Malaga Half Marathon, Southern Spain - 11th December 2022
Just one week after completing the Valencia Marathon, where he achieved a stunning 2:53:59, Bourton Roadrunners’ Darren Long was back in Spain for the Malaga Half Marathon. While much of Britain was experiencing snow and freezing weather conditions, with most running events being cancelled, Southern Spain was also experiencing unexpectedly poor weather.
However, Darren and his partner Maxine Emes managed to race both days this weekend, with a 5K run on the Saturday, then the Half Marathon the following morning. It was stormy, wet and windy; certainly not a day for personal best times. Maxine initially found going quite slippery, until the storm fully developed and the heavens opened. However, both runners demonstrated their experience and grit. Despite 50 year-old Darren having tired legs from the previous week’s marathon, he achieved an amazing time of one hour, 27 minutes and 4 seconds, with Maxine having a brilliant run in one hour, 41 minutes and 23 seconds.
Parkrun
Meanwhile, a few hardy club members braved the cold conditions on Saturday morning at a number of parkrun events, including the following:
Banbury: Tom Hill – 24:48 (MV60/3), Rob Williams – 27:51, Liz Hulcup – 28:04 (LV70/1) and Gill Carrick – 29:43 (LV60/2).
Bedworth: Susan Hunt – 26:06 (LV55/1).
Cheltenham Pittville Park: Chris Dry – 27:03.
Highlights
Darren and Maxine return to Spain for the Malaga Half Marathon, one week after the Valencia Marathon.
Parkrun was available on Satureday for the hardy, ahead of Sunday’s snow and ice.
Other reports may be found on our recent race reports page.