The bank holiday weekend saw a duo of MACs embark on the long drive south to both of their hometown to tackle the Southampton Marathon, to celebrate their 50th birthdays. A brief bit of course research on the drive down suggested that it could be in the top 10 most difficult road marathons in the UK due to its 1000ft of elevation – great! This is just what The pair needed after both completing a marathon in the previous couple of weeks (Dennis, London 26/4 and Lisa, Boston (UK) on 12/4). The benefit of going back to your home town is the free accommodation at Dennis’ parents and the lift to the start line (and the pub in the evening by Dennis’ Dad!).
The course has a bit of everything; ups and down, footpaths next to the river Itchen, ups and down, meandering paths through parks, ups and downs, scenic view from the top of the Itchen Toll bridge (which the Marathoners had the joy of running over and back twice), and roads through the University and pub lined streets in the city centre, funnily the streets near the pubs seems to have the loudest support.
As it was a 2-lap race for the Marathon most of the on course support had left after the 1 lappers had gone through. Despite the elevation Dennis had a strong run to finish in 4:16 (6 minutes quicker than London) 53/118 in MV50, 652/1150 in gender. Lisa found the undulations more difficult and finished in 5:02 (slightly slower than the flat Boston) 30/45 in FV50, 247/349 in gender – the course did measure slightly long! …
