Summary – Really enjoyable route; Amazing support and atmosphere along the route; diabolical organisation.
It probably should have been a bit of an early “heads-up” at the marathon expo when they handed out t-shirts with the runners numbers that said “finisher” – an early sign that this probably wasn’t going to be the best organised event, as the organisers clearly saw finishers t-shirts as an organisational hassle rather than something for the racers to earn by finishing the race.
The morning of the race dawned and the weather was awful, temperature was 3.50C and it was raining heavily – just what I wanted a battle with elements as well as 26.2miles to struggle round for my second Marathon. Anyway, after a quick dash up the motorway I arrived in a rain soaked Manchester a few hundred yards from the start-line, thinking that taking my bag to the baggage drop off point at the finish (the other side of the park) was a good idea – silly me! After a brisk walk and depositing my bag at the drop off I had a look around for Michael and Jason – my fellow Striders at the race – sadly in the crowds there was no chance of finding them, so off to the start it was!
A couple of minutes after 9 we all got going. Sadly having arrived a little later than I had hoped to do found myself towards the back of the pack well behind the 4hr pace man (whom i’d set my sights on finishing in front off). Anyway I stuck to plan – plod along at about 8mins 35 seconds per mile and hope all the training had paid off. By Old Trafford football ground I was passing the 4hr pace runner, which was pleasing, and around mile 2, at a switch back I saw the 3hr 45 pace runner followed by Jason within a couple of hundred yards, so aimed to slowly catch them and keep pace with them for a while. After a couple about 3 rather uninteresting miles the route led us into Stretford where we met the first of the crowds that lined the rest of the route. All the while the rain drenched Manchester and the marathon runners – for once though the crowds lining the route were being made to suffer as much as the runners.
Anyway, the route wound its way through Stretford, into Sale, Timperley and Bowdon, all the while the crowds were amazing, despite continual rain and a cold north wind the crowds kept on cheering us on. After Bowdon the route led us off into the lanes of Dunham – by now we’d reached the halfway point and it still hadn’t stopped raining! As we ran through the lanes of Dunham things became a little more interesting – you now needed to pay attention rather than just plodding along – not just because of the odd pot hole, but because of stupid runners ahead stopping because of the odd puddle – little did they know what lay ahead. After a mile or so of puddles on Dunham lanes we wound or way into Dunham Massey, which put a tear in my eye as we ran past the place where I scattered my dad’s ashes six years ago. Onwards we went, past Dunham house, down the lane towards the Swan with two necks pub – at this stage the weather combined with the route taking us down an unpaved track turned a road marathon in a major city into a short section of “Hell up North” as the lane was often covered with ankle deep muddy puddles! In honesty I don’t remember much about miles 17 through to 20 apart from the weather seeming to get worse and the wind really lashing the rain against me and making me question why I was doing this, and was I somewhat twisted to be putting myself through this for “fun”?
Thankfully around mile 22 we came into Flixton, and as we did so the crowds began to line the streets again, cheering us home – if it hadn’t have been for these crowds i’m not sure I would have made it, but their amazing support kept going through the last few miles. The crowds roared us home as we ran onwards through Urmston and Stretford onto the finish line in Longford park. All in all this was a really good race with an interesting route, offering a good mix of countryside and Suburbs. What a shame that the organisation after crossing the finish line was an absolute joke. Having completed my 2nd marathon and earnt myself a new pb in the process it was just a shame for everything to seem to fall apart almost immediately after crossing the finish line, apparently I was relatively lucky, it only took me about 35mins to get my bag back out of the non-existent baggage system – and that was by luck as another runner threw it out of the baggage tent whilst trying to find theirs.
Great race but a few serious issues that need to be sorted for next time.
For more information visit the website.
Rick