On arrival into Christchurch Airport around midnight on Saturday after heading out straight after work it was a little disconcerting when the Customs Officer mentioned that there had been a weather warning issued to all runners competing in the Christchurch Marathon with a overnight southerly expected to bring bitterly cold weather with snow and frost bite conditions expected early Sunday morning.
Following a relaxing evening in The Hotel Grand Chancellor Christchurch, I met up with the New Zealand Marathon Champion Shireen Crumpton in the Hotel lift and on feeling the cool air outside lightly jogged to the start. This was a real buzz to share the journey with Shireen and discuss her plans for the Half Marathon. My congratulations to Shireen on coming home second in 01:15:45 behind the little Aussie pocket rocket Lisa Weightman with a magic time 01:12:28.
There were 4,731 entrants across 7 events with only 606 starters in the Marathon and 571 completing the distance. Having originally started the day out in my beanie, toe warmers and gloves in preparation for the bitterly cold conditions - I made the poor decision following the light run that it was nowhere near as cold as my previous races through Amsterdam, Dublin or New York. I then proceeded inside the registration areas to drop off my gear and warm up prior to making my way to the start. It was not until I was rushing to the start line and realised that it was freezing cold and the snow was falling that it seems like the gloves and beanie may have been a good plan!
The marathon course was a scenic run starting in the city and heading out around the Avon River and back into Hagley Park. There were more than 2,000 entrants in the half marathon with all competitors starting out at the same time ensuring the crowds and atmosphere was great for the first half of the race. On reaching the half way point, the majority of competitors finished the Half Marathon and the select few continued on through for another lap of the course to complete the marathon. This was tough mentally to see the finish line and realise that the mission was only half complete!
The remaining competitors taking on the full marathon then discovered the roads were deserted and there was little atmosphere with supporters wisely heading home to keep warm. The weather was bleak, wet and freezing and it really felt like my hands were going to get frost bite! The second half of the run was colder than any run in Europe and in the end the major motivator to complete the race was to simply get out of the cold. In the end I crossed the line in 04:18:50 and could not get back for a hot bath quick enough to start the recovery and defrost process ...
It was interesting to discover that there were ten superheroes competing in the marathon in an attempt to break the world record for the distance in a superhero costume, held by Ian Sharman from the United Kingdom at 02:49:50. This was most fascinating as I competed with Ian in the 2008 Marathon des Sables.
The superheroes were competing to raise funds for the "Life Education Trust of Canterbury", which provides education in mobile classrooms to teach children about healthy lifestyles, healthy choices, and taking care of and respecting their bodies. It is a not-for-profit organisation, which receives no government funding for its work, but visits approximately 12,000 children per year in Canterbury alone. I would like to extend my personal congratulations to the ten superheros with Nathan Aldridge dressed as Robin (Batman's sidekick) smashing the previous record with an incredible 02:43:35.
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