The Beachy Head Marathon is an event I heard so many great things about.  Although not the usual road marathon I am used to, I knew I had to give this race a go one, so why not in 2017?

My family and I decided to stay over in Eastbourne the night before, that way we could collect my race number the night before and not worry about a mad rush on race day.  With the combination of the online FAQs, the Final Check email a few days before and the quick briefing when I got my number, registration was quick and very informative.  After getting my number we walked to the famous hill at the start of the race and the family and I went for a walk up it to work out how steep and tough this really was.  It was steep, very steep.  Anyway, I’d be fine, I thought. They can’t all be as steep as this?....

Race morning arrived and I made my way back to the registration tent where I met a lot of the UKRunChat and Racecheck army.  The atmosphere was really nice and we were all sharing our marathon stories, whether we’d done this race before and what time realistically we could get (that’s if we were going for a time of course!)

After shaking hands with everyone and working out what pub it’d be where we’d meet post race, we all made our way to the start line and our respective places depending on where we thought we’d finish.  I saw a sign for any sub 5-6 hour runners to make their way nearer the front so I followed, but did not want to get too close to the front of course.

The horn sounded at 9:00 and we all scrambled towards the huge hill that was awaiting us.  It was a complete free for all, but not the type that made you panic, but the type that felt like I did when I was young and there were too many people bouncing on a bouncy castle.  A few slipped, a few runners cut me up and there loads of “sorry!” “Whoops!” and “Mind your step!”

At the top of the huge climb, we thought it would plateau out, however the course took a slight right turn and we continued to climb.  Although there wasn’t many people out on the course, it didn’t matter as our attention was taken by the beautiful views this race had to offer.  The reward for such a steep climb so early on was some beautiful sights of fields and the town centres nearby.

My race was going well, although the uneven ground was causing me to run a lot with my head done watching where I was placing my feet and also watching the person in front, hopefully giving me a clue of more uneven terrain and possible boggy ground.

This race has a reputation for being hilly and this was without doubt the biggest understatement I had experienced in all my years of running.  There were combinations of very steep climbs that took all the energy from your legs and slightly more shallow hills which took all the energy from your lungs.  One minute I was running a quick pace, the next minute I was well over what my average minutes per mile normally is. That being said, I was loving this race.

There were some areas where we left the open plains on the top of the hills and headed into some woodlands.  These moments had a lot of downhill where we would make some time up, however the challenge here was they were so steep going down you had to pull in your speed a bit so that you wouldn’t end up burning out to early.

My race was going really well until I got to the aid station around the 16 mile mark.  This station was full of the classic sausage rolls and other fantastic food and snacks I had only heard stories of.  This aid station was like a big thank you to all the runners who had got to this point and people were loving it.  I could see now why this was a race that was primarily seen as a race which people took part in for the social side and I stopped for a quick juice and a even quicker thank you to the marshals.  The aid stations as you got through this race just got better and better and is one of the key components of such a good race.

After leaving this aid station, we approached a field with a horrendous climb which was literally impossible to run up.  Every single runner, myself included, stopped running and instantly took the fell running position of hands on thighs to support our aching legs.  At the top, it flattened out a bit and then hit a downhill before we approached a horrific climb at the 18 mile mark.  This thing made the evil hill at the beginning of the race and the horrid climb at mile 16ish look like child’s play.  None of the steps were the same size and these stairs were never ending.  As the song Dynamite says: “Cause it goes on and on and on. And it goes on and on and on”.

These miles had defeated me and I spent the next few miles running down the downhills on the top of the cliffs, before having to repeat my walking up the steep, steep banks.  Normally in marathons I can run up hills towards the end of races, but these were just to steep and practically everyone was following the same technique.  Although, this did give me the chance to check out some of the wonderful and gorgeous sights of the Seven Sisters Cliffs.  Just seeing these made all that nasty hill running worth every second.

The Beachy Head pub signalled to me the end of the race and as we only had around 1.5-2 miles left to go and it was pretty downhill, I just took the handbrake off and rolled down.  As I made my way back to the top of the beginning hill for my final descent, I saw the clock was under 4:00:00 so knew I could take my time climbing down.  I got to the bottom, saw it still said 3:57:00 so leapt, clicked my heels twice and got over the finish line in 3:57:12.  I have never, ever been so delighted to finish a race.  This was really tough and although I enjoyed it, I was really glad it was over.

Conclusion: Unless you are a super dooper, massively qualified elite Trail Runner, do not attempt to attack this race; there will only be one winner.  What I can suggest is this, take it easy, enjoy the sights and nature and at each aid station grab a load of sausage rolls, mars bars, cups of tea and jelly babies.  You’re going to need them!