There was a misty start as the Abingdon Marathon began from Tilsley Park at 9am this morning. A group of three runners took an early lead down Dunmore Road.
There were around 770 participants behind them, including a man going for a men’s double buggy world record.
Every road junction on the way was manned by one or more Marshals to control any traffic until the runners had gone by safely – a huge logistical task that was very well planned and executed.
The runners descended Twelve Acre Drive and turned left along the Radley Road before leaving the main highway down Thrupp Lane and through Radley Lakes.
By the time they came out again onto the Audlett Drive, about four miles into the Marathon, the runners were getting spread out.
Around the course were places where crowds gathered to cheer on the runners, one such place is the Market Place.
There seemed quite a lot of Abingdon Athletic Club members taking part, and a lot of them had low numbers – presumably from being early entrants.
The course then followed East St Helen Street where runners passed the oldest house in Abingdon, and a five mile marker.
The route then went out through South Abingdon and twice round a circuit through the villages of Drayton, Milton, and Sutton Courtenay. The runners came back to Abingdon along Peep O Day lane, twice, and so spectators gathered at the junction with Lambrick Way.
After the first circuit two runners had a lead of a couple of minutes over the third place runner.
Down Peep O Day was one of a number of the drink stations. This one was run by Abingdon Netball Club.
Number 1 Sarah, and Number 2 Max, from Abingdon A.C., can be seen here along Peep O Day Lane. Having names on shirts was very useful, and the crowd could get even more behind them shouting “Come on Sarah! Max! You are doing well!”
Some time later, at Tilsley Park, after 26 miles, Number 1134 from Bristol had taken a lead of about fifty meters from his main rival.
He finished in 2 hours 26 minutes, beating last year’s winning time.
The second runner was also well inside last year’s winning time.
In third place was an army runner who won the army race. (A number of different sub-races take place within the Abingdon Marathon.)
The first Abingdon runner to finish was Peter Akrill (Hopefully I have got the right picture).
The man pushing the double buggy finished inside three hours and so broke the world record by over ten minutes and is waiting official confirmation. Alongside him is the winner of the women’s race. She also finished within three hours.
There was a lot of encouragement by marshals and the people of Abingdon cheering on the runners. But many runners had their own fan clubs who followed them round and were there at the finish.
Meanwhile, back in the town centre the sun was beating down and tired runners could be seen running in various states of exhaustion for the next couple of hours.
