Mention Benidorm and lager, sun burnt ex-pats and zimmer frames may spring to mind. But then again a fast half marathon in the sun in late November? Let’s do it!
From the air Benidorm is a cross between Llandudno and Manhattan with a long wide promenade separating the beach from a stack of high-rise hotels and a backdrop of small rocky mountains. The race route was to take us on a loop through the town and all along the prom before climbing inland and returning down to the town centre.
The previous Sunday Mike and I had braved Lyme Park in –2C and here we were on the start line in 20C sunshine with a warm sea breeze. Some ill-disciplined carbo-loading the night before meant that we were carrying more tapas and paella than recommended but otherwise conditions were perfect. There were a few familiar faces on the start line including Alan Pover (Stuart’s old adversary) and a team from East Cheshire. I was introduced to the Pover-sized Belgian winner of the MV40 category in 2004 – at which point he became a marked man.
The Spanish know how to party and the massive cheer as 1500 runners rolled out signalled the start of the fiesta. We sprinted down the hill with the whole roaring crowd at our heels, along the main road (all closed to traffic) and through the old town before reaching the sea front around 5k. At this point we merged with the full marathon, guiltily passing runners who had already sweated out 25k. By 10k (split 34:20) we had turned back up the prom with the dazzling sun and breeze in our faces. By this time I’d caught my Belgian rival but he was now tucked in behind enjoying the shade.
It was a long hot haul up the prom but the support from locals and ex-pats urging us on was tremendous. Shouts of “venga Wilmslow” mixed with “ooh look dear there’s Wilmslow” as we sped past the beachfront bars and cafes. It was tricky to judge the pace in the mix of runners from both races but I gradually managed to open up a gap on the Belgian.
Finally we turned inland climbing gradually for 3k before doubling back down to the town centre. Heading in towards the switchback point I saw Gary Matthews of East Cheshire on his way back (to 2:35 in the marathon), being quickly pursued by the pace car and Ethiopian leader of the half. As I picked up speed down into the town I saw Mike coming up the hill. In the heat the distances were rather deceptive and at this point Mike was certain he wasn’t far behind me just as I’d thought I was closing on the Ethiopians.
There was more cheering and TV cameras as we sprinted up to the finish line. Getting rather carried away with it all for a while I thought I’d won the V40 (and a trophy the size of the European cup) but found that I’d been well beaten by a full 3 minutes by a ringer from Valencia.
The warm down consisted of sitting out drinking endless coffees and fine wines. So much more civilised than steaming in the mud after a Macclesfield Cross Country meeting. We chewed over the race with Alan Pover and agreed that the organisation and atmosphere had been superb.
Our hosts Running Crazy had organised an evening of lager-fuelled entertainment down in the British quarter with karaoke and Phoenix Nights style cabaret until the morning. I’m pleased to report that Mike and I once again proved to be not up to the full marathon distance.
So where next? Mad Mike is already on a taper for Torremolinos in February. Palma? Prague? Budapest? It would be great to take a bigger team. There are plenty of ideas on www.runningcrazy.co.uk.
13 Rob Downs 1:14:34 2 MV40
107 Mike Cooper 1:25:57 24 MV40
Winning time 1:02:35
1487 finishers
Full results at: http://www.benidorm.org/portal/portal_deportes_benidorm/pdf_info/pdf_resultados/mm_masculino.pdf
Coming soon: Mike & Rob in Benidorm Half the movie available on CD and DVD.