Snowdonia Marathon Eryri

Craig Drury of Grantham Running Club successfully made his road marathon debut on Saturday 26^th October when he took on and conquered the Snowdonia Marathon. The race, first held in 1982, was a deliberate attempt to host an antidote to the abundance of town and city marathons that had sprung up during the first marathon boom. Its circular route around Snowdon, featuring three major climbs, including the infamous Bwlch y Groes twenty two miles into the race, has ensured its reputation as one of the most stunning, yet challenging, marathons on the calendar.

With swathes of Wales on the day suffering from flooding brought about by heavy rain, conditions were more even more challenging than normal with sections near the end partially flooded and the final descent down to Llanberris – partially run off-road – described by Craig as ‘crazy, slippy muddy!’

Undeterred by these extra challenges and well prepared having tackled the Monschau multi-terrain marathon in August, Craig ran a fine, very evenly paced race considering the 2750 feet of ascent and descent to finish a very respectable 859^th overall in 4:18:57. He was particularly pleased to have run the entire way, when many were reduced to walking the final climb and slippery descent that followed.

The race was won by Callum Rowlinson of Sale Harriers in 2:34:14 with Andrea Rowlands of Eryri the winning woman in 3:09:18. There were 2314 finishers.