The Druridge Bay Marathon (aka The Sandblaster) 2013

[Sun 14^th Apr]

The morning of the Druridge Bay Marathon started perfectly, with sunshine and a decent temperature of 8 degrees. Perfect running conditions, or so we thought.

There were only around 42 runners at the start of this 4 lap course. I enjoy running North East Marathon Club races, as there is usually only a small field and usually scenic routes.

We took it steady at the start and the first lap around the lake. We admired the scenery and laughed at the fact that we were at the very back. We naively headed towards the beach, smiling and chatting.

As we approached the beach we were surprised when the marshal laughed and wished us luck. We soon found out what she meant. There were horrendous headwinds down on the beach which completely took our breath away and even prevented me from talking. We ran very slowly trying not to get blown over as we realised we had to do this another three times.

Once off the beach we could breathe again and started to enjoy it once more.

The second time on the beach we knew what to expect so tried brisk walking.

The third time on the beach there was a sandstorm. I did not realised that sand could hurt so much. We covered our faces with our hands, we ran backwards, we rand sideways but whatever we did we could not stop the pain. I think you could hear us screeching back in Blyth. We realised that there was no way we were going to get a good time, our plan now was just to survive.

Approaching the beach for the 4th time we were a bit apprehensive, what to expect this time, a plague of locusts? Fortunately the sandstorm had gone, but the wind refused to die down.

Looking on the bright side, this marathon was fantastic for endurance training and tested our lung capacity to the max. And we were rather pleased with ourselves as we managed to complete it and Adele won her age and I came second.

Overall a good day was had by all and we can’t wait to do it again next year.

Davina

[results can be found HERE]