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Hastings Centenary Marathon 2008

Another one on the total for Steve Edwards, now 461, a one off centenary marathon to celebrate the first and only ever Hastings Marathon in 1908.

Starting and finishing outside the town hall in the city centre, over 1200 runners lined up in the freezing cold ready to run this one lap course on this the last UK marathon of the year. No-body seemed to know what the course was like, however a local Hastings runner did warn of a steep climb out of the town for just over a mile and then pretty much undulating the whole way round until the final 5 miles along the seafront.

How right he was, after 2 miles, Steve was already having to work pretty hard to climb the first steep hill which seemed to go on forever. Then some respite as a downhill approached, however this was short lived as another uphill soon followed. After another couple of miles, he soon realised that this was to be a familiar pattern for the course, either going down or up hill!. That said, Steve was keen to stick to his race plan of running at 3:15 pace as he finally started to settle into my normal rhythm.

Steve reached halfway in just under 1:37 having just negotiated yet another climb at 13 miles. This was bang on where he wanted to be and he continued to maintain this pace all the way to 20 miles which he reached in just over 2:27. It now seemed to be getting colder and Steve wasn't looking forward to the final stretch along the seafront as he guessed it would be against the mild but biting sea breeze. At Bexhill On Sea, the turn around point, they were directed onto the sea front and the final 5 miles to home.

Despite the freezing cold Steve was still maintaining the same pace and began to relax a little in anticipation of putting in a hard last couple of miles to perhaps get nearer to 3:10. Then to his surprise, yet another little climb at 22 miles, not what he expected on a sea front, however, surely now a nice flat final 4 miles where he could try and open up a bit. But no, another little twist was to follow, they were directed onto the beach area and had to run nearly 2 miles on a surface comprising of stones and sand. The legs all of sudden started to feel very heavy and Steve began to struggle a little for the first time. This was definitely the slowest part of the race for him as he was now down to almost 8 minute miling.

Finally, they were back on the normal road surface with just 2 miles to go, but now Steve was getting really cold, especially since slowing down over the beach area. Consequently, trying to get his legs moving quicker took a real effort, however he dragged myself up to the runner in front and then finally started to shift. Chasing down the next runner and passing him before chasing the next and so on. At 25 miles, Steve had 10 minutes to get under the 3:15, he continued to press hard and finally saw the 26 mile point. Down into a subway and another final little climb out to the town centre and the town hall to reach the finish in 3:13:15. Steve was frozen, his hands numb and he couldn't wait to get a cup of hot tea his my hands! After thawing out and checking the results, Steve's position was 67th and 8th vet 45, not bad out of 1175 finishers and very pleased to be in the top 6%. The winning time was 2:36.

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Report Highlights

Steve completes marathon number 461 - and another sub-3:15.

Hastings was a one-off race - last held in 1908.

1175 finishers - not bad by today's standards.

This course had everything include 2 miles on a stony beach, and that's after the hills.

Other reports may be found on our recent race reports page.