Newcastle Town Moor Marathon - 22nd November
The inaugural Newcastle Town Moor marathon starting and finishing in Exhibition Park consisted of running 5 laps of the surrounding moor on traffic free footpaths. Runners were warned about what the weather could be like on the moor in advance and they weren't wrong! The course itself was no more than mildly undulating, but the fact that it was so exposed meant runners were in for a very hard race as they battled against strong headwinds for over a mile on each of the laps.
Mile markers were only every 5 miles so it was a little more difficult to judge pace, but having passed through the first 5 miles in just under 35 minutes, Steve Edwards was about where he wanted to be. He started the 2nd lap in 5th place but soon moved into 4th as the first of many runners dropped out. Hitting 10 miles in just under 70 minutes and starting lap 3, Steve saw that he was slowly but surely catching the guy in front and by the beginning of lap 4 passed him to move up into 3rd. However, Steve was beginning to tire himself now, the wind was just getting stronger as the day progressed and at times it felt like he could hardly move. His pace had definitely slowed as he passed through 20 miles in just under 2:20 and the shout of 'last lap' from the marshals was indeed music to Steve's ears.
With no-one close behind, Steve knew that a steady pace to the finish would see him hang on to 3rd place. That was until he saw the guy in front slowing rapidly which gave him the extra incentive he needed to give it one last effort over the remaining few miles.
Moving into 2nd place Steve began to think he could perhaps go all the way, but seeing the lead runner pass down the opposite side of a dog-leg section on the final stretch, Steve knew his competitor was about 5 minutes ahead so maybe not! In the end Steve was really pleased to finish 2nd in a time of 3:04:36 given the conditions. That’s 32 marathons this year of which 14 have been sub 3:05 but with just 2 more left to do in 2009, Steve's definitely starting to look forward to his week off running in December.
Report Highlights
Steve Edwards finishes 2nd in the inaugural Newcastle Town Moor Marathon in 3:04:36.
Steve's 32nd marathon of the year.
14th sub-3:05 marathon of the year.
Steve's big target is another step nearer:
Other reports may be found on our recent race reports page.