Omagh Harrier men run Valencia Marathon

ON Sunday, December 7, several Omagh Harriers made the journey to València, Spain, to take part in the València Marathon.

This is a huge event with 30,000 runners taking to the start line on the day.

València is affectionately known as València Ciudad del Running (València the City of Running) and it lived up to all of its expectations.

The race started and finished at the outstanding modern building known as the City of Arts and Sciences and followed a route around the streets of València taking in the beautiful Spanish architecture along the way.

There was no shortage of support out on the course with thousands of people from all nationalities cheering all the runners along.

Every few miles there were groups of people enthusiastically beating loudly on drums, coupled with the cheering crowds all of which added to the electric atmosphere around the course.

The route was well marshalled and organised with a plentiful supply of water throughout with gels and energy drinks available in the later miles.

The course itself is flat and fast with several twists and turns along the way and is a far cry from the mountainous hilly terrain of the Gortin Glens and the undulating rolling hills around the roads between Omagh and Loughmacrory where these lads had trained hard for the previous twelve weeks, in all weathers including wind, rain and snow.

What the streets of Valencia provided in terms of a flat route was offset by the warm December Spanish climate with temperatures unusually warm at 14 degrees when the race started at 8.25am and soaring throughout the morning to around 24 degrees by midday.

It was an unusual feeling applying sun cream in the early hours of a December morning in Spain before sunrise, with the tall Valencia buildings as a backdrop, in anticipation of a hot and humid few hours ahead.

The weeks of hard training paid off for our athletes who all contended admirably with the warm conditions and each battled around the 26.2 miles, eventually reaching the coveted blue carpet back at the City of Arts and Sciences, an iconic and thrilling finish to this superb marathon.

There were some excellent times recorded including seven of our athletes who completed the marathon in under three hours with four personal bests achieved along the way: Phil Adams 2:35:16, Dermot McKeogh 2:51:10 (PB), Pat McCrory 2:51:51, Martin McIvor 2:54:55 (PB), Martin Corcoran 2:56:37 (PB), Barry Tex McElduff 2:58:16, Ricky Duffy 2:59:25 (PB), Kevin Conroy 3:05:32, Aidan Molloy 3:17:24 and Darrell McQuade 4.10.00.