CYPRUS (17.03.19)
After 6 months since Sofia, I arrived in Cyprus for number 20 after 60 training runs and 400 miles of winter training to kick off year 5 and the first of six marathons in 2019. Heading into the race I'd run my fastest ever Half Marathon (1 hr 40 in Gloucester) and raised £1250 for Invest In ME's biomedical research projects which I was really happy about (£15.6K overall). A week before the race I picked up a heavy cold which made me a bit fearful of the 20C temperature swing from my training but I knew I'd be able to get round OK. After a seriously turbulent and petrifying 6 hr flight (1.5 hrs spent circling Cyprus through a thunderstorm until it was safe to land) we made our way to Paphos with a new team member in tow. Lucy, our 4 month old daughter was along for the ride and we got a lovely apartment with a pool on the edge of the town. The day before was fun, it was very warm and we walked around Paphos and it's medieval castle and promenade stacked with funny British bars; it felt a lot like Blackpool in the 80's!
Start
There was a 6am bus to Aphrodite's Rock (Petra Tou Romiou) 20 miles south of Paphos where the race started and a I met up with Mark Openshaw, a fellow Euro marathon collector from the UK who was also on his 20th! We swapped stories on the bus and stood over the beach as the temperature started to climb. Only 300 or so runners crossed the pop-up start line accompanied by ghastly Euro-dance from the nearby DJ. There was immediate long incline back towards Paphos that got the lungs going but it was easy to get into a nice stride with very little congestion. I noticed pretty early on that I wasn't breathing that well, my cold still hadn't shifted and it was a bit uncomfortable but at least my achilles had appeared to have healed a bit (no pun intended).
As it would be for most of the run, there was quite a strong headwind, probably the strongest I've experienced in a race so far as the course turned inland towards the village of Kouklia. It was a shame to leave the coast but there was a good bit of downhill and I got myself into a good rhythm chasing down two runners in full Spartan costume. I passed orange and olive trees and the vegetation around was more lush Devon than classic arid Mediterranean. We were running alongside traffic but it wasn't too busy and felt safe enough, the only downside being the constant exhaust fumes from the race marshall bikers. The first hour had gone fairly well, I was running at about 70% I knew that but still optimistic of getting close to 4 hours providing it didn't get too much warmer.
Middle
Until this point the course had been facing away from the sun which meant that I'd been runnng with my garish goody-bag bright yellow visor round backwards but now we were sideways on it was starting to feel hot. I'd read a lot about the 'Airport part' of the race, a long out and back on a fairly characterless road with a slight incline on the final part. Adam 'Tango' Holland came bounding back the other way (he ended up winning the race for the second year running) and I gave him a shout. He'd passed me back at Yeovil Half last year and I follow his crazy endurance challenges so it was cool to see him doing so well. I yelled over to Mark too who was coming back the other way (prob 20 mins ahead of me and maybe 20 mins behind Adam), he looked in control and motoring along nicely. I'd noticed that my lips were a bit chapped and I was possibly a bit dehydrated so grabbed a bottle of water and nailed it all quickly. I'm not going to please the environmentalists here but it was really helpful on what was likely to be a tough race for north Europeans to have bottle caps on the water so that I could run with it to the next water station 3KM away. Not sure if it was deliberately thought out that way but I did appreciate it; single use plastic but plenty of recycle bins along the way.
Up towards halfway I almost tripped over a very recently dead black cat in the road which was very sad to see. We'd seen so many stray cats in Paphos, particularly around Kato Paphos Cemetery but unlike much of Europe they looked to be in decent condition. There was quite a gap now between the runner in front of me and the one behind and with no crowd support out on the lanes it felt a bit like a training run really. I'd stopped for a quick toilet break but I was too dehydrated; bit of a warning sign that and I grabbed more bottles, topping up with salt tablets and some magnesium to avoid cramp. After the airport section it was back onto the main road past Aki's Tavern on the undulating road to Koloni which was warm with a blustery headwind making it feel like you weren't getting anywhere. I'd got to halfway in 1hr 57mins which wasn't too bad but I knew it would have had to be around 1 hr 52 mins or so to give me a good chance of breaking 4 hrs, particularly as the temperature was rising. I put down an organic energy gel and changed up the playlist but my pace was dropping and the 4 hour pacer flew by.
