Luton Marathon

I never write short race reports but I’ll try to write this in Ray’s style …

Luton in December – not the most exiting place to visit. Let’s put it like this: I was happy enough to get off the streets and safely into my hotel without encountering too many ASBO holders. I hate to generalise, but there did seem to be more than a fair share of lager louts about on the street on a Saturday afternoon.

The Organisation – the Luton Marathon assembled in a large gym at the Lea Manor Recreation Centre on the north side of the town on Sunday morning December 3rd. Nice atmosphere with about five or six hundred athletes present. Everything ran well, very low key and smooth organisation.

The Participants – definitely a different feel to this marathon. A lot of hardy people from the 100 Marathon club making sure they get in a December run. Mostly local runners taking part in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Championship. We met Liam Fenelon from Longford, another 100 Marathon man, and of course there were three Athenry participants. The race also had a relay element where a team of three could run one lap each of the almost nine-mile circuit.

The Galway Crew – Johnny O’Connor who had planned great things for this marathon until his training was disrupted over the past few weeks was decidedly nervous about this race. His big brother Ray, was completely the opposite – nonchalantly stepping out of a taxi 6.5 minutes before race start dressed in jeans and jumper. He changed on the side of the road, stood into the crowd of runners and off he went. Yours truly was unsure how this would go, in the five weeks since the Dublin Marathon I had two easy recovery weeks, two weeks training at about 75-80% and then a taper week. Mick Rice was designated baggage handler – sidelined due to a shin/ankle/calf injury, he still travelled to England to hold the bags and hang around Luton handing out gels and drinks to his team mates.

Aside – no way is this Ray’s style of writing. I’d be finished by now! Oh well …

The Route – three loops of a circuit through the outskirts of Luton and the surrounding countryside. I described it as an obstacle course and I heard another runner call it multi-terrain. During each loop we ran on road, on footpaths (up and down kerbs!), along lanes at the back of houses, through a park, on sandy trail, through muddy puddles, uphill and down, on concrete, on a muddy track about nine inches wide, around the back of a service station, dodging bollards and cars coming out of driveways, around a few very sharp bends, on a slabbed terrace, under subways and around tower blocks – boring it was not!

The Conditions – windy but could’a been a lot worse. After a night of 100mph gusts and heavy rain, we had a few hours of blustery but sunny weather. The worst was after about a mile of so of undulating climbing when you get to the top of the last hill you turn to the left and head first into the wind.

The Support – excellent. Loads of marshals on the course. Three drinks stations with water and sports drink on every lap and even a sponge station in December! My only gripe is that they used plastic cups. Race organisers of the world please take note; it is almost impossible to drink from a plastic cup without slowing down – and who likes slowing down? The relay runners all wore special labels on their backs so it was great to be able to work out who you were racing against.

My Race – intended to maintain a 6:30 pace throughout but in my soul I knew from early on that this wasn’t gonna work. After the first few miles I instinctively knew that I was working harder than I should be, but decided to keep working and stuck with a group of six or seven runners. As I finished the first loop Mick could see that I wasn’t in great shape, but I was on target and kept going. I ran the second lap quite well and left most of our group behind on the hills. I kept telling myself that I was doing well and that my pace was on target, but I was refusing to acknowledge that this really was hard work. I was struggling with the twists and turns, the kerbs and the ever-changing terrain. Mick gave me a much-appreciated gel and a bottle of lucozade sport as I passed the finish area and started into the final loop. After about 19 miles I was still just about holding my target pace but I slowed up dramatically on the hills. I recorded a 6:40 mile on the uphill part the on the first lap, slowing to 6:50 on the second lap. This time I hobbled up in about 7:35! Eventually I was caught by a marathon runner wearing a 100 Marathon Club singlet, and he breezed by me. He was followed by a runner from Scunthorpe and District AC and I really pushed to stay with him – to no avail as they both soon opened up an ever increasing gap on me. The last three or four miles were not pretty and I dropped back from 17th to 22nd position. I would have loved to know my splits but in my exhaustion after the race I deleted them from my watch as I tried to save them. I do know however that I hit the 25 mile mark at 2hrs 50mins, so it took me ten minutes to negotiate the last 1.2 miles! As I approached the line I saw the clock ticking ever closer to 3:00:00 so I “sprinted” to the line and got home in 2:59:52. Shattered.

The O’Connor Cohort – Ray’s Just-In-Time arrival obviously didn’t phase him too much as he ran another sub-4 marathon finishing with a very smooth running action in 3:58:33. Ray is Mister-Consistent these days which is just what you need when you are running a marathon a month. To the best of my knowledge he has consistently beaten four-hours in his last six or seven outings. That completes his marathon running for the year and he can now tick off 27 completed marathons. Johnny had the best race for Athenry finishing in a very creditable 3:43:11. This is just a few minutes slower than his personal best on a tough course in very windy conditions – despite a sub-optimal training regime. This was his fourth outing at the distance and believe me the best is still to come.

Ray, how do you keep those race reports so short and sweet?

The Afters: A hot shower and then a few beers with the lads – what more can you ask for? We even cajoled Mick into eating Thai food. Author's note: I've just re-read that last paragraph and I can assure you that 'the lads' were not in the shower!

A well-organised race with a nice atmosphere all round. Thanks very much to the organisers and especially to the brave marshals who hung around street corners for hours on end making sure that we were all safe from traffic and marauding bears.