Race Report: Riga Marathon 20/05/2012

The alarm clock rang on Saturday morning signalling a weekend of very early get-ups. It was 3am and a quick drive down to Luton Airport was ahead of me ready for my 7am

flight to Riga. This is all part of the fun when booking budget flights to slightly unusual
European cities. The last time I was in Riga I'd driven there and compared to that trip the WizzAir flight was a dream journey. Then, Latvia had left the Russian federation just a few years earlier and although there was a pervading sense of optimism, the tourist industry was still in its infancy. Now it's a vibrant City and its multitude of cheap hotels and bars make it, amongst other things, a popular destination for British stag and hen parties. Fortunately, almost identical criteria make it a great choice for a marathon trip too.

The Brīvības piemineklis or freedom monument. It honours the many Latvians lost in their search for independence.

Riga is a compact city and is easy to get around on foot. A quick and cheap bus ride from the airport into town and I was standing outside the Radisson hotel where the expo was held. Technical t-shirts were an optional extra on the entry form so the only things I needed to collect were my number and goody bag. One cool thing that I've never seen at any other marathon was, along with the capacity to track runners' progress on-line during the race, the ability to upload short messages or video clips wishing runners well. These messages would then be relayed during the race on huge screens at the appropriate moment as runners passed by.

I spent the rest of the day wandering around various museums and galleries in central Riga which were all free and open untill 1am thanks to it also being the European Night of Museums. A fantastic idea and all kudos to the marathon organisers for managing to tie the two events together.

The morning of the race meant another early get-up. The marathon and half-marathon started at 8:30am (which was 6:30am on UK time). There was also a 10k and 5k which were scheduled to start later in the morning. Despite it being so early the temperature was already warm and the bright blue sky gave the impression it was going to get warmer still. I tend to travel very light. Often so light that I turn up at races having left some piece of critical equipment back at home. This time I'd turned up sans sunglasses and sans suntan lotion. Ah well better those left at home rather than my shorts (London Marathon 2010)

Me in front of the Vanšu bridge on the Daugava river.

 According to an announcement before the race, over 50 nations were being represented in Riga including some very high calibre Kenyan runners vying for places in their Olympic squad. The race itself consisted of two laps. The first was a trip through town and then a long out and back along a dual carriageway. Whilst all the roads were closed and very well marshalled, it was tough going in the sun. Local bands did their best to help out along here, the highlight being a group of young lads with brass and drums doing Abba covers at a thousand miles an hour.

There were pockets of very enthusiastic support along the route and the water stations were frequent and very well orchestrated by teams of young volunteers. I covered the first half of the race in 1:41 but given the conditions and the trauma to my body clock, I probably set off too fast. Indeed come mile 16 I really started to struggle, and I spent the last miles with regular walk breaks. Somehow I still managed to come in just over the 3:40 mark which I was very pleased with overall.

Top tip: Never ask a Latvian to take your photograph.

 At the finish I was presented with my medal and a bag of snacks and drinks. I had planned another afternoon of sight seeing but the weather was so beautiful I felt it would be wasted spent in air-conditioned museums. Instead I sat near the banks of the river Daugava and fell asleep. Luckily I still had time to squeeze in a beer and a pizza before the long journey home.

For more information on the Riga Marathon, visit the website.

Michael