Dave Neilands reports . . . .

Somebody once said “all marathons are the same – 26.2 miles”.  Frank Miller and Tim Warner of Garstang Running Club would tend to disagree after completing the Snowdonia Marathon.  A circuit of Snowdon with four miles uphill (ascent of 800 feet) for starters, followed by downhill for 8.5 miles (descent 900 feet), two miles uphill (ascent 400 feet) and a flatish (?) 7 miles followed by a very cruel 2.5 miles uphill on rough track (ascent 700 feet), topped off by 2 miles down hill (descent 900 feet) with a bit of a hill in the last half mile.  Frank has run 10 marathons in the last 10 years – all under 4 hours, however number 10 required a bit of a sprint(?) at the end to finish 379th in 3 hours 59.28 minutes.  Sadly Tim’s sprint appeared to desert him and he finished 386th in 4 seconds over 4 hours – was his fourth marathon this year taking its toll?  First runner home completed the course in 2 hours 39 minutes with the 1046th and final competitor finishing the race in 6 hours and 47 minutes.  And finally if anyone is thinking that a quarter of the course was downhill so it can not be too bad – be reassured  descending 900 feet in 8.5 miles is nearly as hard work as ascending – unless you are a mountain goat!

(5/11/06)

 

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