After the 11 marathons May madness and zero June drought, the 3rd of July took me back to the Lake District for the first running of Coniston Trail Marathon.
It was nice to meet Gary & Mike the marathon men for a chat in the sun before the start and thanks to Gary for the photos.
I was expecting a hilly run but this one still surprised me. Some of the trails were very steep (both up & down) winding and very rocky. If it had been billed as a fell race I wouldn’t have questioned it!
The weather was about as good as summer weather gets which I suppose you can’t complain about but to run this marathon it certainly wasn’t ideal!
The course definately lived up to the claims of being the most pictureque marathon in the UK. The views round Tarn Hows and across Coniston Water from Grizedale forest were utterly breathtaking especially under the lovely blue skies. I wish I had a camera with me but that wouldn’t have been very practical but I have taken away some lovely memories.
As for the actual race, the only way to describe it is was incredibly tough. One of the toughest I have ever experienced but still a great course and a great challenge.
It was nice to see so of my marathon running friends Chris, Penny, Mike, Gary. A special mention to John from Astley & Tyldesley great to see a royal blue vest!
A bit of fun a the bottom tip of Coniston Water, the bridge was being repaired so we had to run through the river. It was knee deep refreshing but did make your trainers some what heavy.
My offical time was 4 hours and 52 seconds, sounds a bit slow but for this course and the hot conditions, I think it was very respectable, 65th out of 383 finishers.
