Beachy Head Marathon, 25.10.14

Honestly, before coming to the UK I had no big expectations from this race, only knew it should be in a really nice surroundings (it passes along the beachy head and the seven sisters ) and that according to the organizers , the total elevation of the trail is 4900ft and 390 steps in total, which obviously meant it would be one of the difficult trails i've done so far (up until now, the Swissalpine C42 was the most challenging one i've raced)....

Anyway, the starting didn't look promising, i had to wake up early (didn't even have time to have a proper breakfast), and run about 3K all the way to the start line (it's much quicker than taking a bus) . Then , once i entered the Bede's school which hosted the runners before and after the race, i realized my water bottle was not closed properly which resulted in soaked clothes inside..in addition, i realized my GoPro camera which i brought with me was not charged..and the battery is completely empty...:( However, i decided not to let this destroy my mood and had my coffee and started preparing to the race (which basically meant waiting the the queue for the toilets...:).

The race started exactly at 09:00 with a steep ascending hill..this was the first time i started a race already gasping few meters after the start line...luckily, the views from the top were worth the effort...

Most of the trail passes through hilly terrain, small beautiful Sussex villages, farms and forests. It ended with the magnificent Seven sisters which marked the most difficult part of the trail where you must go uphill-downhill in what seems to be countless times....

Luckily, the weather was perfect: sunny and not too cold, hot or windy. This, in my opinion is one of the most (or most...) important factors making a successful and enjoyable race. The magnificent views which varied all the time were so amazing i could not stop smiling even when my legs were begging to stop..

What i liked the most about this race unlike other trail runs i've done so far is that despite the high elevations along the course, one can actually enjoy the views along the whole way since the terrain is quite flat so there's no need to fear from falling (like what happened in Nouxtreme) or watching all the time where to place your feet...this made this race my favorite trail run to this point..:)

Photos credit: Beachy Head FB page

Since i felt quite tired on that day, it turned out to be a very good idea to take 3 energy gels with me (and this time, for a change, not losing any of them on the way..).

What surprised me the most, is that unlike other marathons , this was the first time i did not encounter 'the wall' towards the end of the race (despite the 'notourious' seven sisters)...it felt so damn goood...

I did feel quite bad and lack of energy after about 10K...so it was amazing to me i could actually finish the race fast and not as exhausted as usual. Most probably, the reason is due to the walking parts...and yet, i was feeling so good and satisfied once i finished...

Don't get the wrong idea, i still could barely walk the following day, though..:)

To summarize, great event, in fact, it was my 5th marathon and the one i enjoyed to most so far: so well organised, met so many wonderful people (I found the British people to be so nice and friendly) that i'm actually considering coming back next year..in fact, after the finish line someone gave me a brochure of the Brighton winter trail marathon which i will probably run as well as i cannot run any marathons in Finland at that time and i'm sure it will be as beautiful as the Beachy head.

Last but not least, i spent a very long weekend in Eastbourne and completely fell in love with that town....so many wonderful places to see and my favorite place was the walk along the beach of course...

Race results:

Chip time :4:09:40.05

Place : 30 among women.