End
By 18 miles I was struggling a bit in the heat (predictably) but still bumbling along. There was another switch-back due and before the course dropped down towards Paphos and a photographer furiously snapping. As usual I didn't really know what to do so I poked my tongue out and did 'rock hands'. After rounding a traffic cone, I saw the old guy who gave me my race number the previous day writing down my number on a clipboard to make sure I hadn't cut the course at any point -very 20th century! Round the roundabout, there was a cracking couple of miles downhill along Spyrou Kyprianou Avenue that gave me a big lift and got the times back to some sort of respectability. There was a pretty run down fun fair (Luna Park) on the outskirts of Kato Paphos followed by a long strip of super-hotels at Posiedonos Avenue. Plenty of middle-aged big-bellied Brits with their tops off were wandering about in the sun. There were a few people clapping the runners and cheering in English which was nice as I looked down at my watch and saw it was close to 4 hours done and I had 2.5 miles to go. I was suffering quite a bit, a little dizzy and with rattling fluids in my nose making it tough to breathe in the heat a fair bit. I looked through the towers on the left and spotted the castle/finish line, it looked miles away but I was starting to recognise some of the bars as the route headed towards the harbour.
Plenty of people now cheering and raising their pints to the runners, I'd be one of them shortly I thought. Head down past the bus station where the day started and I was pretty unamused at having to climb one final incline just yards from the end. I could spot Cat and Lucy just before the line and I managed to get over the line in 4hrs 23 mins (10th fastest of the 20 I'd now completed), 236th of 425 runners. Happy enough with that, given my cold and the weird mix of heat and wind. I grabbed a free beer (not sure if it was alcoholic or not) and jumped on the podium for a quick photo. I draped my flag round myself and was stopped by a woman who told me she had M.E. I talked her through my challenge and the Invest In ME charity and she gave me some sponsorship money for the cause, it was a really nice reminder about the real purpose of the race and that there were very definitely people in Cyprus suffering too. I met up with Mark for a burger and some drinks and had the luxury of not having to travel home straightaway so I sat leisurely in the sun all afternoon!
Pics
Trip pictures viewable here. Official photos 7.5 Euros each available within a day.
Weather
A warm start (16C moving up to 23C by the end of the race), very strong headwind making it a tough challenge.
Ratings
Start
There was a 6am bus to Aphrodite's Rock (Petra Tou Romiou) 20 miles south of Paphos where the race started and a I met up with Mark Openshaw, a fellow Euro marathon collector from the UK who was also on his 20th! We swapped stories on the bus and stood over the beach as the temperature started to climb. Only 300 or so runners crossed the pop-up start line accompanied by ghastly Euro-dance from the nearby DJ. There was immediate long incline back towards Paphos that got the lungs going but it was easy to get into a nice stride with very little congestion. I noticed pretty early on that I wasn't breathing that well, my cold still hadn't shifted and it was a bit uncomfortable but at least my achilles had appeared to have healed a bit (no pun intended).
As it would be for most of the run, there was quite a strong headwind, probably the strongest I've experienced in a race so far as the course turned inland towards the village of Kouklia. It was a shame to leave the coast but there was a good bit of downhill and I got myself into a good rhythm chasing down two runners in full Spartan costume. I passed orange and olive trees and the vegetation around was more lush Devon than classic arid Mediterranean. We were running alongside traffic but it wasn't too busy and felt safe enough, the only downside being the constant exhaust fumes from the race marshall bikers. The first hour had gone fairly well, I was running at about 70% I knew that but still optimistic of getting close to 4 hours providing it didn't get too much warmer.
