Larne Half Marathon, 19th March 2011

In the Woods

Anyone else doing this? Signed up yesterday, know it's a bit of a trek up but hard to find a half around mid-March for the build-up to London. Despite the added petrol costs, it's good value at £16.

chinguetti

Did this last year and have to say, its well worth the journey and would put many races down here to shame. Food, showers, massage (before and after), decent goody bag and results up within an hour for 15 sterling.

There's a hill at 7 miles or so that goes up in 3 stages but it is mainly an out and back course along the sea. It was quite windy on the way out so hang behind someone if its windy. The only problem with the way back was that i ran on my own for the last couple of miles.

AngryLips

What's the route like? Scenic? Never been up that part of the world

Lila

Did this last year and going back again this year. Ranks as one of my favourite races ever - lovely course, good food and massage afterwards as well as a nice welcoming atmosphere. Probably not a course for a PB as there are a few pulls along the way and it can be windy as you come along the coast road. It's a lovely scenic area alright, particularly as you head back along the coast towards the finish line.

TheRoadRunner

Great race, well oraganised and great value. The course itself is really nice. A mile or 2 though Larne town out onto coast road, climb for a couple of miles into hills drop back onto coast road. The posts above are right, it's not a PB course. I ran 2 minutes slower than what I expected. Furthermore the 2 runners directly in front of me ran Omagh the following week and knocked 2.5 minutes off what they ran in Larne so that shows it's a toughie. Scenery is nice though and would be a good test in build up for Spring marathon.

In the Woods

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

The posts above are right, it's not a PB course. I ran 2 minutes slower than what I expected. Furthermore the 2 runners directly in front of me ran Omagh the following week and knocked 2.5 minutes off what they ran in Larne so that shows it's a toughie. Scenery is nice though and would be a good test in build up for Spring marathon.

Unfortunately Omagh comes a few weeks too late for me. Hoping to still knock out a PB. Think I might have 8 mins to play around with (if it was a flat course) cos I'm a good bit faster than my last half marathon so even a 5 min PB would be grand. Good to know that it's not a PB course in advance so I don't kill myself in the first few miles.

chinguetti

I got a PB by nearly 2 minutes in Larne and i would rate it a lovely course (far better than the Dublin half in the Park) and quite good for a PB. I did a 6 30 mile coming down the hill at mile 7 or 8 if i remember right.

If you go too fast coming out of Larne into the wind, thats where you would suffer in my opinion.

Lila

Well, how did everyone get on? As always it was a well organised, easy going event and the weather was great on the day.

I thought the traffic was a bit mental as we came down the hill around mile 9.5 / 10 heading back out onto the sea front. There were cars and runners all over the road but things settled down once we crossed.

I found the hills very, very tough and I was well outside my PB so the mood was not good on Saturday night. My placing was ok though so not a total loss.

I saw a little bit of video on You Tube if you're interested. Somebody was filming just after the 1st water stop at Ballygally.

charkee

enjoyable race,great value at stg16

scenic challenging in the middle
sets a few of us up for rotterdam on april 10

In the Woods

Injured and had to skip it. Two others from the club ran it and enjoyed it. Sounded like perfect weather and a decent course.

Maybe next year.