Still Going Strong The Tunbridge Wells Half
RW tips its cap to classic British races that have stood the test of time
AFTER THEY HAD RUN
together to prepare for the inaugural London Marathon in 1981, a tight-knit training group formed Tunbridge Wells Runners, later becoming the Harriers.
The clubs staged the Kent town’s first half marathon and still organises the race today. For its debut, on January 23, 1983, the road race started beside Wellington Rocks, the sandstone outcrops on the town’s common. This circular route passed through Rusthall village, which was handy, as its vicar, Bob Whyte, was club chairman and ran on that day too. For that first outing, 53 runners (including six women) started and 49 finished the race. The records held by former race director
Bob Lawrence do not reveal first names, but an A. Brown won it (1:17:29), while an N. Brown was the first woman home (1:29:01).
WHAT IS IT LIKE?
WHEN THE RACE WAS STAGED
for the second time, the following April, running fever gripped the town – there were more than
400 entrants. Newspaper cuttings from the day tell how the mayor had to resort to a conventional starting pistol after the firing of a 25-pounder field gun that was intended to send the runners on their way failed to do its duty. But that kerfuffle didn’t faze Martin Knapp, who won the 1984 edition three years after winning the Barcelona Marathon. Numbers continued to grow but the course, which took in the villages and suburbs around the royal spa town, remained largely unchanged. One daunting ever-present has been the Spring Hill climb around mile seven, just before Fordcombe. This mileand-a-quarter slog regularly breaks even the best: in 1999, four-time Great North Run champion Benson Masya from Kenya in effect lost the race on this hill to Kent’s own Barry Royden, who powered to victory.
WHO RUNS IT?
THIS RACE BOASTS two Olympic champions among its entrants, though neither can add a win here to their list of achievements. Britain’s
Don Thompson became a national hero when he won the race-walking 50km gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics; in later life, he set his sights on running more than 100 full and half marathons and so was a regular here for several years. Meanwhile, double gold medallist and local hero Kelly Holmes is often a familiar face on race day, usually handing out finishers’ medals. In 2016, after acting as official starter she ran the course, too. Other big names include 1983 London Marathon winner Mike Gratton, GB international Liz Yelling (who triumphed here in 2011) and Paralympian gold medallist Richard Whitehead. But the race is still a must for local club, charity and all
standard of recreational runners. Although numbers swelled in the 1990s (for its 30th outing, in 2013, more than 2,000 ran it), a manageable 1,500 now run it each year.
THREE REASONS TO RUN
• RUNNING UP Spring Hill, a climb of almost 95m, is among the most testing ascents on the halfmarathon road-race circuit.
• IT WAS ORIGINALLY seen as the perfect tune-up for London and other spring marathons, but after almost 40 years, it has long been regarded as a top-notch race on its own terms.
• WITH ALMOST FIVE MILES completed, you pass the historic grounds of Penshurst Place, which was once Henry VIII’s hunting lodge; some of the scenes from the period drama The Other Boleyn Girl were shot here.
ANYTHING NEW?
ALTHOUGH THE RACE was deemed safe in February 2020, before tighter Covid-19 restrictions came in, it was not possible to stage it this year. With its planned return in 2022, the organisers’ main aim is to re-establish the event as it approaches its 40th birthday.
WHAT THEY SAY
THE RACE DIRECTOR ‘When I took over in 2014, I was very aware it was one of the oldest half marathons anywhere in the country, as well as a huge local charity fundraiser,’ says Mark Taylor. ‘The 2020 race was a challenge even before Covid struck, as Storm Dennis hit on raceday morning, meaning we delayed the start by an hour to clear trees off the course. With the river at Penshurst rising rapidly, we just got the last of the runners safely across the road there before it flooded. It’s a very scenic race through the Kent countryside and, apart from Spring Hill, is a fairly fast course with a final flat few miles.’
THE STALWART
‘This was my first ever half and where I also achieved my PB,’ says Amanda Smith of Tunbridge Wells Harriers, ‘I love running through the villages where the crowds come out of their houses, whatever the weather.
In the past, I have run slowly and even walked up some of Spring
Hill, but I always make it in the end. In the last two years, I’ve handed out the finishers’ medals, including one to my son, Billy Hobbs, who won the 2020 race [in 1:13:18], which was amazing. I’ve run it nine times in a row since 2010 and, as I live locally, hope to take part many more times.’
WHO KNEW?
The event is held in late winter, so the weather can be unpredictable. This was proven in 2005, when a heavy snowfall 90 minutes before the start meant the race was called off following police advice. Though there was no official race, about 75 runners ran the course; later, they conceded that the decision to cancel had been correct.
WAY BACK WHEN
1983: Derby winner Shergar was kidnapped, but the ransom was not paid and the racehorse was never seen again; the movie Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley, won eight Academy Awards; and the pound coin entered circulation as pound notes were phased out.