Dumfries Marathon 23/03/08
This initial report is from Stuart, Ellie Milne's brother. They were supporting Richard and Margaret. Richard had decided to run alongside Margaret using the marathon as a supported training run.
The first half of the race was run in relatively favourable conditions - relatively mild with sun and following light wind. When we saw the runners at mile 16 all were peeling off layers with gloves/hats etc tucked into belts. From mile 17 onwards however the runners were facing into the strengthening wind running unsheltered along the banks of the River Nith. With a couple of miles to go the wind was pretty strong and a mix of hail and snow greeted the runners as they entered Dumfries.
The large crowd (at least 10, possibly 12 people) at the finish provided the finishers with a rapturous welcome. For only £16 entry fee the race was really well marshalled (general concensus of the runners at the post race cup of tea get together at the new & yet to be opened DG1 leisure centre), all the runners got a medal, T Shirt and a cream egg.
Margaret's objective was to beat 4 hours and she smashed that with an (unofficial) 3:57, outsprinting an obviously monopace Richard over the last 3 metres.
Report and photos Stuart Williamson
More photos on Stuart's Picasa site hereRichard's report...
Margaret S and I were the very small Portobello team – which still came away with a prize! – backed up by Ellie and family offering support and jelly babies with one hand, and photographic and chauffeuring services with the other.
This race doesn’t happen every year, but I very much recommend you consider it the next time it comes around. It was very well run: lots of marshals, cheap, good changing/showering facilities, water stations every three miles + two places you could have your own drinks at, nice goody bag plus endless free soup and rolls at the finish, and a scenic course which I think has the potential to be fast. The course is basically an oblong first east and then south from Dumfries, with the final northern leg alongside the estuary from Glen Caple. Once out of Dumfries, it was all on tarmac country roads with great views of the surrounding hills. There were (I think) three long if gentle inclines of about half a mile – the one around mile 23 being most unwelcome – but nothing of a Loch Ness character – and most of it seemed flat rather than undulating (I’d been worried about the reports from the last race which suggested rather more uphill). Disappointingly for the organisers, they only had 120 entrants – but I much prefer smaller races, and it is nice not to have to queue for the shower or loo!
All week I’d been worried about the weather forecast, which gradually changed from heavy rain to snow with a strong northerly wind. Waking up in the Station Hotel (also recommended) to see the surrounding hills covered in white didn’t help – but the snow had melted off the car before breakfast and the sun was shining on a cold and blustery day by the 9:30 start. For me the race was practice for the end of May, when I am doing Lewis and Harris marathons on 25th and 27th respectively – my provisional target is to run the two in 9 hours, so wanted to test how quickly I could recover after a “gentle” marathon. Margaret was determined to beat four hours, and keen for a shot at a 3:50 pb – so we agreed to run together.
We started at the back, but Margaret is a fast starter who clearly likes to overtake, so we went off steadily overtaking folk, doing the first 5k in around 25 minutes. The first mile and a half were through the town, and not especially noteworthy. Once into the country, and especially when we turned south, it got surprisingly warm. We settled down to a pace just inside 8:30/mile, and Margaret enjoyed talking to all the men we overtook and carrying increasing handfuls of spare kit (headband, gloves, water bottle, chocolate, etc). I didn’t realise it at the time, but I guess the wind must have been at our backs for most of this stretch – we were chatting away happily and not really noticing the first half slip by. We turned west just before the half way mark, which we reached in just under 1:52, and it started to get tougher – the next five miles fell to 9:00 minute pace with the wind across us. Ellie and a camera wielding brother were waiting at mile 16 with jelly babies, to take away Margaret’s spare wardrobe. We were still moving up the field, but the gaps to the next runner were getting longer and longer.
Just time for an autograph...Somewhere around mile 17/18 we turned north into the wind, it started to get chilly, and our progress through the field came to an end. The wind wasn’t that strong, but it was steady and strength sapping and in our faces for well over an hour – this is no doubt what Bert has us doing all those sit-ups for. I’m not sure that my motivating strategy of telling Margaret how strong we were looking and that the wind was all in the mind was helping much at this stage, and we’d run out of interesting other runners to talk to. Fortunately Ellie was still putting in regular appearances at the roadside with more jelly babies – not that Margaret seemed to eat them, but clearly carrying more and more jelly babies in your hands does something more than just make your hands sticky!
Approaching mile 24 an old gent became the first runner to pass us, followed shortly afterwards by Adrian from Run and Become – so I tried the meaner tack of pointing out how much younger and fitter we were supposed to be. This didn’t work either. Nor did the hail that started about now improve matters much. But a short sharp downhill in that mile drove our pace up again, and once I’d pointed out that the next runner closing on us from behind was another lass who might be in Margaret’s age category, we were suddenly flying down the last mile, putting the old gent back in his place on the final sprint to the finish. I confess I lost out in the sprint – but the marshals kindly put us down as 55th equal at 3:57.
This had been a surprisingly pleasant run on a good scenic course and we’d been remarkably lucky with the weather – OK, the wind cost us a good five minutes, but compared to heavy rain or snow…. – and then the day got even better: back to the sports centre for showers, soup, and to discover that Margaret had won 3rd in her age group. All that and home in time for tea!
Report Richard Dennis
