Weston Super Half 2025

My husband, sister and brother-in-law and I recently ran Weston Super Half – the half marathon in Weston-super-Mare. It was the third time running it for my husband, brother-in-law and I, and the second time for my sister. We actually ran it last year, but it was in spring, so it felt like a really long time ago! I’m not sure why it moved to autumn.

This would be my first time having a proper go at the course. When I ran Weston Super Half in 2023, I hadn’t yet joined the running club, so wasn’t really fulfilling my potential, although I was happy with my 1:49:49. When I ran it last year, I was just getting over Covid, so was being deliberately careful.

The forecast for the Weston Super Half was for rain the whole time, accompanied by strong winds. Not what you want when running a race! A 9am start meant setting off from home at 6:45am, which is zero fun in October, when it is still pitch black outside. Arriving in Weston at 8am, we were lucky to find a completely free parking space by the railway station – about a 10 minute walk from the seafront and the start line. We took advantage of the station toilets while we could.

When we arrived at the event village, we joined a very long queue for the toilets there. There wasn’t really enough portable toilets, although there were some portable urinals, which help to keep men out of the queues. A lot of people were also queuing for the public toilets, which cost money. 

We used the bag drop as late as possible, so we could keep all our clothes on. The weather was exactly as forecast – strong wind and light rain. The rain didn’t stop once during the race. I was wearing an old jumper, which I ditched on the railings of the starting pen just before the race started. Any old clothes would be collected for charity.

At the last minute, my husband decided to go to the toilet again. So my brother-in-law and I went to the starting pen on our own. He thought we were in the 1:30-1:45 pen, where we intended to be. But I think we were in the 1:15-1:30. I couldn’t actually see any other women in there, which suggests we were too far forward! My husband didn’t find us in time for the start, so we didn’t see him again.

At Cheltenham half marathon, four weeks previously, my brother-in-law had gone off way too fast. He said he wouldn’t do that this time. He reckoned he might still be able to see me in the distance at around a mile to a mile and a half, then he would lose me. The race started and he was off like a shot!

Weston Super Half starts with a loop of Marine Parade – essentially the promenade – in the centre of town. At about a mile, a woman in the crowd shouted: “Well done third lady!” to me. THIRD?! There was no way I was holding on to that! I had no illusions I would maintain even top 10.

I finally caught and overtook my brother-in-law as we ran onto the beach, at just after two miles. We run along the beach – which is pretty hard owing to Weston’s legendary tidal range, meaning the sea never gets near the top of the beach. – for 0.75 miles.

One lady overtook me at two miles and two more at three miles, although when I crossed 5k timing strip, the marshal said ‘fifth lady’. Interestingly, the splits from the race actually show I was 14th lady to cross the 5k mark. I’m not sure how the marshal failed to count that many ladies!

As we left the beach, we entered the village of Uphill, which does exactly what it says on the tin. At three miles, we saw a church on a hill high above us. We didn’t see it again until about seven miles -when we were nearly as high as it.

I’d forgotten about the long, busy road at the top of the hill. All of the roads on the route were completely closed, apart from this one, which was only closed on the side we were running on.

No more women overtook me until six miles, then a few overtook me between six and seven miles. After this, I stopped counting them! We ran past the church on the hill and back down the hill to the beach. This was at about eight miles- ready for the long out and back to the finish line, although it was slightly longer out than back, as the finish line is on the Grand Pier. 

As we ran back along Marine Parade, we crossed the start line and the compere called all our names out. There were lots of crowds on Marine Parade and close to the pier, but they weren’t cheering much. They were probably miserable in the rain, but at least they’d got waterproof coats and umbrellas!

The last four miles are an out and back in the opposite direction to the one we’d just run. While one half of my brain was thinking ‘only four miles to go’, the other half was thinking ‘that’s the same distance as the entire race I ran last week!’ (Sharpness 4). I couldn’t remember how long and tough the climb was. It turned out, it was very long and tough!

As I headed towards the edge of the town centre to start my climb, I saw the lead car and lead bikes, followed by the first few runners heading for the finish line.

The climb wasn’t steep, but it was constant and draining, with just a few undulating bits in it. As I climbed, I was amazed and impressed to see a lady from our club already running back downhill. She is a very good runner, who is in her late 50s.

The turn as just before 11 miles is a tight one. Then I was running back down the hill. I passed my husband, with my brother-in-law just behind him. Then I passed my main age category rival in the Gloucestershire AAA race series. Then I passed my sister. They all looked like they were running well, but all looked soaking wet and fairly miserable. As I’m sure I did too!

At 12 miles, my legs suddenly felt like they were made of rock. I also ran into the strongest headwind of the whole run. I could see the pier and it looked close. But of course it’s out into the water and there’s the curve of the bay. It was a lot further away than it looked. It was nice to get off the road and onto the smooth, paved surface of the promenade (home to Marine Parade parkrun) at 12.5 miles. Now I really was heading for the finish line. But I had to make a conscious effort not to look at the pier, as it was taking too long to get there.

And then I was finally onto the pier, with marshals shouting to take care as it was slippy. The finish line is right at the end. What a relief to get it done! According to my watch, and lots of others, it measured a bit long – 13.36 miles by my watch. I crossed the line in 1:46:41, which was a course PB, but a full 5:30 slower than my PB at Cheltenham four weeks earlier. It really wasn’t the course or the weather for PBs! I was 27th female out of 811 women and 1,958 runners and fourth FV45-54. I’d like to think if that age group was 50-54 I would have been first or second!

My husband and brother-in-law crossed the line about five minutes after me, then my sister was five minutes after them. My husband had injured his glute playing football two weeks previously and was unsure whether he would manage any more races this autumn. He was also still recovering from the cold I’d had at Sharpness 4 a week earlier. His had gone to his chest, so he had suffered more than me.

We got our Tshirts, water, assorted random snacks which will live in our cupboard for months and some of the best quality medals I’ve ever seen in a race, no doubt thanks to the sponsorship by Albert Goodman.

As we left the pier, looking forward to sitting in a warm, dry car, we realised just how long the walk to the bag drop was! The abandoned clothes had all been moved to a wall ready to be packed up for charity/ recycling. I saw my jumper there, so I thought I might as well take it home to use for another race.

We really enjoyed Weston Super Half when we ran it previously. But we won’t be back in a hurry. The conditions and the hills really took it out of us and none of us enjoyed it this time round.