The Boundary Run Report
By James Chettle
As expected, the early pace was set by James Kelly, aiming to complete an 'easy' half-marathon in 74:50 in lieu of his regular long run. He was joined at the front by the Great Britain triathlete James Third, and Cambridge's best marathon runner of recent years, Diarmuid O'Seaghdha. It wasn't long however, before Kelly found himself running on his own and he strolled to victory, almost exactly hitting his target time. O'Seaghdha, suffering from an Achilles strain, remained uncertain prior to the race as to whether to run the full or half boundary. With important races looming, he decided not to risk further injury. Third claimed third, closely followed by Biddick and Stecher - the latter two proving that their London Marathon preparations were in good order. Liam Richardson continued his good run of form, dipping well under eighty minutes to claim sixth.
O'Seaghdha's decision to finish at Coton left James Chettle, running his first marathon, as a surprise (and rather surprised) leader. Despite holding a lead of just under four minutes at halfway, his navigational incompetence (taking four wrong turns despite wearing a GPS watch with the route programmed) combined with increasing fatigue saw his lead eroded by former Harey Chris Pyle. With three miles to go the two were neck and neck, but Chettle decided to step up the pace for the 24th mile. The gamble paid off, as he opened up a lead again and held onto it despite taking over 16 minutes to run the final two miles. Last year's winner Alex Tate crossed the line a couple of minutes after Pyle had claimed second, while former Hareys Rich Mathie and Ulrich Paquet (the first man to run a negative split) took fourth and fifth. Another superb marathon from Helen Mort saw her again crowned as the first woman. Having run with Mort for most of the race, Jesus Paul Gutierrez rolled back the years and showed many of the younger generation how it's done, breaking the three and a half hour mark. This was in spite of having been significantly delayed by a wrong turn in Fen Ditton.
Thanks again to Mark, Sweatshop, David Lloyd and all the hareys who made the event such a success. I've got a feeling there'll be a lot of people coming back for another crack at it next year!
Mark Coley, who organised this year's run, has written some reflections on the preparation leading up to the day. It involved a little research in the University Library as well as making contact with old Hareys. Anyone who was on the boundary run mailing list will have heard some of the details in the weeks leading up to the run, but a complete story is told in his report.