Brass Monkey Half Marathon – 19th January 2025
by Josh Pearson
Brass Monkey Race Morning
After grabbing a morning Lucozade sport I headed out the door around 7am before nearly falling flat down on black ice before even getting in the car. Change of plans meant I was driving down to York and meeting the rest of the guys there. Anyone who was up early on race day will know how bad the ice was and the thoughts going through my head were I hope it is not like this in York. After getting in the car I headed down to York for the race.
Arrival
I arrived close to the racecourse at around 9am and the traffic was tailed back a very long way. Eventually after gradually moving in the car slowly to the car park I was finally there at the famous Brass Monkey… I have heard a lot about this race over the last few years but I have never even attempted to get into this race until this year (Tempted by Sam E and a few others). Luckily, to my amazement, I managed to get through the ballot straight away.
Once parked up at roughly 9:20am I had a slow walk down to the race HQ in the racecourse and as I was heading down by chance I bumped into Deano on the walk. We ended up heading to Race HQ upstairs where we changed into race gear getting ready to warm up. Dropped bags me and Deano headed for a warm up as we had not seen anyone else in the Race HQ from Crook AC at this point, As we headed towards the escalator downstairs we bumped into Sam & Ryan Etherington who were now going to join us for the warm up, before we headed out the Race HQ we also bumped in to Dan Staples who joined us on the warm up. We ran out and back just over 1 mile near the racecourse to warm up on what was a very chilly morning. After that it was 9:55 am and we got ourselves on the start line… It was time for the famous Brass Monkey Half Marathon.
Race Plan
For anyone who didn’t know I have had a slow build up from a recent foot injury back in October so expectations were not as high as when I ran my PB back in March 2024 in Middlesbrough HM. In the last 12 weeks I had only managed an average of 14.8 miles a week of running (with the highest single week being 24.68 miles). Therefore my plan was to be steady through halfway and then see how we felt as to what we can do in the second half of the race.
Race Start – 10 am – Miles 1- 4
After a few announcements we heard the signal. It was go time… We were off… My aim for the first mile was to be no quicker than 5:50, as we headed out there was a nice group of people running at this pace which I sat in with including local runner Bryan Potts, a friend from Elvet Striders. We clicked the first mile in 5:51 which was nice and smooth with no early drama in what is quite a congested starting mile on a narrow road. We continued in what was a great group of around 8-10 people through the first 4 miles before heading on to the “lollipop section” of the route, Miles 2,3, & 4 were split in 5:51, 5:53 & 5:51 accordingly.
Miles 5 – 9
After feeling very smooth through the first 4 miles I had a brief chat with another local runner Gareth Kyle from Darlington Harriers about his plans for the race whilst we took turns drafting and running into the minimal headwind that there was on the outward part of the course. Apparently the 6th mile for some reason seems to be a slower one as you head on the furthest away back straight of the course but we were happy to see it wasn’t far off our current average in a 5:54 mile.
As I approached Appleton Roebuck just after the water station at around 6.5 miles into the race I was still feeling good and looking forward to having the wind (which was very minimal on the day) on our backs. Appleton Roebuck is such a lovely village that you would probably never have any need to go there but this race showcased how nice this place is. When I got out the other side of the village after splitting my fastest mile of the race in 5:45 for the 7th mile it was time to really see where my body was at after an unplanned lack of training in the build up to the race.
Mile 8 starts the way back to York racecourse out of the village but still on “The Lollipop” section for those who have never raced at this route before. I was still unsure as to how the body would react after a lot of quality miles in the race so far but the lack of training, miles 8 – 9 went over ok in the lovely countryside with a few people around me for race company in 5:52 (mile 8) & 5:52 (mile 9).
Miles 10 – 13.1 – The Struggle
After getting through mile 9 I was really starting to feel it, I could feel the lack of volume in the build up made a massive difference in how my body felt at this stage. When I ran my PB (1:16:12) in Middlesbrough HM back in March 2024 I felt much stronger at this stage and in this race at Brass Monkey I knew the last 4 miles were going to be absolute hell and a real test of mental strength.
If I’m totally honest the last 4 miles was just a blur but also felt like it took forever to get through. Deep down, if I’m honest as well, I had a good feeling this was going to be the case even before the race started… so I was kind of prepared. Obviously it is not nice when you are in this position and to make it worse when I hit 10 miles with 5k to go I was in complete no man’s land with the person ahead about 40 metres ahead and the person behind around 30 metres behind at this point. Any runner will know them in race demons when you are really feeling it but I managed to get some positive thoughts and just dig in that little more.
As I reached mile 11 the first of the short but sharp over passes on the return I had managed to gain ground to a couple of other runners. It was absolute agony at this point but managed to dig very deep indeed. Once you come down the other side of the overpass and turn right down the main straight of the village it was nice as there was a nice amount of support from locals which was not there on the quiet country roads for the previous 7 or so miles. What else was nice was that there was only around 1.5 miles to go.
As you get out of the village with only 1.1 miles or so to go you know you are so close but the final obstacle another overpass, probably the longest one of the route appears… Luckily I remembered this and kept a tiny bit of energy which I don’t know where I found it to navigate up and over to the downhill of the other side.
What does that sign say… “Oh magic it’s the 800m to go sign Josh”, I was talking to myself in my head.. “That’s just 2 laps of Shildon track” I was thinking to keep myself focused for the final 3 mins or so. Turned into the car park road and headed down there until it bears right to the finishing straight which was a welcome sight haha. Managed to get a tiny sprint to the line to finish in my 4th fastest ever half marathon time of 1:17:44.
Race Reflections
If I am totally honest, that is better than I thought I could have run with the lack of training (unplanned) in the build up. One thing I learned about myself is how proud I was at how I dealt with being in a very uncomfortable position in the race and managed to really dig deep and get a result from not being at my best fitness. This sets the rest of the year off very nicely.
Finish Line
It was now time to watch the rest of our amazing club come in and see some amazing performances. Well done to all of our members who took part in the 2025 Brass Monkey HM.
Crook AC Brass Monkey Results
Josh Pearson 1:17:44
John Firby 1:20:14
Jake Cairns 1:20:28
Sarah Attwood 1:20:58
(New Crook AC Female HM Club Record)
Ryan Etherington 1:22:22
Sam Etherington 1:22:23
Alex Mitton 1:23:25
Kate Storey 1:23:44
Dean Stockdale 1:23:55
Peter Clough 1:26:10
(New Crook AC V60 HM Club Record)
Daniel Staples 1:28:59
Jon Rose 1:31:04
Kimberly Clay 1:31:11
Simon Pickering 1:32:08
Tommy Mason 1:32:10
Matthew Brimm 1:39:02
Jason Marr 1:43:22
Chris Dobson 1:48:48
Phil Healey 1:58:59
Gayle Askwith 2:02:15
George Rose 2:11:07
Lee Newby-Higginbottom 2:11:34
(I think that is everyone, sorry if I have missed anyone, I have taken the results off the Brass Monkey results page with Crook AC club attached).
Overall Reflections
Some amazing performances within the club which I am proud to be a part of. You should all be very proud of your achievements. After the race we got a couple of pictures with the club and then me Dean, Ryan and Sam went to a local pub called “The Red Lion” on the outskirts of York to celebrate the successful day with a pint and a Sunday roast. Well done again to everyone on a very successful and fun day at York for the famous Brass Monkey Half Marathon…
Josh