TLA Sport

with Roger Jackson Please email full details to sport@thelocalanswer.co.uk

Jim Adams has been running half marathons for 40 years and to celebrate the milestone he’ll be running in this year’s Stroud Half.

And in a nice symmetry, this is also the 40th anniversary of the Stroud Half Marathon, the ever-popular race which is expected to have close on 2,000 runners on the start line on Sunday 23rd October.

Adams, the chairman of Stroud Athletic Club, reckons he has run in 25 to 30 of those races and he is counting down the days to an event that has become one of the mainstays of the sporting calendar in Gloucestershire.

So just what are the reasons for its ongoing appeal?

“I think it’s the people who come out and support it, whether they are running or watching on the sidelines,” said Adams. “It’s a really strong local event.

Stroud Athletic Club runners Andrew Arnison, left, and Steve Lee will be running in this year’s Stroud Half Marathon

“It’s a nice course, relatively flat, much flatter than you’d expect. There are just a couple of rises around Whitminster but it’s as flat a half marathon as you’d find around here.”

This year’s race, which will get under way at 9am, will start and finish as usual at Marling School but there will be a small but significant change to the route, a change that Adams believes enhances the race’s appeal.

“This year the runners won’t be running on the A419 for nearly so long,” explained Adams. “The new route takes them through the new Great Oldbury estate, they’ll be on the A419 for only a short time.”

Adams is hoping that the residents on the Great Oldbury estate in Stonehouse come out in their numbers to cheer on the competitors in what should be another festival of running.

The race is organised by Stroud Athletic Club – it’s their flagship event – and the host club enjoyed a one-two in last year’s race with Lee Stopford winning in one hour, 11 minutes, 51 seconds and Nicholas Coyle just behind in 1.12.06.

Adams, now 66, has a best time around Stroud of one hour, 36, which is some 20 minutes better than his first ever race over 13.1 miles.

That was in September 1982, in Cheltenham, where he was living at the time and he estimates that over the years he has run close to 100 half marathons.

“It’s the distance that started me on my running journey,” he said.

Jim Adams has been running half marathons for 40 years

“It was always my favourite distance, although these days I must admit I prefer to run a 10K.

“At my age I feel a bit more comfortable at 10K!”

The Stroud Half will be his first at the distance this year and he said he’d be happy to finish in one hour, 50, which is still a pretty decent time of course.

And Adams, who is one of the many good people involved in the sport, hasn’t only the running to focus on in the leadup to the event because it’s his job to organise all the race marshalls.

It’s a job he’s happy to do and he’s certainly happy that the event is in such rude health.

“We’ve held onto the same spot in October half term,” he said, “it dovetails with the annual fireworks display on Marling School sports field.“

For further information, visit www.stroudhalf.com