Kielder Marathon 9/10/11

A report from somebody who didn't catch the bus!!! This is the second year for the event, the brain child of Steve Cram. Crammy was on hand himself working hard as a marshal (opting not to compete this year). I thought this was a great event and given the fact it is only a 2 hour drive from the north lakes I reckon it should be on a few more club members tick lists! Perfect underfoot, billed as off-road but the track is superb and road shoes are fine. This is a very hilly route which seemed to frighten the daylights out of many, but I guess living in the lakes prepares you better than most. The day was very damp and I still can't say I have seen kielder water itself! but I reckon on a clear day this would be a spectacular place to run. Having never run a marathon before (or even a half for that matter) I was a little daunted by the task ahead, my training hadn't gone well due to a busy life and injuries but all that was forgotten about as soon as the gun fired. The experience of running in a big event with large crowds of support and the atmosphere has certainly given me the marathon bug! I posted 3.31 and finished 76th out of nearly 1200 runners which has encouraged me to take this long distance stuff a bit more serious and actually train for it!Local lad Ricky Lightfoot won in 2.35, only 2 others posted sub 3 hours which is testament to the difficult course. If you are looking for a marathon type event and like me prefer to run amongst scenery with trail under foot then this could be the one for you!