RACE RERPORT BY NARNI, 1.3.2026
Having had not one but TWO ultras cancelled in quite succession for this weekend, the best I could do at short notice was to book onto the Liversedge Half Marathon; only a quick tootle over to West Yorkshire and a familiar path of turf for those of us who were bred in Bradford. Absolutely no thought whatsoever was given to the route, the elevation, or the terrain as I merrily clicked away a few days before entry closed, likely with a glass of wine in hand.
Come race day I topped up the air in the tyres (anyone want to buy my shit-heap car?) and sashayed in style over to West Yorkshire. Glitter deployed (did I mention that my car comes free with half a pound of flitter cakes into the upholstery?) I secured a pretty decent parking spot and was directed by some friendly marshals towards race HQ. Number collected, wild bog queue navigated, and a pretty easy (if windy) hop towards the starting line. Not the world’s biggest race, but there were plenty of friendly faces and a smorgasboard of club vests. With the Roberttown 10k taking place simultaneously I spotted more supershoes than I could count, and all of a sudden my snazzy but very average flyknits seemed somewhat inadequate. No-matter I told myself; I have another 10k to get in for training after this half – it’s not as if I plan to race it in the typical sense of the word.
A friendly race brief and we were off, cruising wonderfully downhill: with the opening road being part of the infamous Spen 20 race I was very much aware that this gorgeous descent would give way to a hill, another hill, and then yet another sodding hill. Knowing my hill game is absolutely dire, I resolved to make the most of these delicious downhill swoops in order to pre-emptively recoup some time for later in the race. True to form we hit the 2km mark and started to climb. I counted the things I was overtaken by; loadsa runners, a butterfly, a toddler on a push bike and a chap on the pavement on a mobility scooter. Fantastic. More big climbs up until the halfway mark and then we were rewarded with another nice downhill segment; at this stage the super speedy lads were already starting to make their way back up – what an effort.
I chose to cunningly deploy some of the strawberry laces I had stashed in my hydration vest, but fumbled most of them and left a brilliant feast for any local ants. KM 17 saw the last of the big uphill slogs behind us and we started to push collectively towards the finish. The weather had been kind, and before we knew it we were rattling down the final home-straight. ‘At last’, I thought, ‘a race photographer’. I resolved to try and look semi athletic, straightened up and put on a wild sprint finish towards the final line. Any feelings of smugness were quickly quelled as some chap in yellow spotted my cunning actions and resolved to put on his own sprint finish. Despite by best efforts I was cruelly pipped to the post as Mr Yellow sailed past in a blaze of glory. At least I retain my reputation for having finish line photos with me looking bewildered and then crushed (only kidding, it was a good battle).
If you like hills (their motto is “It’s only a hill, get over it”), lovely scenery, and fancy a bit of Spen 20 without committing to the whole 20 miles, then the Liversedge half marathon is the one for you.
