Sunderland Half Marathon:

A half marathon around Sunderland would always be a journey into the unknown. Not just because I live on the black & white side of the North East but mainly because this felt like one of the stranger routes.

Bizarre Route

The race starts as you would expect, in the city centre with an event village, spectators etc.
However, once we left the start, we entered a labyrinth of twists ‘n’ turns through some of the smaller city centre streets, before a strange u-turn where we doubled back on ourselves before embarking on a mini Parkrun before carrying on towards another u-turn.

You can see from the course above that the route south of the River Wear was a bizarre layout.
However, once we crossed the Wearmouth bridge for the first time, the route unfolded in a more familiar type of course along the river and Roker seafront. A little tour of Roker Park followed before heading back across the river for a grandstand finish in the city centre.

But it was a good day…

Despite the strange route and a few puzzled faces from the locals as we ran down their streets. It was a well-organised event with many friendly volunteers and fellow runners.
As far as my race went, I was over the moon with yet another PB. Especially in warm & muggy conditions