Runners in the New York City Marathon, 2003†
The 21st annual Grunty Fen half-marathon and one-mile fun run will be held on Sunday 11 September 2011. The Ely Standard bills the half-marathon event as “a fast, flat, two looped course through pleasant Fenland countryside”. The 21,097.5 metre (~13.1 mile) arc-certified half-marathon route starts and ends in Witchford near Ely, past Little Thetford and clockwise around Grunty Fen.
Total entrant numbers have declined in recent years from a 901 high in 2006 to a low of 542 last year. Similar half-marathons, such as the New York City half-marathon and the Great North Run attract considerably more entrants. Still, in 2006 at least, more people ran past Little Thetford than actually live* in it!
Recent fast half-marathon times for the Grunty Fen event include a male:1:08:04 by Wilfred Taragon in 2006 and female:1:16:29 by Felicity Milton in 2008. The male world record for the distance is 58:23 by Zersenay Tadese on 21 March 2010 and the female world record is 1:06:25 by Lornah Kiplagat on 14 October 2007.
Race start times (as of February 2011) are 10:15 am for the wheel chair event, 10:30 am for the half-marathon event and 10:45 am for the fun run. Interested competitors can register on line from 1 March 2011. Pre-registration for any of the events is mandatory as no entries will be permitted on the day of the event.
See also
The 2010 page on this site – including map of the route (for 2010)
Ely Runners – a community amateur sports club
Ely Standard 21st Grunty Fen half-marathon and 1 mile fun run
*2001 census
†Photo © 2003 John McCullough
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