| Marathon of Britain facts: | - Distance: 175 miles (minimum)
- Duration: 6 stages over 6 days
- 2005 Competitors: 40
- Course Record: 32 hours 58 minutes - Jeremy Bragg - 2004
- Slowest Time: 85 hours 24 minutes - Lloyd Scott - 2003
- Water Consumed: 10,000 litres
- Event Crew: 30+
|
The Britvic Marathon of Britain must be one of the must arduous events in the sporting calendar. Competitors not only have to complete the mammoth 175 mile course, they also have to carry their kit and equipment with them as they go. At the end of each stage, competitors are accommodated in a mobile 'Race Village' where camping accommodation, breakfast and an evening meal are provided. Get your compass out The course is clocked at 175 miles minimum, this is because the race also involves a high degree of orienteering and navigation - so if you get lost, you can end up running further. The first stage on Sunday 4th September is run through Worcestershire, clocking in at 17 miles. That may sound like a lot, but the stage on Thursday 8th September from Coventry to Nottingham weighs in at a monster 54 miles - with competitors getting a maximum of 22 hours to complete it! The race starts in the picturesque surroundings of the Abbey Archway in Great Malvern. Competitors then run up the 425 metre Worcestershire Beacon at 10 am and along the Malverns to then go through Upton-on-Severn. They carry on running until they reach the National Trust's Croome Landscape Park, where base camp is set up for the night. On the following day participants run onto Broadway and over Bredon Hill and Peopleton Hill before heading east towards the finish in Nottingham. Worcester's running man Worcester's Mark Carlyle is one of the 40 competitors taking part in this years event. We'll be hearing more from Mark in the run up to the race in his training diary... | 
