Broadway Marathon Report, by Nick Sheard
Broadway Marathon, Sunday 18 November, by Nick Sheard
When Salman Rushdie had a fatwa against him from the Iranian government in the 1990s he holed up at The Lygon Arms in Broadway. There is a plaque on the wall of the inn, and it was clearly the place in the UK that the British Government felt he was least likely to be tracked down and killed; Broadway is a very picturesque traditional Cotswold village.
150 extremists (of a different kind) gathered at 08:15am in Broadway on the 18 November expecting a challenging off-road trail marathon (advertised at 26.8 miles) and hoping not to be ‘taken out’ by the course. With more than 3,000 ft of ascent and a steep climb up to Broadway Tower in the first couple of miles, it’s certainly a route that encourages you to pace yourself steadily and certainly not one for a PB attempt, with course records of 3:21 and 3:57.
The route follows parts of the Cotswold Way and Winchcombe Way and is like a rural retreat, with more marshals than spectators and the 70+ gates and stiles to negotiate taking runners through farmland packed with horses, sheep and cows. Think Ridgeway Relay Legs 1, 2 and 5, and you have a fair idea of the kind of terrain, very muddy in places and trail shoes advisable. There is ‘mandatory kit’ that you have to carry with you, including first aid kit, blister plasters, whistle, and foil blanket.
At the race briefing we were told of the field with a bull in it and “not to get between the bull and the cows”. Sure enough, when I entered the field after 12 miles the bull was positioned right by the path and with cows on either side of it. Plumping for discretion, I contoured the field and not long afterwards missed a turning and ended up adding an additional .75 of a mile onto the route. At least the sun was shining and the autumn colours an absolute joy.
The climb out of Winchcombe (about mile 15) was a beast, and had me walking for long sections. The final 4 – 5 miles seemed never-ending, as the final miles of any marathon can. I may have been hallucinating by that point, or overdosed on gels, but every field seemed to be made up of ploughed furrows and grassy hillocks and trenches that you couldn’t really run through. And was it my imagination or were the stile gates getting higher and higher too?
My finish time of 4:30 was my slowest ever standalone marathon, but I guess a respectable enough 30th place finish on the day. Strava stats of 4:16 for 26.2 miles and a total distance covered of 27.5 miles with my ‘detour’. Would I recommend it? Yes, if you like a heavy dose of solitude with your marathon. This year the day was glorious with some fine views. In foul weather it would, however, be attritional, and a relaxed morning in the Lygon Arms lounge reading the Satanic Verses might well be preferable.
