SUE Collins made the journey to Bath in order to run the annual half marathon road race. The Bath Half is a fast flat course, straddling both sides of the river Avon and avoiding all the hills surrounding the city. It is a two-lap course with proven personal best criteria, entirely traffic and parking free. The race definitely has a 'big city' feel, starting and finishing at the same point in Great Pulteney Street - with a roadway spanning 46 feet - one of the widest Georgian boulevards in Europe. The first mile was gently downhill down Pulteney Road to Churchill Bridge. Runners then followed two identical laps from Churchill Bridge, gently rising up past Green Park Station, a gentle 'pull' round Queen Square, then down Charlotte Street and out along the Upper Bristol Road, gently undulating along Newbridge Road, and a longer 'pull' up to the 'New Bridge'. From here the race heads back towards the city centre, pancake flat along Lower Bristol Road, before crossing over Churchill Bridge and up Green Park again for the beginning of the second lap. At the end of the second lap the runners pass across Churchill Bridge, finally rising gently up Pulteney Road all the way to the finish with a dramatic last 200 metres in Great Pulteney Street. Sue has worked very hard over the winter and as a result ran a fantastic race and achieved her goal of breaking the sub two hour time by finishing in one hour 56 minutes and 45 seconds which is a course personal best. Her fellow Bats congratulated Sue on her excellent run.
