{"id":3242,"date":"2017-12-19T00:12:07","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T00:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/?p=3242"},"modified":"2017-12-19T07:29:16","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T07:29:16","slug":"bovington-marathon-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/?p=3242","title":{"rendered":"Bovington Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marketed as “Hilly,muddy, cold and wet” this infamous course was an instant draw for off road magnates Michael Coultrup and Dan Williams.<\/p>\n

The impossibly early start saw our 2 boys on a cold and frosty startline at Bovington’s Tank Museum. Despite a beautiful clear blue sky, a bitter northwesterly wind making sure the wind chill factor was keeping the temperature below freezing. The pair set off, along with friend Julian Trout, into the mud.<\/p>\n

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Set on a M.o.D tank training ground, it’s safe to say that it delivered on all 4 of its promises. Tank tracks churning up the ground into a sticky mess, interspersed with flooded paths and some tasty elevation. As for the cold… it’s December right?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Unfortunately for both of our boys, it wasn’t their day. Michael had been battling flu all week as well as nursing a couple of injuries.<\/p>\n

“At mile 4 I came to the realisation that my illness and lack of fitness due to injury was going to make for a hard time. However, I was there and so must knuckle down and get on with it. A challenging route coupled with awful conditions underfoot made it even more difficult”<\/p>\n

It didn’t help that he fell and ended up completely submerged in a chalky muddy puddle. As for poor Dan, he started brilliantly but took a wrong at 12 miles.<\/p>\n

“I lost my mojo after that. I really struggled and I began to feel ill. The pain really set in and I ended up having to walk”<\/p>\n

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They both mustered the strength to finish. Michael in 4.24.46 56th overall and 6th in his age category. Dan finished in 4.42.38<\/p>\n

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“I can say that this run was the most unenjoyable marathon I have done for a good while” said Michael later in the day “If it is held next year I have to return…. I have a score to settle…..”<\/p>\n

Sounds like fighting talk to me…..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marketed as “Hilly,muddy, cold and wet” this infamous course was an instant draw for off road magnates Michael Coultrup and Dan Williams. The impossibly early start saw our 2 boys…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3242"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3242"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3270,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3242\/revisions\/3270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}