Beachy Head Marathon

A new one for me! This promised to be tough with a total ascent of 3500 ft (3 forts = 3450). Weather was terrible on the day - wet windy and at times so misty you could barely see the runners ahead. Fortunately it was very well marshalled and noone fell off the cliffs or anything. I was hoping for a sub 4 hour time so was pretty pleased 3:59:33 especially as the conditions were so bad.

But a great race. If anything it's made me all the more keen to enter another one soon and I'm sure I'll do this one again next year.

Three Forts Marathon 2009

Completed my fifth cross country marathon last weekend. This is a 27 mile run starting in Worthing and taking in Cissbury, Devil's Dyke and Chanctonbury before returning to Worthing for the finish. Went off a bit fast this year and actually found myself leading for the first mile and a half. Very disconcerting and I felt a lot more comfortable once a few runners passed me. As in previous years there was no marshal or signage at the top of Coombes Farm meaning the entire pack followed the leader down the wrong path knocking about a quarter mile of the total distance. That was the only problem I saw though and the rest was clearly signed. Was going well for the first 18 miles or so and was keeping to an 8:20 minute average so was in with a shout of beating my PB. Unfortunately began to flag on the long drag from the river back up to the top of Chanctonbury and lost a few seconds. Was too tired to really capitalise on the downhill and didn't really pick up properly until the final descent from Cissbury. Finished in 4:01 which is fairly pleasing - my second best result so far but 10 minutes behind my PB.
Despite several moments where I hated running and vowed to never put my trail shoes on again I'm now keen to get another one in this year. Possibly the South Downs Marathon in June...

Steyning Stinger 2009

Ok, I don't update this blog very regularly these days do I? It's all Facebook's fault I'm afraid Only got so much free time to spend on the web. Anyway, the Stinger. This was my fourth year running it and my third attempt at the full marathon. First attempt in 2007 took 4:28. Second attempt in 2008 took 4:14 and this year, well I was hoping for somewhere around 4 hours so quite pleased with a 4:04. It's a tough course with around 5300 ft of climbing, conditions were great this year with only a bit of mud to contend with in the low lying areas at the beginning and a flooded field in Washington. After that it was dry trails all the way. First marathons for Adam and Tom this year who both did brilliantly with 4:16 and 4:22 respectively. Marshalling was excellent as always and the the cooked breakfast at the end very welcome!