Portland Coastal Marathon

Reports

On Sunday 10th February I ran the Portland Coastal Marathon. This is the third time I’ve run this race, so I’m fairly familiar with the course. As always it was a super, well organised event. It is particularly scenic with the route starting at the Sailing Academy and taking runners clockwise around the island following the SW coastal path. Once you return to the Academy you then turn around and run the same circuit in the opposite direction. It is about 27ish miles.

It is a race of mixed terrain from pan flat along Chessil Beach, to muddy grassy cliff tops to rocky boulder strewn single track. The rain the previous night had been torrential which made conditions underfoot a little tricky, plus there was a fierce wind. Perhaps due to these conditions, I recorded my slowest time on this course – the last seven miles were extremely difficult.

There were 92 finishers, with the winning men’s time 3:15:09. The winning women’s time was 4:37:18. I was only marginally slower in 4:40:21 – 27th overall and, although technically third (two women in front of me recorded the same time), I got the second place trophy.

A great event and good value for money (particularly if you enter in the next few weeks for the 2020 event!)

Tara Taylor