Five On A Hike Around The Stour Valley

4 June 2017 - By Brigid Wallen

After the scorchio sun of the past week, it was a relief for the 5 runners taking part in the Stour Valley marathon today to see temperatures had fallen to a comfortable 17 degrees for the run around the Essex/Suffolk countryside, with plenty of cloud cover en route.

This ever popular trail marathon set off from Nayland village hall on a 27 mile figure of 8 loop, taking in parts of the Essex Way, Stour Valley Path and St Edmunds Way. As well as picturesque countryside, there are hills a-plenty to make this a very challenging run.

No marathon is successful without its army of volunteers so, although runners had to follow a written narrative or GPS download, we were greeted by friendly marshals at all 4 checkpoints where there were savouries, sweets and drinks on offer.

Thank you to a cheery Jo who was marshalling at checkpoint 3 and who now has an automatic entry to next year’s race for volunteering today.

It was great to see Becky and baby Amelie at the cross-over point at mile 14 and at the finish and also Dave and Vicky who came along to cheer us on immediately after their run this morning. Thank you all.

Our finish times are as follows:

Heydon 3.35 (4th overall)
Andy/Sean 4.23
Bill/Brigid 4.57