Newmarket 10k 2026 - Race Report

 I followed up last week's Southend Half Marathon with the Newmarket 10k this weekend.  This was the 7th time that I have run the race since I first ran it in 2017.  It is a race I always try to get to, when dance, gymnastics and life schedules allow.  Our friend Sophie's brother Marcus passed away in February 2016 and he was a keen runner for Newmarket Joggers and this is a race they organise.  As well as the personal attachment to the race, it is just a really pleasant, small, well organised 10km on a challenging course.

My results at the race have been less than impressive, the period 2017-2025 has been one of low mileage with my focus on the girls rather than on my running.  That has changed over the past 12 months and so I was hoping for a vast improvement.  Here are my results over the previous six Newmarket 10k's:

2017 - 50:15

2019 - 1:01:28

2022 - 1:09:03

2023 - 1:00:52

2024 - 1:00:01

2025 - 56:30

Now the course is undulating but those results are nasty.  The improvement in 2025 was promising but it was still over six minutes slower than my course record set in 2017.   In 2026 I wanted to beat that 50:15 from 2017 as a minimum, and having run over 1,200 miles in the last 12 months and with a 43:55 10k run at the start of April, all be it on a much flatter course, I felt that was a very attainable target.

The weather forecast was set to hot and with the undulating/hilly nature of the course I thought 45 minutes was a good goal and an additional benefit was the ease of maths at 4:30 per km.  That was the target I had in mind when I positioned myself at the very front on the start line at 10 o'clock this morning.  The race felt much quieter than previous editions and when the starter hooter went I wasn't immediately swarmed by runners so I felt validated in my choice of starting position.

A quick lap round the field before heading out onto the roads.  Some cheers from Sophie and her family sent me on my way in what felt like about 15th position.  Unlike the congestion that slowed me up at Southend, the freedom afforded me in Newmarket worked the other way and had me setting off at sub 6 minute mile pace for the opening 100m or so.  Thankfully by the time we got onto the road I managed to settle myself down into a more sustainable pace.

I will give my splits as we go through the blog along with the splits from my course record so we can compare the different pacing strategies and end result:

1km - 4:12 (4:38) - 26 seconds up.

After the race around the field the course glides gently downhill for almost the entire first km.  My pace slowed and hopefully some recovery was gained on the downhill.

2km - 4:31 (4:55) - 24 seconds up and 50 seconds up in total.

I always simplify this race into first 5km downhill, and second 5km uphill but it isn't that straight forward.  The 2nd km has a hill but it is so early and on fresh legs that you notice it far less than those in the second half.

3km - 4:32 (4:54) - 22 seconds up and 1 minute 12 seconds up in total.

Through the villages we go on quiet country roads.  The marshalls doing an excellent job of keeping us runners safe.  There aren't huge amounts of traffic but a tractor is held at this point as we run through Woodditton.

4km - 4:32 (5:12) - 40 seconds up and 1 minute 52 seconds up in total.

2026 me is running like a metronome, I'm not sure what happened to 2017 me with that 5:12 km.  This was the section through one of the horsey bits.   There were some stable hands that came out to cheer us on along with some marshalls to keep us on track.  This year I really noticed that there are big sections of the course that are on trails and paths rather than the road which slows you down somewhat.

5km - 4:32 (4:54) - 22 seconds up and 2 minutes 14 seconds up in total.  

Across at the crossroads we go, and up a slope to 5km and the halfway point.  A third consecutive 4:32 for some very consistent splitting.  The effort level however is high.  

6km - 5:01 (5:04) - 3 seconds up and 2 minutes 17 seconds in total.

Should have put my big boys pants on at this point.  Having run the race six times before you would think I'd remember every inch of the course.  I was working hard up a slope and gave into the urge to walk.  If I had just kept on I would have turned the corner and enjoyed a good stretch of very steep downhill to recover.  My consistent splits of 4:30's came to an abrupt end with that 5:01 which probably included 20-30 seconds of walking.

7km - 4:40 (4:57) - 17 seconds up and 2 minutes 34 seconds in total.

The big downhill, a left and a little bit of flat meant I could recover and not slow down hugely from my pre-walk pace.  It also saw me gain more time on 2017 course record me.

8km - 5:45 (5:14) - 31 seconds down and overall advantage down to 2 minutes 3 seconds in total.

The course is now into the drag up to the finish.  The second water station came at 7.5km and I took a drink here.  I had opted to skip the one at 4km.  I walked through the water station and had another couple of breathers as I ground my way through.  30 seconds of my advantage over 2017 disappeared fast.

