October 2, 2017
Thanks to Phil Wilson and Steve Court for the following reports: PW:
Ston is a small town approximately 40 miles north of Dubrovnik in Croatia. Ston has the longest town walls in Europe, second only to the great wall of China, and it also holds a marathon which involves running along the walls. So a group of Sphinxies thought we would give it a go. Myself, Stuart, Bryan and Scourty ran the marathon and ex Sphinxie Garry Capell ran the 15K. It turned out to be a cracking event. Totally different to the big city marathons. The marathon entry consisted of 36 entrants, of which 32 finished, so high finish positions were guaranteed. The 15k had 53 finishers and a 4k event had 55 finishers. All races started together at 7.30 am. After a 1 mile road section we all started up the wall. Overtaking was impossible due to the narrowness and steepness of the wall. We went up, then down, then up again then down in a giant “M” finally returning to road. The first 3 mile took 40 minutes. The route took us along the wonderful Adriatic coast, a lot different to Hipswell Heighway. There were even marshals with guns to protect us from wild boars. It was a very undulating route and we were told to add at least 1 hour to our normal marathon times. Despite the low key nature of the event everyone was very enthusiastic, with lots of water stations every 5k. Our good ladies Lyn, Jayne, Karen and Alison cheered us on at various points on the route. The goody bag had a T shirt, bottle of local Ston red wine, a bag of locally made Ston salt, a bottle of Heineken plus other bits and bobs. At the finish you had sea food pasta with more free Heineken. We stayed in Dubrovnik which is well worth a visit being a walled medieval city where Game Of Thrones is filmed (whatever that is). The winning time was 3hrs 20 mins. Web site is http://www.ston-wall-marathon.com/ It’s worth a look as there is a good looking Sphinx runner on the front page photos.
SC:
5 runners from Sphinx took the Blue and Gold vest to Croatia last week to run in the Ston Wall Marathon. This truly international event draws people from all over the world to participate in a run in the beautiful surroundings of the Adriatic Coast. The first 4km of the run is up and down a very steep man made wall ( the biggest wall in Europe, which features in Game of Thrones) which made for a few hairy moments especially if you looked down and then the rest of the route was an extremely undulating trail / road offering great views of the coastline. Not a run for a quick time but certainly one which will remain in the memory for a long time. Medal , T Shirt , Beer and Wine in the goody bag. What’s not to like !!
Photos from Phil: Results: Marathon: https://stotinka.hr/eng/race/1439/total_rank
Pos
Full Name
Net Time
Pace
Speed
Rank
9
Stuart Banbrook
4:30:56
6:27
9.3
M 9
13
Bryan Pears
4:43:24
6:45
8.89
M 13
21
Philip Wilson
5:09:11
7:22
8.15
M 18
23
Steve Court
5:24:31
7:44
7.77
M 20
15km: https://stotinka.hr/eng/race/1438/total_rank
Pos
Full Name
Net Time
Pace
Speed
Rank
50
Garry Capell
2:22:20
9:29
6332
M 33