Kielder Marathon and Half Marathon

Yes, I know it’s quite a way North, but if you want to take part in a well-organised event, in a beautiful part of the country, then this is a good option.

Kielder Marathon is billed as Britain’s most beautiful marathon. There is a weekend of events, including a 10k and gravel bike race on the Saturday, with the marathon and half taking place on the Sunday. Early bird prices are £39 and £34 respectively.

We booked a cottage for a long weekend to make the most of the long drive up. Fortunately, an early start on Friday, meant that we had a good run through, even time to stop off at the Singing Ringing Tree in Burnley. Our cottage was right by the dam and the start of the half marathon! Friday night we treated ourselves to a talk and star gazing at Kielder Observatory. Definitely worth doing, though the talk on the Cosmos blew my mind. Luckily, the cloudy sky cleared enough for us to view some constellations, the Milky Way and Saturn.

On Saturday the weather was really nice so we went for a walk around part of Kielder Lake and did a recce about where to park for the event. We knew there were a number of event car parks and shuttle buses that would be running.

Sunday morning was an early start and rather overcast. Helga and Sue needed to drop me off for the marathon, and head back to the half start. Unfortunately a few of the car parks we went to were full, so they dropped me off and drove back to the cottage and the start of the half marathon. It’s worth noting, that there are shuttle buses to / from the car parks to the starts but the info about these eg times etc was a bit lacking.

At my marathon start, there was a cafe and plenty of toilets, as well as a small event village. The half start had a big marquee, good parking and lots of loos.

Both the half and marathon started at 10.15am, by which time the weather was looking a little better. This was (I think) the 14th year of the Kielder Marathon, so it had a really good following. The races are on undulating terrain and mainly stony paths, which does make for very quick times. The marathon had about 2000 ft of ascent with a small loop at the start and then a full lap of the lake (the biggest man-made lake in Northern Europe). The half is about 1000 ft of elevation and starts with a larger loop across the dam and back and then heads on to the marathon finish. The great thing about this course are the views of the lake and running through some lovely wooded scenery (England’s largest forest).

Both races are very well sign posted, regular water stops and lots of super marshals.

At the end of the run there was the opportunity to get refreshments at the race village, as well as a goody bag, t-shirt and medal.

Inspired? There’s also the Kielder Dark Skies race series.