The first Rutland Marathon by a new company, OK the Bad: having to pay £6 on top of the quite dear entrance fee was terrible, feed stations were a bit bland, T-shirts would’ve been nice, feedback from the company by email and the FB site wasn’t very quick, the ten o’clock start and where it started from was very poorly handled. The Good: despite the course looking a bit boring it was enjoyable, the marshals were upbeat and friendly, plenty of feed stations and they did give out gels. So the day didn’t start great, my intended 18 mile Cycle to the start became a 30 miler due to closed roads and bad signage. Today was about getting my dear friend Andrea of Barrow Runners her good for age (Sub 3:50) so luckily pressure was off.
Despite the frosty and foggy start it turned into a hot blue skied day, despite its beauty anyone who regularly runs with us round Rutland water knows it’s not flat and 20 or so miles in its a killer.
So with such lovely weather everyone has come out so runners are constantly dodging dogs, people, cyclists and hopping over at least 20 pace slackening cattle grids. The Hambleton Peninsula comes in around mile 15 and for those familiar with its incline’s they just don’t get any easier!
The last few miles are tough and Andrea has fell behind but I’m still confident of her making her time with room to spare. I press on ahead some of this has to do with myself actually feeling it tough the last four miles and I admit when I crossed the line I found it harder on my legs today than the Railway Ultra!
3:49 hrs, I come in at 18th place, 3rd in my age group and very consistent (the printout is really good), sadly Andrea comes in at 3:52 having had a terrific race and its very fair to say had it been a normal road Marathon she’d have been much nearer to 3:30 which tells you how much harder this was. Well worth the experience and supporting a local race, be nice to see a few more Stiltons give it a go if only for the lactic challenge!
Running the half Marathon were Michael Cooke and Laura Pickard with much appreciated support on the course from Ben Pickard and Mike Brighty. [Rob]