St. Magnus Marathon – 3rd July 2016
After being “persuaded” by our resident Orcadian to come up to see her homeland and have a lovely flat and dry run in beautiful Orkney, several of us “led by Sally” agreed and immediately signed up for the Inaugural St Magnus Marathon. It was decided that we would make a weekend of it and a total of 10 people were going to travel up by luxury minibus and stay in a 4 star Hostel (we do things in Style) we were all looking forward to it and so Karen, Sally, myself, Juliet, Michelle and Kate started training, training went well for most of us but there were some who picked up injuries but were determined to be at the start and manage the marathon, after a few months of training Karen “persuaded” Neil to join us on our trip. So we were now 7 running.
Everything got booked and the big day to travel arrived. We also had out support crew with us. We set off, with Ally and Neil being the drivers, North of Inverness we met Michelle at the Storehouse for coffee then headed up to Scrabster, we arrived with time to spare, at one point Michelle asked Karen if she would quickly walk her dog as she was seeing to her children. Karen duly set off with the pooch, she then came back past the minibus and headed over towards Michelle, when she was out of sight, Ally suddenly gave a yell and sprinted towards the minibus telling everyone to get in as they were loading us. We all said what about Karen! Ally said “What about her, she’ll be fine, it’s her own fault for not being on the bus.” She was duly phoned to explain what had happened, it was difficult for Karen to hear what was being said to her (get into Michelle’s car, we’ll leave her ticket at the boat) because the whole 
minibus was in fits of laughter at her being left behind, including her mum, we left her ticket at the boat, got a strange look from the guy and drove on. Karen duly joined us later and did see the funny side, although strangely she didn’t leave the bus for the rest of the journey.
We arrived in Orkney and headed to the Hostel, the accommodation was good with several rooms, the doubles went to the couples, the twin to Brian and Neil and the girls, Karen, Evelyn, Kate and Juliet were in a 4 bed room. We drove the route that night and had some food. We were all looking forward to the tourist travel the next day. On the morning it transpired that Evelyn snored, to the extend that the bunk bed was shaking, this caused some hilarity amongst those sharing the room, but it meant finding a way to sleep, Karen discovered that if her mum had 2 pillows she didn’t snore.
The following day we did our tourist bit, we visited the Ring of Brodgar, Italian Chapel, Scapa Flow, St Magnus Cathedral, Scara Brae and Maeshowe’s Mound (a neolithic chambered tomb) We then filled up at the Kirwall Hotel with food and had an early night, all ready for the marathon the next day
by Robert Bruce
The Marathon
Sometime in late 2015 I heard that a new marathon was going to be held up in Orkney in the summer of 2016. As a proud Orcadian I immediately decided to enter and make that my main race of the year. As soon as the entries were open I signed up and posted a link on the MRR Facebook page, and it didn’t take long for another six adventurous Yella’s to join in (Sally, Karen, Robert, Juliet, Kate and Neil).
The marathon was being held to mark the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Viking earl, St Magnums, and the route chosen was as close to the original route his followers would have taken to his burial place in Birsay. It is worth noting at this point that, prior to the route being published, I had assured everyone that ‘Orkney is quite flat’ and that there wouldn’t be ‘too many hills’……and then I saw the route and had to revise all of the above!
Fast forward seven months and eight MRR’s (all of us plus Graham Harcus, a MRR who lives in Orkney) lined up alongside just over 100 other runners, half from Orkney and half from ‘doon sooth’, at the start line outside the cathedral. A good crowd had turned out to see us off and after a short briefing from the race director and a count down we were on our way.
The route pretty much started as it meant to go on – hilly and undulating! We ran down the main street in Kirkwall, along the harbour and up our first hill out of the town. The first 10k was undulating until we got to Finstown and then had a nice long stretch that was pretty flat so we could make up a bit of time. Orkney has hardly any trees so you can see for miles all around, and at some points you could see other runners strung out far along the road. I was running with Neil P and we had a nice rhythm going and were having a good yap so the miles just went in easily. There was good support out on the course from locals and our travelling team of intrepid cheer leaders (Ally, Debra, Karen mum Evelyn and Sally’s dad Brian).
As we approached Evie and the 16 mile mark we were still going strong and overtaking folk, although the hills were starting to make their presence felt. We cruised through Costa (no coffee stops there) and the sun came out but there was a light breeze to keep us cool. By mile 18-19 we were both starting to work a bit harder. I lost concentration for a bit and had a rough mile then pulled myself together again by mile 20. At this point I was feeling good again so Neil and I agreed to part company and I increased up my pace and started picking more people off. At mile 23 the most difficult part of the course appeared – the hills at Swanney! We had a climb up to Swanney Brewery, followed by a long downhill then another long climb up. I got my head down, gritted my teeth and kept pumping my arms to get me up the hill, knowing that once I had passed that point it was pretty much downhill to the finish. I could see that I was catching up with the 2nd placed woman (Lorna Stanger from NHH) so I kept working hard and managed to close the gap to 2 minutes but couldn’t catch her in the end. Once we got to Birsay we had a short trail section then it was
just a few hundred metres up the road to the finish. I could hear the music and knew my family and friends were waiting for me so managed to put in a mini-sprint finish to cross the line as 3rd lady home in 3:34.04 and with a new PB to boot! I was so chuffed!
All the finishers received a lovely medal and goody bag with a technical t-shirt and various memento’s of Orkney (plus a bottle of beer). I also received a nice glass trophy to keep. For being an inaugural event it was really well organised, the water stops were well placed and the marshal’s were excellent. I’d had a bit too much sun and was too tired to make the ceilidh in the evening but the travelling Yella’s went and celebrated their runs.
Yes the course is challenging but it’s a real achievement to finish it. I’m glad some of my MRR chums were able to come up and experience Orkney, and as it’s now going to be an annual event there will be another opportunity for more Yella’s to test themselves over the Swanney hills in 2017!
by Michelle Slater
After the marathon, our resident MRR Orcadian Michelle, said she was too tired to attend the Ceilidh, so we upheld the honour of MRR and all attended, even managing to dance. This was a good Ceilidh and there was some good food served as well. We all left before the end though as we were sore and tired, headed back to the Hostel for packing and bed. We then travelled back home the next day without leaving anyone behind it was interesting to note that we were all finding stairs a bit difficult and getting in and out of the van was quite funny.
A big thank you to the organisers of the Marathon for a fabulous event and a think you to our support crew who travelled in the minibus along the route to offer encouragement as we passed (although no lifts) also thank you to Ally and Neil for driving everywhere all weekend. I would certainly go back to Orkney and would recommend it to anyone
by Robert Bruce