Middle
Until this point the course had been facing away from the sun which meant that I'd been runnng with my garish goody-bag bright yellow visor round backwards but now we were sideways on it was starting to feel hot. I'd read a lot about the 'Airport part' of the race, a long out and back on a fairly characterless road with a slight incline on the final part. Adam 'Tango' Holland came bounding back the other way (he ended up winning the race for the second year running) and I gave him a shout. He'd passed me back at Yeovil Half last year and I follow his crazy endurance challenges so it was cool to see him doing so well. I yelled over to Mark too who was coming back the other way (prob 20 mins ahead of me and maybe 20 mins behind Adam), he looked in control and motoring along nicely. I'd noticed that my lips were a bit chapped and I was possibly a bit dehydrated so grabbed a bottle of water and nailed it all quickly. I'm not going to please the environmentalists here but it was really helpful on what was likely to be a tough race for north Europeans to have bottle caps on the water so that I could run with it to the next water station 3KM away. Not sure if it was deliberately thought out that way but I did appreciate it; single use plastic but plenty of recycle bins along the way.
Up towards halfway I almost tripped over a very recently dead black cat in the road which was very sad to see. We'd seen so many stray cats in Paphos, particularly around Kato Paphos Cemetery but unlike much of Europe they looked to be in decent condition. There was quite a gap now between the runner in front of me and the one behind and with no crowd support out on the lanes it felt a bit like a training run really. I'd stopped for a quick toilet break but I was too dehydrated; bit of a warning sign that and I grabbed more bottles, topping up with salt tablets and some magnesium to avoid cramp. After the airport section it was back onto the main road past Aki's Tavern on the undulating road to Koloni which was warm with a blustery headwind making it feel like you weren't getting anywhere. I'd got to halfway in 1hr 57mins which wasn't too bad but I knew it would have had to be around 1 hr 52 mins or so to give me a good chance of breaking 4 hrs, particularly as the temperature was rising. I put down an organic energy gel and changed up the playlist but my pace was dropping and the 4 hour pacer flew by.
End
By 18 miles I was struggling a bit in the heat (predictably) but still bumbling along. There was another switch-back due and before the course dropped down towards Paphos and a photographer furiously snapping. As usual I didn't really know what to do so I poked my tongue out and did 'rock hands'. After rounding a traffic cone, I saw the old guy who gave me my race number the previous day writing down my number on a clipboard to make sure I hadn't cut the course at any point -very 20th century! Round the roundabout, there was a cracking couple of miles downhill along Spyrou Kyprianou Avenue that gave me a big lift and got the times back to some sort of respectability. There was a pretty run down fun fair (Luna Park) on the outskirts of Kato Paphos followed by a long strip of super-hotels at Posiedonos Avenue. Plenty of middle-aged big-bellied Brits with their tops off were wandering about in the sun. There were a few people clapping the runners and cheering in English which was nice as I looked down at my watch and saw it was close to 4 hours done and I had 2.5 miles to go. I was suffering quite a bit, a little dizzy and with rattling fluids in my nose making it tough to breathe in the heat a fair bit. I looked through the towers on the left and spotted the castle/finish line, it looked miles away but I was starting to recognise some of the bars as the route headed towards the harbour.
Plenty of people now cheering and raising their pints to the runners, I'd be one of them shortly I thought. Head down past the bus station where the day started and I was pretty unamused at having to climb one final incline just yards from the end. I could spot Cat and Lucy just before the line and I managed to get over the line in 4hrs 23 mins (10th fastest of the 20 I'd now completed), 236th of 425 runners. Happy enough with that, given my cold and the weird mix of heat and wind. I grabbed a free beer (not sure if it was alcoholic or not) and jumped on the podium for a quick photo. I draped my flag round myself and was stopped by a woman who told me she had M.E. I talked her through my challenge and the Invest In ME charity and she gave me some sponsorship money for the cause, it was a really nice reminder about the real purpose of the race and that there were very definitely people in Cyprus suffering too. I met up with Mark for a burger and some drinks and had the luxury of not having to travel home straightaway so I sat leisurely in the sun all afternoon!
Pics
Trip pictures viewable here. Official photos 7.5 Euros each available within a day.
Weather
A warm start (16C moving up to 23C by the end of the race), very strong headwind making it a tough challenge.
Ratings
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