On Sunday I took part in the 40th edition of the Taunton Half Marathon. In the past this was a highly anticipated annual event for the South West running community, however in 2022 the race directors stepped down and the event didn't take place for a few years. With the blessing and support of the previous organisers, Active South West brought the race back with the intention to carry on the wonderful legacy of this race but with their own stamp. I think they did a great job as it was the largest running event Taunton has ever seen!
The race HQ and start/finish both moved to the town centre to bring more theatre to the event by utilising iconic Taunton landmarks like the Market House as well as make it more spectator friendly and community focussed. There is plenty of nearby parking with multiple multi-storey car parks to choose from which always reduces race day stress. The race HQ at the Museum of Somerset was very well set up and easy to navigate. Another nice edition to the new location was the event coincided with the Taunton Independent Market at the race village in Castle Green which added to the race day atmosphere.
The race started just outside of the race HQ on Corporation Street and was officially started by the Mayor of Taunton and friend of the shop Hannah Taunton (Paralympic bronze medallist). There were a lot of entrants (over 2000!) but the organisers started assembling people 15 minutes before the start to ensure the race got underway at the planned 10am start time.
I haven't run this race before so wasn't sure what to expect but my training has been building really nicely since Christmas so I came in confident I could run a strong time, I didn't think I was in PB shape but in a much better place than I was at the end of last year. It is a one lap course and the conditions weren't bad but there was a bit of wind. I spoke to a few of the other runners on the start line who said it would be a bit undulating with some rolling hills.
We set off and I quickly found myself at the front of the race with a couple of other runners next to me. My aim before the start of the race was to finish in about 70 minutes which is an average of about 5:20 minutes per mile. However, as is so typical in a race I set off quicker than this pace and I don't like looking at my watch when racing so wasn't aware that I was ahead of pace. I did take a look at my watch at about 2 miles and saw it was 10:10 so I was running 5:05 pace which was significantly quicker than I had planned.
I had a decision to make, either slow down the pace to my original target or commit to this faster pace and see what happens. I felt good and was starting to pull away from the other runners and open up a gap so I decided I would take a risk and try to hold this faster pace for as long as I could.
It was a risk but I am so glad that I did. Looking back at my splits they varied throughout the race but this is accounted for when taking the hills and sections with a headwind into account. I managed to sustain the pace and even pick it up in the last 3 miles which were my quickest splits and all sub 5:00 minute/mile pace which was a huge confidence booster. I was running on my own for most of the race with just the lead car to chase which is never easy but I felt strong throughout. The last few miles were tough and the support along the course was very much well received. Due to the long distance of the race, much of it takes place along country lanes and it is very quiet but there are some villages on the route such as Oake and Bradford on Tone which had good cheer zones and the last couple of miles is back through Taunton.
I took the win in 1:08:05 which was 2 minutes faster than I had been aiming to run so I was very happy with my performance. Chris Hewitt (Tiverton Harriers) was second in 1:09:30 and Thomas Addison-Wood (Unattached) was third in 1:12:31. The women's race was won by Serane Stone (Bideford AAC) in 1:29:12 followed home by Ellie Clist (Plymouth Triathlon Club) in 1:30:06 and Rachel Astington (Unattached) in 1:32:33. In total there were 1781 finishers. Full results of the Taunton Half Marathon 2026 are online.
Well done to everyone who raced and thank you to Active South West for organising a great event! Entries for next year's event are open now.
