Of course, Malaga being a popular destination for many tourists visiting the Costa Del Sol and surrounding regions means that there are no shortage of cheap flights from the UK. I flew from Birmingham after Monarch decided to change my original Manchester flights at short notice.
The Expo and the race start/finish was located at a large athletics stadium out of town. I'd got chatting on the bus with a French chap who lived in London and had flown over for the race as well. We headed off to the Expo together and shared stories about previous races. The Expo was quite low-key as befitted a race with less than 1000 entrants. Number and chip collection was quick and efficient and we were presented with a nice long-sleeved technical top, a carb gel and a bottle of water. The weather was glorious, not a cloud in the sky and around 23c so I strolled back into town along the sea front. It was only then that I fully appreciated how far the start was from the town centre - about 5 or 6k!
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| The race start. |
I was a little concerned that the race start was such a distance from the town and more importantly, my hotel. I didn't really fancy a 5k warm-up before a 42.2k race, so I took a taxi to the start which was straightforward and €8 well-spent and avoided any unnecessary pre-race stress.
We started on the running track inside the stadium and it was good to see the pacemakers had got into position early, meaning that runners could position themselves appropriately in the starting huddle. After a short introduction the race was started by (I think) a famous Spanish distance runner, although to be perfectly honest I'm not sure who.
The weather was almost perfect for running, a few weeks earlier I'd ran in Valencia in 21°c sunshine and it makes the race that bit tougher than it needs to be. Today the sky was overcast meaning the ambient temperature was much more pleasant at around 12°c. Although it warmed up during the morning it was still only about 17/18°c by the time I finished.
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| 42,000m still to go. |
The race route itself consisted of a short out and back, then a loop followed by a much bigger loop. The upshot of which was for the first half of the race you seemed to be running along the same roads more than once. Fairly mundane out-of-town nothing-to-see-here type roads. It was almost perfectly flat at this stage though which the race leader seemed to be enjoying as I saw him flying past me in the opposite direction. Abdelhadi El Mouaziz won the race in 2:24, an accolade he can add to that of being twice winner at London and the joint world record holder of having run the most sub 2:10 marathons (13!). As he flew past me on the other side of the barrier, I had one of those strange marathon moments. Our eyes connected momentarily and just for that split second I felt I had something in common with one of the greatest distance runners of the modern era.
The water stops were much more frequent than they needed to be. The organisers sensibly planning for if the temperature had been much higher. They were staffed by very enthusiastic volunteers and were also stocked with energy drinks and a selection of pieces of fruit.
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| The view inside the stadium (not on race day!) |
The second larger loop on the course saw a few inclines, nothing that could be called a hill and if anything these undulations came at a good time to give your legs a bit of much-needed variety. This was also the part of the race where the scenery improved and consequently so did the number of spectators.
I was starting to get a bit concerned at this stage that the kilometre markers were getting increasingly inaccurate. My Garmin was measuring them at being a mile or so too generous. At the 30km point I was still staying ahead of the 3:30 pacemaker and therefore still in with a vague shout at a pb, but more importantly I was concerned that the race would run short and therefore not count as anything other than a 25 mile training run. As we hit the 39, 40 and then the 41km markers the stadium moved closer and closer. Surely the race will be short? At the 42km marker I could hear the tannoy announcing finishers. I could even see the finish line but my Garmin was still only showing 25 and a bit miles. My heart was broken. This won't count as a marathon. I was out of a pb at this stage but even so, to come all this way and this race won't count towards my marathon total - I was heartbroken. What was going on? The trace was supposed to be officially measured. At the last moment, the course veered to the left away from the finishing straight and off on a final loop of the stadium grounds. Fantastic. The race is of marathon distance, but for future reference Senor Race Organiser I would ideally prefer not to start my finish sprint with a mile left to run.
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| The view from outside the stadium on the way to the Expo. |
I was pleased to finish in 3:34. Nowhere near a pb but faster than I was expecting to run. Would I recommend this race? It's a quick road marathon, competitively priced with a nice bit of bling and a couple of nice goody bag freebies. Malaga is easy to get to, has a wealth of quality competitively priced accommodation and has plenty to do and see for a weekend or so. There is also the chance of a bit of pleasant winter sun which always makes a pleasant change to the grey and wet of Britain in December.
For more information visit the Malaga Marathon website.
Michael
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