The Fleet Half Marathon – now an over-40 veteran having started on 4 April 1982 – is proving as popular as ever. The race, seen by many runners as an essential London Marathon warm-up event, returned after a three-year hiatus in 2022 with 1,447 finishers, rising to 1,758 last year and 2,168 who were all finished this year in 3:19:15.

After some cold and wet weather the previous 24 hours, conditions were much better for the race on Sunday 24 March 2024. Having nailed the weather, organisers also had to cope with the closure of Fleet railway station due to engineering works, with no trains all day and no rail replacement buses, ironically due to road closures for the half marathon.

The experienced team of volunteers at Fleet & Crookham AC took it all in their stride and there were many comments on social media praising the smooth running of the event. Andy Collard (1,270th in 1:52:26) was reminiscing about his school days when he posted: "First half marathon back in the town I went to school in the 80's (Calthorpe). Was an amazing day! So well organised, dedicated and selfless volunteers, and a real spirit of camaraderie. Utterly wonderful and appreciated. Thank you so much."

Three men were under 67 minutes at the front of the huge field. Sam Bramwell, of Herne Hill Harriers, was first back to the Calthorpe Park finish line after two town centre loops and a larger lap into the surrounding countryside. Sam's winning time of 1:05:06 (PB) gave him a decent margin over Aldershot, Farnham & District AC team mates Joshua Grace (1:06:11) and Stephen Blake (1:06:24 PB).

Aldershot enjoyed even more success as Georgie Bruinvels (W35, 1:16:08) led two more runners inside 80 minutes. The women's podium was completed by W45 Alice Braham (Ealing Eagles RC, 1:17:55) and Steph McCall (Clapham Chasers RC, 1:19:17).

Nearly 400 runners beat 90 minutes on the proven fast course and more than 1,500 were home in less than two hours, as standards continue to rise throughout the pack.

Race results and previous reports at runABC South race listing here.

Photo courtesy Fleet Half Marathon on Facebook