The Bratislava Half
Language student and Wallsend Harrier Tony Carter is currently studying in Europe, and sends this race report...
The Bratislava Half Marathon
Comrades! From 26th to 28th March, I was in Bratislava, Slovakia taking part in the Bratislava Half Marathon, the second of six half marathons that I have planned before the end of May. This one was only – to use the current phrase - going to be a ‘toby’ round.
Bratislava itself is small, especially for a capital city, with everything in the city-centre in walking distance, but it is still a nice place. The old town, the castle, some soviet-era buildings and more modern structures are all nestled close together, and as it is only 30-40 miles from Vienna a day trip is definitely recommended from me, especially as everything can be seen within a day.
The weekend itself was enjoyable indeed. The organisers had put on most of the things that you would expect to see at a big-city race. There were an estimated 4,000 competitors doing not just the half-marathon, but also the full distance as well as an in-line skate race as well. There were stalls for official merchandise, running kit, sponsor stands and a pasta party, as well as some free stronger Eastern European beer as well.
Despite planning only to have a ‘toby’ round, I knew that this was going to be harder than the recent Paris half marathon. Often, when I get going I ignore my plans and just run as hard as I can, so I deliberately did anything to ‘hinder’ my run for Sunday, including doing pre-race training sessions and going out for a few drinks, in keeping with the normal Wallsend Harrier standard. Now I know why Comrade Baker likes to go to Eastern Europe quite often!
So on the Sunday, an hour’s less sleep than usual and with a bit of a post-drinking feeling, I went to the start. The crowds were smaller than I’d expected, but the atmosphere was just still as good. And then we were off at 10am European time.
The first 5k ran around and through the old town with parts of this going past the typical grey buildings from the soviet-era – a bit bleak but interesting as this was something completely different to what you would normally see anywhere in Western Europe. The run itself was steady and I was just sticking behind the 3hr marathon pace makers, getting sponges and water at every stop that were placed.
Crossing the main bridge over the Danube into southern Bratislava I was still taking my time. Up until 12k there were many more soviet blocks of flats to our left, and between 12 and 20k we were on a cycle track. From about 8k up until the end I did slowly pick my pace up, but from the running (and drinking) sessions I did the previous days I was not able to go any faster than 6 minutes per mile.
Crossing a bridge back to where we started, I put in a cheeky burst with about 600m to go and ended up finishing in 1hr 24min 43sec -67th according to the official results. At the finishing tent one of the first things the organisers gave out was more free beer, though I was not in any mood to have some! Afterwards, it was a quick dash to get some food and get the trains I needed to get back to where I live.
My next half marathon is in Linz on 11th April and the plan is another ‘toby’ doing something similar as I did at Bratislava in preparation for the more serious Vienna half marathon the following week, and once more, I will write up another report.
Till next time folks
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