9km - 5:41 (5:14) - 27 seconds down and overall advantage down to 1 minute 36 seconds in total.

Another km in the bank, more uphill, more run/walk and grind.  The worst of it is over and the finish line will soon be there.  The wheels have come off and I've lost almost a minute to 2017 me in the last two km's.

10km - 4:49 ( 5:14) - 25 seconds up and overall advantage back up to 2 minutes 1 seconds in total.

We head onto the pavement as we run through the village, this stretch always goes on for longer than I expect.  Finally we turn left onto the field. The crowds cheer, Sophie gets some good action shots of me and I manage to run strong through the final 300m or so and over the line to collect my medal and water.

The Good Points:

• A final time of 48:14 and a course record for me by just over 2 minutes.
• I finished 39th overall and 6th in my category.
• 44:31 would have got me 1st in my category.
• It was a pleasant mornings workout.
• Sophie and I had a great weekend, watching the football and relaxing the day before.
• I got 8 hours of sleep Saturday night the most since 26th April.

The Bad Points:

• I walked for 2 minutes 39 seconds according to my Garmin.
• I should have run 2 minutes quicker.
• There were only 132 finishers compared to 206 finishers last year so that 39th place is flattering.
• If you think the overall looks flattering the category is even more so.  There were 45, 50, 55 and 60 year-old men in front of the first 40 year-old male.
• Last year 48:14 would have got me 81st overall and 17th 40 year-old male.  Perhaps that push for a category win is a little premature.

Overall my feelings about the race are positive, it's a great test, I got a course best, and I had fun in the sun.  I am far from a world beating runner, but I am good enough that I shouldn't be walking for any part of a 10km and particularly not for 2 and a half minutes.  That is either poor pacing, lack of mental toughness or a combination of the two.  The only upside of that is the time I set today is very soft and if I can stay consistent with my training I will knock a couple of minutes off the time next year.  Those concerns are for 2027.  

My focus for 2026 must now turn to the Chester Marathon in October.  I do have a flat 10k in August and a half marathon in September and I will look to run well at both of those, but the A race is the marathon and so long-runs will be priority number one, starting with a 23km run on Saturday.

Southend Half Marathon 2026 - Race Report

I had a near perfect morning at the Southend Half Marathon on Sunday morning. This was the 30th anniversary of the event and my 9th time completing it. I did also have a failed attempt in 2023 when I blew up in spectacular fashion and trudged back to the car after 5 miles. This year it was a far happier story. 

It is a great local race and it never fails to deliver a sunny and warm morning. Thankfully it wasn't boiling hot this year, my Strava tells me it was 15 degrees. It definitely felt warmer than that to me, but it was far from the 24-25 degrees that it can be, and I was grateful for the lower temperatures and the occasional cloud cover we received. 

Lauren was in charge of taking the girls to and from dancing this morning and so that allowed me to enjoy the race worry free. I left the house at 7am and it meant I arrived at the start by half 7, an hour and a half before the off and even then there was still a short queue for the carpark. I was then able to relax, enjoying some time on a bench looking out to sea, some trips to the portaloos before the masses arrived, a protein bar and some water, it was a lovely calm and stressfree build-up, a marked difference from my London Marathon experience. 

I skipped the formal warm-up, infact I skipped any form of warm-up and was caught lounging on the grass five minutes before the start by a fellow runner who commented on how relaxed I looked and he wasn't wrong. I dragged myself off the floor and got myself to the start. The organisers had staggered the starts, first the wheelchair athletes, then the sub 1:30 runners then the rest of us. I positioned myself near the front of the rest of us. I was targeting sub 1:40 and so couldn't in good conscience go in the sub 1:30 wave.

I almost regretted that decision because when we did start the course was all very narrow and I was going frustratingly slow for the first couple of hundred metres. My Garmin has me doing 9:30 miles and my average for the race was more like 7:30 miles. It quickly settled down and as the roads widened I was able to get into my running properly. I think I might have over compensated somewhat as my Garmin beeped through the first km in 4:36 which was 10 seconds faster than my target of 4:45, 4:45 for the race would get me in and around that 1:40 target. 

The first few km's are on small roads as we wind our way to the seafront, there were some speed bumps to negotiate along with some tight turns, it's a gentle downhill, on fresh legs those km's go by in a flash. Once on the flat of the seafront we had our first water station and I fail spectacularly, the water was in big paper cups and I went to grab it and muffed it, the cup hit the floor. After that I slowed almost to a stop for half a second to ensure safe receipt of the cup before getting going again. It wasn't ideal but I knew I needed to get the water onboard. I didn't bring any gels or nutrition with me, so it was just H2O all the way for me. 

