In the 1st Nanjing International Marathon I was honored to start at the front of the pack competing as an elite runner. This was thanks to a special invite from my good friend Fred at Event Animals who ask me to join three other international runners to represent the AT3 triathlon team. Although I’m not normally a very fast marathon runner by most standards, I did manage a half decent time and found myself being interviewed by the local television, the newspaper and marathon organizers after the race. I also had the unique opportunity of experiencing the race build-up from the perspective of the proper fast elite athletes. A real privilege and a very nice experience.
Category: China
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The 1st Nanjing International Marathon: Running as an Elite Runner
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Gui Zhou Tour of Lei Gong Mountain International 100km Ultra Trail Challenge 2015, Day 3 Zhen Yuan
This would be the last day of the Gui Zhou Tour of Lei Gong Mountain International 100km Ultra Trail Challenge 2015 and the last 21km of my 105km multi-day running adventure. 85 kilometres down and 21 to go. This final stage of the race would start off in the beautiful town of ZhenYuan (镇远: far town) with a 50 meters climb out, then back to finish in the town centre with screaming crowds and narrow cobbled streets. For me this would be a classic case of the second-wind, with a sluggish start and a speedy finish. -
Gui Zhou Tour of Lei Gong Mountain International 100km Ultra Trail Challenge 2015, Day 2 Leishan
Day two of the tour of Lei Gong mountain brought us to the beautiful LeiShan (雷山), the thunder mountain. This would be an out-and-back on tired legs up and down the valley of the river Danjiang. A marathon after a day of running a marathon with the certainty of a tough half marathon the day after. Not a prospect for the faint hearted but a fantastic experience and a great day out in the mountains of Guizhou. -
Gui Zhou Tour of Lei Gong Mountain International 100km Ultra Trail Challenge 2015, Day 1 Kaili
The Gui Zhou Tour of Lei Gong Mountain International 100km Ultra Trail Challenge 2015 would be my first multi-stage race covering over 105km in the stunning Lei Gong mountain area of the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in south-eastern Guizhou province. This would consist of two marathons and a half-marathon road race over three consecutive days from the 13th to 15th of November. -
Shanghai International Marathon 2015 – running against the wall and Boston qualifying
Sunday the 8th of November would mark the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai International marathon. This would be my 8th race at this distance and another attempt at a Boston marathon qualifying time of 3 hours 15 minutes. I’d been training hard all during the hot summer and stepped up to running virtually every day in the autumn. So, despite a disastrous Leicester marathon two weeks prior, where I seriously fell apart around the 35th kilometer, I still had the BQ time on my mind. -
Shanghai 10 Bridge Half Marathon
Pensive, with fruit. This article looks back to Saturday the 18th of October 2014 and the first official Shanghai 10 Bridge Half Marathon. This started off in Hongqiao, ran along the Wusong River finishing on the Bund on the banks of Huangpu river in the historic center of the city. Quite an ambitious route considering that no roads were closed for the race and Shanghai is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Thankfully the route was well marked and no-one got lost. It was also a great day to be out running with pleasant weather and clean air (this contrasted heavily with the scenes beamed back from the Beijing marathon with thick smog and record pollution levels). I finished well in 2nd place but left with a sprained foot for my troubles. Two months later and I’m just back in training, but I’m really glad I managed to catch this race before my enforced time-out.
