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100th anniversary of the 1908 Hastings Marathon - Britain was going through a marathon boom after the London Olympics at the time. The race was fantastically well organized, with lots of 1908 touches at the start and finish, and at the dinner the night before. It was cold and foggy, but at least the gales and rain of the day before had abated. Tough start with about 6 miles of uphill, followed by undulations and quite a bit of downhill. Another tough bit: between miles 22 and 24 a large part was run on the shingle beach - not really what you need at that stage of the race - but if they could do it in 1908, why shouldn't we? A highlight: a goup of about 100 bikers on their Harleys, all in Santa outifts... Other than that: probably a scenic course, but hard to tell in the fog. Great marshalls. Not a lot of people out, but those that were, were very supportive. Overall - a fantastic race, with a challenging course at a challenging time of year. It's a shame the next one won't be before 2108 - but part of the attraction was also that it was a one-off "historic" event. |
