Cheltenham half marathon 2024

On Sunday, my husband, sister, younger son’s girlfriend and I all ran the Run Cheltenham half marathon. It was my son’s girlfriend’s first half marathon.

Cheltenham half marathon started in 2013 and I have run it every time, apart from 2015, when I was injured. Cheltenham half marathon 2024 was my 10th Cheltenham half! I’ve run lots of half marathons over the years, but I always look forward to Cheltenham most. It is my local race and the support on the course is great. But many people (me included) also have a love-hate relationship with it, mainly because of the big lap of Cheltenham Racecourse at the end. It was also extremely hot in 2021 and 2023, with a lot of runners collapsing, including my eldest in 2021, who ended up spending a night in hospital.

The big news for 2024 is that THE LAP OF THE RACECOURSE WAS GONE! The race still starts and finishes at the racecourse, so that was the best of both world. The racecourse has great facilities – lots of free parking and lots of toilets, as well as plenty of space for supporters.

The weather forecast was for a warm day, but without the sun, which was a big relief.

The course had changed quite a bit to accommodate the loss of 2.5 miles on the racecourse. The start line had moved back to the front car park at the racecourse.

My husband, sister, son’s girlfriend and I all lined up in the 1:45 to 2:00 pen. My husband had run races on the day before and the day before that, so he wasn’t expecting much. I’d run the Meteor Mile race 36 hours previously, but felt sufficiently recovered to push for a PB. My son’s girlfriend was hoping for sub-2 hours. My sister would ordinarily be pushing for a sub-2, but she’d had an injury, so was happy to just be at the start line.

The four of us crossed the start line together and ran out the gate together. I spotted my younger son and my daughter in the crowd with Hetty and gave them a shout. They missed the others and the others missed them!

I’d got my bone conducting headphones, which I sometimes struggle to connect. I’d intended to have my fake AirPods with me as back-up, but had forgotten them. My bone conducting headphones absolutely refused to connect (mainly because my husband had accidentally used mine for his race the previous day!). I hate running without music and had assembled a really good playlist, so I was gutted. It meant I would be alone with my thoughts – which are basically a non-stop commentary with an added earworm.

We followed the crowds down New Barn Lane. My husband quickly pulled away from me and I quickly pulled away from my sister and my son’s girlfriend. Instead of going to the bottom of New Barn Lane and turning into Prestbury Road, as we had in the past, we ran part of the way down the road, then turned round and ran back up it (it’s a bit of a hill!) before going into a new housing estate and cutting through there to Prestbury Road.

We then ran towards the town centre, taking a wider route than usual. It felt very warm. I was running fast, probably too fast, but I felt reasonably comfortable. I considered slowing down, but thought I would naturally slow down when I was ready.

As we headed to Montpellier, at mile four, there were huge crowds. I’d hoped to see my son and daughter there, but they weren’t there. I did see my brother-in-law, niece and nephew though. I think they popped up about seven times! It was always a real boost to see them.

The crowds all along the Cheltenham half marathon route were great. There was hardly anywhere without support and at some points there was huge numbers. Being a member of a club meant I had much more support than in the past. Several club members were cycling from place to place, to make sure they could cheer on as many club runners as possible. They also took lots of photos. Most of them not very flattering, in my case!

We headed into Tivoli and then the biggest change on the route – a loop around The Park, a quiet, shady area of Cheltenham. As we entered the loop, faster runners were returning. As I returned, I was surprise to see our side of the route was still less crowded than the other side, with the slower runners still entering the loop. For much of the race, I was neck and neck with a friend of my sister’s, who we know from parkrun. We had a little chat before we got too exhausted and agreed that the new route was a real improvement.

The route then passed through Hatherley, as it has always done, and back along Lansdown Road towards Montpellier and the town centre, at around eight miles. This time, I saw my son and daughter, which was lovely.

As the route passed along The Promenade, there was a huge Sue Ryder cheer zone, which was very uplifting.

There were water stations every two miles (one more than last year, after the very hot weather). I decided to just take water at alternative stations – four miles, eight miles etc, as I had my own Lucozade with me. Sadly, mile eight was energy drink only! Water was in paper cups, which I slurped as I was running at mile four. At miles 10 and 12, I actually stopped to make sure I drank a bit.

The route then passed onto the Honeybourne Line, where it got a bit tight. The Honeybourne Line is quite narrow in parts and at this point we met the runners doing the 10k, so there was suddenly more people on the route.

After the Honeybourne Line, the route goes up Tommy Taylors Lane and along Albermarle Gate. There’s always been a bit of toing and froing through Pittville, but this year there was more than usual. I saw my son heading to the finish line with Hetty and shouted to him that I was struggling.

When I saw my brother-in-law, niece and nephew, I couldn’t speak to them any more, I could just do a thumbs up. I was still on for a PB, but my pace had dropped. I’d run 7.5 miles in an hour and was heading for 1:44, but I couldn’t maintain that. I saw a man collapsed on the ground. I found out later that my husband had actually caught him and stayed with him for a minute until a doctor who was out supporting looked after him.

We ran through Pittville Park down to the lake and back again, then up Evesham Road and along Hillcourt Road.

‘Just one more corner!’ shouted a spectator.

But it wasn’t one more corner. We still had to turn into the racecourse. As I headed for the racecourse, I was surprised to see my husband not far in front of me. I sped up as I entered the racecourse, but it was slightly farther to the finish line than I’d anticipated. I overtook one of the club members, who encouraged me to overtake him, and crossed the line in 1:46:42 – beating my PB of 1:47:23 set at Stroud half marathon last year. Pretty good considering how hot it was and that I didn’t have my music!

There were nearly 3000 runners taking part in Cheltenham half marathon and I was 610th overall, 83rd out of 1123 women and 6th in my age category out of 114.

My husband was only about 30 seconds ahead of me, due to doing a 5k race the day before and stopping to help the man. My son’s girlfriend scraped in a few seconds under 2 hours, which she was very happy with. My sister was happy with her 2:04.

Taking an hour to get out of the car park at the end wasn’t much fun, but it was a great day apart from that.