is usually three, but they increased it after last year, when it was very hot. Ideally, they could have been spread out a bit better, but they were OK.

Looking at the course profile, it will show there was as much down as up. But it just felt like we were climbing the whole time. It was relentless.

We passed through just one village on the whole run – Kempley, which was very pretty. It is apparently famous for its daffodils, but I must admit I’ve only heard of it because of its association with Fred West.

I felt pretty good from 4 miles to 10 miles, despite the constant climbing. I was never completely on my own, I was running in a single file of runners the whole time. I overtook three or four men as I ran. I didn’t see any more women at all the whole time I was running. One club member (who is training for an ultra) told me he’d run 17 hilly miles the previous day! I’d just rested for most of the week to prepare.

By about 11 miles, I was ready for it to be over. But I could see that my pace was good, so I was pleased with that. At 12 miles, I was very excited to spot the church in the distance. As we approached the cricket field, I tried to overtake a club member I’d been gaining on for several miles. But this was more of a ‘main’ road and there were cars. It wasn’t safe for me to go round him.

I crossed the finish line in 1:51:30, which I was very happy with. My husband had finished six minutes before me, just two minutes slower than his PB. I was four minutes slower than my PB. He had absolutely loved the course. The hills hadn’t bothered him as much as they’d bothered me.

We were given a finisher’s medal, a Tshirt and a bottle of water. We chatted for a bit and watched a lady from our club get a trophy for finishing in the top three.

Then we went to get a drink. Then a man from the club appeared: “Sarah! You’ve got to get your prize!”. It turns out I was first in my age category. I had no idea. And my age category was 45-54, not 50-54. I was very pleased.

I went back to claim my abandoned drink from the bar. “Sarah! You’ve got another prize!”. It turns out the first three ladies from our club were the winning women’s team. So we got a little trophy. I was even more pleased.

Dymock half marathon was up and down in more ways than one. But I’ll definitely do it again!