Half again

Sunday 20 October 2013 marks the third BUPA Great Birmingham Run and the largest Birmingham half marathon to date with 20,000 runners set to run the 13.1 mile course from the city centre to Bournville and back again.

Map of the route below reproduced from http://www.greatrun.org/events/Information.aspx?ctid=254&id=14





In 2012 Kenyan Micah Kogo won a thrilling sprint for the line ahead of Abera Kuma to set a new course record. Kogo, who dominated the race almost from the start, breasted the tape in a time of one hour and 17 seconds to deny his Ethiopian rival victory by two seconds with World record holder and pre-race favourite Zersenay Tadese third in 1:01:06. 

On a very misty morning, Kogo - after losing the previous month's Bupa Great North Run by a second - made amends by smashing the course record of 1:01:29 set a year ago by the legendary Ethiopian, Haile Gebrselassie.
http://www.greatrun.org/events/Information.aspx?ctid=253&id=14

This years race is the biggest to date and will be live on Channel 5 from 10:00 to 12:00 and includes a 1.5km mini event for children aged 3-8 years and a 2.5km Junior event for 9-16 year olds.

The race will be officially started by local Paralympic star Ellie Simmonds OBE, life member of Boldmere Swimming Club, http://www.suttoncoldfieldobserver.co.uk/Paralympic-golden-girl-start-Birmingham-run/story-19908370-detail/story.html, who provides an inspiring choice to encourage runners elite and beginner on their 13.1 mile journey. 

After missing out on the 2012 race i'll be running for Macmillan Cancer Support and hoping that I won't be much slower than my 2011 run, photo below, when I completed the 13.1 miles in 2:01:58, coming in 5716th position, http://www.greatrun.org/Results/default.aspx?r=253&bib=8138.




My number's 8902 this year if you spot me on the TV.
As part of my fundraising i've been organising a workplace cake sale but if you'd like to sponsor me then you can sponsor me online at www.justgiving.com/feltip1982




I'll never say never but I think this will be my third and final half marathon run as I focus on less demanding runs and activities although if BUPA meet their ambitions of making the race as big as the Great North Run, http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/lifestyle/health/race-sign-up-birmingham-half-5803911, i'd definitely like to race amongst 50,000 people.

The race attracts runners from across the UK and also has some of the best support from the public and i'd love to experience the roar of support amongst 50,000 other runners.

If you'd like to cheer on the runners, myself included, the following information from the BUPA On the Day Guide, http://www.greatrun.org/app_files/gr_files/Bupa-Great-Birmingham-Run-2013-Comps-Web.pdf, provides timings for runners passing Cadbury's, Cannon Hill Park and Edgbaston Cricket Ground.






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