Aberdeen Half Marathon

On Saturday, I ran the inaugural Aberdeen Half Marathon. That means a course PB was guaranteed!

Here’s my review of the race.

What is it?

The Aberdeen Half Marathon is a new race on the calendar taking place in mid July, a time of year where you don’t tend to get a lot of big races, or none that I’ve ever been aware of.

I’ve never done a race in Aberdeen before so the location interested me, as well as the timing and also that it sold out very quickly. I only knew about it on the back of seeing a post on LinkedIn from one of the organisers.

It felt quite exciting to try a new race, it’s a good distance and it felt like a good test to see where I’m at before some other races coming up over the next few months.

The Route

I don’t know the Aberdeen area very well so it’s probably easier to show you the map of the route! It was an out and back route, starting and finishing at Duthie Park and taking in the Deeside Way path on the way back.

Pre Race

The start time was at 10am which meant I was able to get the bus up from Perth and arrive in plenty of time. There were free shuttle buses available but as I’d arrived early, it was easier for me to grab a coffee and take a leisurely walk to Duthie Park.

Arriving at the park, it had the feel of a big race. The fact they had an evening with Sir Mo Farah the night before the race suggested this wasn’t going to be just another race. There were a few stands set up from businesses and charities in the event village near to the tent for those who needed to collect their race numbers and also the baggage tent. Before 9am and there was a good atmosphere brewing.

There were lots of toilets and a few scattered around the village but everyone seemed to queue for the ones in the same location so the queue was pretty big. I managed to meet up with a Damian and Graham, a couple of guys I know but only just met properly for the first time, before the start and we made our way to the start line.

The Race

The start line was pretty busy. With 3,000 entrants, the paths were always going to be a bit tight and even with designated pens based on times, it was easier just to find a spot and go from there in the knowledge that spaces would open up along the way.

The route took us along some back roads on the way out. I tend to focus solely on the people ahead of me and don’t tend to notice things around me. The first time I did the Paris Marathon, I didn’t notice the Eiffel Tower!

Even though we weren’t on main roads, the roads we did run on were good and there was plenty of space to run on. There were plenty of water stations along the course, every couple of miles. It was humid at the start so having more water stations were good to have.

Even though we weren’t on main roads and in the second half we were on public footpaths, the support along the course was superb. Lots of people cheering everyone on and when you’re not running at your best, like I was, that extra cheer is greatly appreciated.

There were pacers for every 5 minute increments from 65mins through to 2hrs 30mins, which is a great feature. Even if you plan to run your own race, it’s good to have someone in sight to keep check with. I was behind the 1:50 pacer for most of the way, was passed by the 1:55 pacer at around 9 miles and he kept me going from 10 miles through to the finish. I probably would’ve toiled my way to the finish otherwise and would’ve been much slower than I was.

Coming back into Duthie Park, to cheering crowds was pretty good and it was nice to have a big finish to run strongly to. Not my best race by any stretch but I enjoyed it and it gave me the perfect kick up the backside I needed to refocus and change a few things before I start training again for the other races coming up.

Post Race

Upon crossing the finish line, I collected my medal, bottle of water, banana, apple and a can of low alcohol beer specially produced by Brewdog. This was really impressive. The only other race I’ve seen specially produced beer at is the Chariots of Fire Beach Race at St Andrews I did back in April and it’s quite a good touch. There was another alcohol-free drink option but I’m not sure what it was.

I stayed to take a selfie next to the Aberdeen sign, collected my bag then began my walk back into the centre of Aberdeen and get my bus home.

Observations

This was a really good race. It was obvious that this was going to be the start of something even bigger and given the route for next year will take in more of the city, this version of the race was the starting point, an opportunity to put it on, learn ahead of creating something bigger.

There were no stations with energy gels but as many runners had hydration vests and carrying their own gels, this wasn’t an issue. I actually think hydration vests will be the future of running in events from Half Marathons upwards and gel stations will become a thing of the past.

The stand out for me was at one of the later water stations, they also had slices of watermelon available. I haven’t seen this at any race in the UK before, only in Florida when I used to go there every year on holiday. This is an excellent touch and I’d like to see more of this. Watermelon is perfect for hydration and an amazing natural electrolyte. At the later stages of a race, I’d say this is far more effective than taking a gel.

Conclusion

While my performance felt like a bit of a bruising, it’s whetted my appetite for racing and testing myself again and I’ve already signed up for next year’s marathon, which will be on at the same time of year and includes the Half Marathon and a 5km.

It’s great to see the whole city get behind this event and I can see this becoming a very popular race, setting the benchmark for other races and perhaps becoming even bigger than Edinburgh.

If you’re thinking about races for next year, trying a Half Marathon or even a Marathon, enter this one.

You won’t regret it!

Enter Aberdeen Marathon or Half Marathon here.