Dean Williamson made a big impact at the Wymondham 20 — and not just by winning the race.
The Colchester Harriers athlete, who is also a soldier stationed in Colchester and originally from Middlesbrough, smashed a 35-year-old course record with a time of 1:47:37 in what was essentially a training run ahead of next month’s Manchester Marathon.
And it almost didn’t happen.
“I didn’t know too much about the race as I’m not from the area,” Dean explained. “But I had a marathon session to do and I managed to get a place after going on the waiting list. It was certainly better doing the event than just going round Colchester on my own!”
Williamson’s plan was to run at marathon pace — which, it turns out, is record-breaking pace at Wymondham.
“I knew I could get pretty close to the record if I hit the paces my coach wanted. I knew I’d come in around 1:48. It was mainly a solo run and I was on the start line and another lad asked what I was looking for and I just said I’m doing a marathon pace run. After about a mile-and-a-half he said, ‘This is a bit quick,’ and he backed off.”
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Dean, who won the Fleet Half Marathon earlier this month in a time of 67:41, admitted that not knowing the course added to the challenge.
“I didn’t know the course at all and I felt like I really struggled on the second loop on the hills… well they’re not hills, they just felt like quite long drags at times. I had to manage those a bit and to be honest I was then trying to manage the run with what my marathon session was supposed to be.”
“There was certainly an element of fatigue like there would be for anyone – 20 miles is a long way!”
The Wymondham 20 was race three in this year’s Sportlink Grand Prix Series and served as a key tune-up for Williamson’s spring marathon goals.
“I’m training for Manchester and it’s a bit of a free hit really,” he said. “I did Frankfurt last year but I picked up a bit of a niggle and I didn’t run for four weeks before it. I’m going back to Frankfurt later this year and I definitely think there’s a sub-2:20 in there. I’ll go out at 2:18 pace in Manchester and see what happens.”
Williamson also had high praise for the race and everyone involved:
“What an event it was by the way. They really are the best kind of races – the support out there and the marshals were absolutely class all the way through.”
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