Caernarfon 10k 2025

Last year I had skipped this race. It overlaps (in route, not in time) quite a lot with the Caernarfon half marathon. So running both means a fair amount of repetition. But this year, I wanted to do both. The 10k because it is in the club road championships, and the half marathon in order to overwrite the frustrating episode last year, when I had to run half the race in two knee supports. And the 10k comes first.

Marjan came with me. We went in my car, and parked up at the castle. That is close to the public toilets; I decided to visit them, as I expected queues on the event terrain. Then we walked to registration. There I was founded by another Harrier who had a club T-shirt for me. You can't buy these in the shop where I had bought my vest. I figured that in winter, a T-shirt would probably be nicer! Warmer than a vest without having to wear two layers. And then we went to the start.

I did a little warmup with fellow Harrier Mike, and then it was time for the club picture. And then we headed for the start. I expected that to be on the road, but it was on the field where the finish was. That meant a rather narrow start, with a sharp angle after only a few tens of meters. Not ideal! But also not important.

Club picture 

The sharp bend by the start

If I am feeling ambitious in a race, I will often start close to the front, and keep an eye on the women that are in front of me. But here I knew I was absolutely not going to have a podium position, and it was even very questionable if I would be able to run a category win. The race counted for a whole range of championships, so the field was not only big but also very strong.

I had a time in my head I was aiming for, and I knew I needed to run at 4:22 pace to reach it. After a kilometre or so I had that pace, quite stably. And me and the fellow runners just calmly trotted along. The weather was nice! Sunny but not too hot. And without any incident we reached the halfway point.

Near the start

A bit beyond that, a lady overtook me. I didn't know what category she would be in. Could she be in mind? I hadn't had a good look at her. But I decided not to chase her. I was just sticking to my pace.

There were some frustrating encounters with cars. The roads were not closed. You still hope for some consideration from drivers, though. Some clumsy passing manoeuvres really got in the way!

There are some uphill bits in the second half of the race where I knew I was not going to manage my 4:22 pace. But that also means you get some downhill bits near the finish. There I could accelerate. And I did! And came over to finish not too far from a time of 44:00. I didn't know what it had been any more precisely. I had forgotten to pay attention to the clock, and I never think of stopping my watch immediately after finishing. As we were chip timed, I expected a message with my time, but that did not come. And there seemed to be only one bloke doing both the commentary and the timing, so you couldn't reasonably go up to him and ask.

Finishing pic

After finding Marjan, catching my breath again, and drinking a lot of water, I just cheered on the people still finishing. Marjan said the presentation would be 11:15. That was quite soon! Even if I probably hadn't won anything, it would be worth hanging around.

The field had indeed been strong. Not only the man who had won gold, but also the silver and bronze men had broken the course record. This race has been going since 1986! They were ludicrously fast. One of them had needed less than half an hour.

With some fellow Harriers. Anna on the left is so fast she was representing the region

Most of the winners I didn't know. None of the usual local legends picked up a prize. The only exception really was Emyr from Hebog runners, in the 80+ category. He's not easy to beat! Not even if half of England shows up.

There would also be a presentation for county teams, but Marjan and I decided not to wait for that, and we left. Or at least we tried. Before we left the terrain, I was roped in to do some marshalling in September. But then we could walk back to the car.

I later found out I had run it in 43:42. Not bad! A course record for me. But still about a minute slower than my personal record on the 10k. I'm starting to wonder how on earth I ever managed that. That is not going to be an easy PB to improve on. Maybe I never will! But one way to find out.

I had come second in my category, but not because of the lady who had overtaken me about 6 km in. She was in a younger category. The winner in my category had been 1:22 faster. Not bad, coming second in your category in a race like that. 

My next race will be in Caernarfon as well. I have nothing booked between this race and the half marathon. I'm curious to see how that will go! I can clearly do half marathons again; I did one in May. But that is quite a different race. I hope I will not need the knee supports, and properly enjoy myself!