WAITROSE HALF MARATHON SET TO HIT CITY STREETS

The  2nd Waitrose Lichfield Half Marathon takes place this
Sunday May 6th 2012 and the maximum size of field, 1400 runners, has been
achieved and the race which starts in King Edwards VI School grounds at
10.30am then follows a route along the Tamworth Rd past Whittington
Barracks then turning off and heading through the Centre of Whittington and
then out into the country before entering Fradley and skirting the village
before heading off to the Tesco Depot Roundabout and then turning off past
Curborough Spring course and emerging again at the Netherstowe Lane
junction with Eastern Avenue and then entering the city again along
Brownsfield Rd,St Michaels Rd and eventually leading into Stowe Rd before
the race finishes on Stowe Field.
Approximate timings for the leading pack of the field reaching key points on
the course are as follows;

Common Lane/Tamworth Rd junction  10.49am
Whittington Main St 10.51am
Fradley (Church St) 11.12 am
Tesco Depot Roundabout 11.21am
Curborough Sprint course 11.22am
Netherstowe Avenue 11.30am
Brownsfield Rd/St Michaels Rd 11.36am
Stowe Field  11.43am

There will be some road closures at key times and these include;
Stockford Lane (just outside Whittington)
Brookhay Lane (just outside Whittington)
Brownsfield lane (road leading to Curborough Sprint course)
Stowe Rd (from Lombard Avenue to Stowe St Roundabout) 11.15am –
14.30pm

These are available for viewing at www.kpevents.net

There will also be some temporary traffic calming measures and diversions en
route including;
Temporary No parking Main St Whittington (Saturday night/Sunday morning)
No turning into Common lane Whittington from Tamworth Rd 10.30am –
11.30am
Temporary restrictions at Main St/Common Lane junction in Whittington
10.45am – 11.30am
Stop/Go system at Tesco Depot Roundabout Fradley 11.15am – 13.30pm
Temporary No parking Netherstowe Avenue Saturday night/Sunday morning
No turn into Brownsfield Rd from Eastern Avenue 11.15am – 13.30pm
Traffic calming in Brownsfield Rd, St Michaels Rd,St Chads Rd 11.30pm-
14.00pm

Event organizers KP Events will endeavour to keep traffic disruption to a
minimum and have been advised and are using a specialist traffic
management company A Lux Plant to carry out all the required closures and
temporary measures, in liaison with Staffordshire Police and Lichfield District
Council

Spectators are encouraged to cheer and clap the runners as they make their
way round the 13.1 mile course which , as Paul Griffin of KP Events explains,
took nearly 2 years to finalise;

“KP Events has evolved by organizing running events such as the Dash and
the Fradley 10k over a number of years and we wanted Lichfield to have
a half marathon since we began organising in 1998 so it’s great to finally have an event that works for everybody but mostly that appeals to runners
and also doesn’t cause any major problems to residents along the route, we
think we have achieved it with a route that is mostly flat, takes in some lovely
rural roads and finished in spectacular fashion on Stowe Field in the City
Centre under the gaze of the magnificent Lichfield cathedral.”

The map for the route is as follows  (see below)

Sponsors Waitrose are keen to be involved as Richard Davies of Waitrose explains;

" We are delighted to be sponsors of the Lichfield Half Marathon this year, it's a prestigious event for the city and is also a major occasion for the wider community and we want to seen to be supporting events which promote positive messages and benefits associated with a healthy lifestyle."

The Lichfield Round Table are again  involved providing a team of marshalls to help around the course and local running hero John Dawson of the 100 Marathon Club and now 13 London Marathons has agreed once again to start the run and he’s only too pleased to be involved again;

“I’m honoured and flattered to be asked to start the event, it was a big success in 2011 for the first time, it bought a lot of people to the city and much interest, long may it continue.”

The race was won in 2011 by Bedford and County AC athlete Patrick Stuart (pictured) in 1:16:07, first woman home was Sarah Johnson (Trentham AC) in 1:19:33

For more information on the Waitrose Lichfield Half Marathon call 07947986147 or visit  www.kpevents.net