The Barnstaple marathon and half marathon are organised by the North Devon Road Runners, this year taking place on the rather windswept and rainy last Sunday in September – with yellow weather warning in full force! If you’re not familiar with Barnstaple, it’s about two hours drive from Bristol and it’s the biggest town in North Devon, with good access to popular beaches like Woolacombe and Croyde, and close by to the edge of Exmoor. I grew up there and my parents still live there, so when I saw it had a local marathon that was described by the organisers as “almost entirely flat” I figured it would be worth checking out!

 

The marathon takes in a large horseshoe route around the Taw estuary, mostly using the popular walking and cycling route of the Tarka Trail. Much like our local Railway Path, it’s smooth, flat and traffic-free. A few miles of the route are on pavement, a short section involves running through the centre of Barnstaple, and about three miles involve a detour onto the local Royal Marine base at Chivenor. Not often you get to run there if you’re not in uniform! You’re checked in by bib number for a loop of the perimeter road, past military buildings and vehicles and a surprisingly large area of open grasslands, before being checked out again back onto the trail. The half marathon starts an hour after the full, using the second half of the route along the south side of the estuary and out to Fremington.  

 

There were 1000 entrants for the 2019 races, with approx 600 signing up for the half and 400 for the full, but I think the pretty terrible weather may have deterred a few people. It made for a not too crowded start at Barnstaple’s Rock Park, after registration at the neighbouring secondary school gym. Amidst steady drizzle we set off to cheers from some hardy spectators hiding under umbrellas, and we headed through the town and out onto the trail along the north side of the estuary. A number of runners were supporting “Coppafeel” a breast cancer awareness charity and had large boob-shaped bags that seemed to act a bit as soggy wind-catching sails, they were putting in the work! The race was also supporting local charity Chemo Hero which my mum has been personally helped by, so name-drop for them and their excellent work.

 

After a steady run out to Chivenor it was then quite exciting to move onto the marine base – I’d lived nearby for a number of years but had never been on the base itself. Or appreciated quite how big and empty it is! That section of the run seemed to take a long time and the headwinds across the flat open space were pretty brutal. Back onto the trail and into town, we hit the halfway mark – and started seeing the speedier half marathon finishers coming back the other way! That was about equal parts inspiring and demoralising, knowing there was still the same distance again to come. The rain had settled down but then came back with a vengeance, having reached the point where you shift from the other side of the trail onto pavements to pass through Fremington on to Yelland. At mile twenty it’s then back onto the trail and it’s basically a straight run for the last six miles back along the south side of the estuary into town. Those were a six miles that seemed to take forever and no time at all, then a short sprint back into the park for a medal and an unexpected free glass of prosecco! I was very chuffed with my time for my first proper “runnable” marathon.

 

The bling of medal and t-shirt both have a design featuring the brick arches of Barnstaple’s medieval long bridge, which you pass over twice when completing the marathon. There were plenty of friendly marshals offering direction, name shout-outs and tubs of jelly babies, as well as regular water stations around the route. It seemed like an event that is big enough to have that sort of organisation but it’s small enough to be friendly and have a local feel. I’d definitely recommend checking it out if you want a September trip to North Devon next year!