HONDA associate Alastair Simpson will be on pacemaking duties on Sunday at Swindon Half Marathon after eight years of running as hard as he can over the 13.1 mile course.

The 46-year-old has always run near one hour, 45 minutes for the Swindon Half Marathon, but feels ready now to give something back and help others to achieve their goals.

The official two-hour, 10-minute pacemaker will look to set a steady pace for those wanting to jump on the bandwagon and.

“I’ve wanted to do it for a number of years now. I have been running for 10 years and I saw an advert from SEQOL Community Foundation asking for racemakers,” he said.

“I have probably reached my peak in terms of getting speed and times. I am at the stage where I want to give it all back to the sport and help some other people with their own targets.”

Alastair, who lives in Evergreens Close, Stratton, was delighted SEQOL stepped in to save the race and restored it to the community event it once was under Nationwide’s stewardship.

“I was ecstatic SEQOL saved it. It had lost its way under British Heart Foundation,” he said.

“I know they took it on themselves and saved it, for which I was grateful, but the race lost its character.

“It felt like it had become a commercial enterprise and they were doing it just to make money.

“There’s no problem with doing that, but it just lost its character. When Nationwide did it, it had a local feel rather than a big one like Bath or Bristol.”

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