The km's were getting ticked off in short order and the splits were staying very consistent. 

1km - 4:36 

2km - 4:33 

3km - 4:30 

4km - 4:35 

5km - 4:36 

 First 5km in 22:50.

I was aware that I was going faster than the planned pace but the effort felt manageable and so I just went with it. The race has lots going for it, it's local, the weather, it's flat and the crowds are good. One of the small downsides is the course is pretty samey being a two-loop run of the seafront. That familiarity does mean that you know exactly what is coming up and it allows you to measure your efforts. The lack of gradient also helps with this. The one variable that can impact your pacing is the wind and Strava said that was about 10mph, I don't know if others struggle with this, but I can't for the life of me tell if I am wind assisted or wind against at that wind speed.

I was settling into a good rhythm and for such a crowded race I remarkably found myself in lots of space which suits me beautifully. The water stations were plentiful and I was taking water onboard at almost every one and my pick-up and drinking technique was improving with each one. The km's were passing at a good clip and the pace stayed consistent throughout the second quarter of the race. 

6km - 4:34 

7km - 4:33 

8km - 4:34 

9km - 4:27 

10km - 4:30 

Second 5km in 22:38.

With no music and not much else to keep my mind busy, it does give you time to contemplate just how far there is left to go. I remember seeing my watch tick over to 40 minutes and I thought I've still got an hour to go. With the looped nature of the course you are also seeing future mile markers before you reach them, with mile 2 and mile 7 markers close to each other. I thought about that 7 mile marker alot! In my heart I think I knew I had gone out a little too fast and I was going to be hanging on in the second half and so it proved.

11km - 4:38 

12km - 4:48 

13km - 4:46 

14km - 4:44 

15km - 4:44 

Third 5 km in 23:40. 

That 11th km is almost the transitional km of the race. The first 10km at 4:30 - 4:35 km's the second 10km at 4:45 and this 11th km at 4:38 being an inbetweenie. It was my slowest km of the race thus far. I think it was a conscious effort to slow myself down, I wanted a managed decline and not an explosion. After that km I found my new rhythm of 4:45 per km. I am amazed how consistent I was able to keep the pace as I really began to suffer. Running isn't pain, you have to do it for too long to be painful, but it is definitely sustained discomfort and suffering. That's a T-shirt slogan right there. 

The fourth and final quarter was light on discomfort and heavy on suffering. 

16km - 4:45 

17km - 4:42 

18km - 4:46 

19km - 4:48 

20km - 4:42 

Fourth 5km in 23:43.  

You have the only slight incline on the course as you come off the seafront just before 11 miles. 3.5km to go it should be the push to the finish, I made it to the top of the hill and my HR will have been 180+ at that point. 

I then tried to recover on the flat without much success. It was a slog to the finish from here. The runners really had thinned out at this point. On the seafront running at the pace I did you would see both the leaders and the back markers and with the looped course it was always bustling. Now we were on the residential roads heading for the finish it was a much quieter and lonelier experience, both in terms of runners and spectators. 

We were now really close to home as we hit the section that makes up part of the Southend parkrun, I was flagging big time, the thought of walking was constantly on my mind. I kept pushing on, and then there was a minor upslope with 800m to go and I stopped and walked! You mad man. The three or four runners who passed me all encouraged me on, after 10 or 15 seconds I sorted myself out and got moving and I was moving well. 

Then we were into the crowds for the finish and I started to shift through the gears, making a big push for the line. The Garmin stopped and it was mercifully over, 1:38:08 was the official time. Nearly 2 minutes quicker than my target, it could have been a 1:36 if I had sustained that early pace but I think 1:38 was all I really had today however I would have paced it. 

The 21st km was 4:46 even with the walk break, then a 33 second surge for the line at 6 minutes per mile.

The 1:38 was five minutes faster than my time at Middlesbrough in March. It was my fastest half marathon since a 1:35 at Great Bentley in 2015. It my 8th fastest half marathon all time, 2011 was a good year for me as they take my top five times. 

In terms of WAVA it is third, only behind the Great North Run in 2011 - 1:30:05 and the Southend Half in 2011 of 1:32:09. I will keep working away, and see where this takes me. To get into PB territory over the half marathon I am going to need to lose another 23 seconds a km or so, which is enormous, but I'm trending in the right direction, and I'm enjoying it despite the discomfort and the suffering. See you next year Southend for a 10th time.