This is another marathon blog penned by Geoffrey.
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Over to Geoffrey …
Sydney turned on an absolute pearler of a day for Sunday’s marathon. The weather was a dream come true for the event wanting to consolidate its status as a World Major. From an organisational viewpoint the event ran nearly pitch perfect and the thousands of international runners will go home telling everyone how awesome Sydney was. With favourable social media it would not be surprising if lottery applications numbers soar for next year’s event. It was impressive how the event managed the record 40,000 runners and 6,500 volunteers on the course. This was only Sydney’s 2nd year as a Major and the organisers were well aware that the eyes of the running world would be on them. I think it passed in spades…
The 4 wave groups were set off 30 minutes apart starting at 6:30am. The early groups had the benefit of the cooler conditions as it became much warmer the higher the sun rose. I was in Group 3 and at 20km I remember seeing the earlier faster runners on one of the long switchback sections running in the long cool shadows of the adjacent buildings. Something to look forward to, I thought. But the shade had long gone by the time I got there … The organisers had well prepared for heat with many water stations and each 100m long. No queues or delays for those running for a time. The course itself is undoubtedly one of the most scenic big city courses I’ve ever run – obviously to maximise the skyline, the iconic landmarks and parks that Sydney is so well known for. Many big city courses include long boring portions, but Sydney is nearly always interesting and sometimes truly spectacular at many points. Speaking to Rebecca & Graeme who have run Sydney numerous times it’s rare that the course remains exactly the same 2 years in a row. To me this indicates a desire for continuous improvement for the event. There is, however, a “cost” (if you can call it that) for a spectacular course – and that is the many hills scattered along the route. None could be called significant – but it’s just that there seems to be so many of them – both up and down.
This was a late unexpected entry for me, so I was not really trained for it. I was hoping for 4hrs 20min but this proved optimistic as the hills and heat had melted my motivation by the 25km mark. Note to self: more training required on hill work and mental toughness… Still, 4:32 is a fair result and I’m just happy to be able to run …
Iconic Sydney