Based in the suburban areas south of the city of Amsterdam centre, this is a picturesque marathon covering banksides, forests and the streets of Amstelveen.
Ian Dyer somehow managed to make it over The Channel this weekend after forgetting his wallet and his pre paid tickets… luckily he remembered his passport.
“It’s going to be an expensive weekend for my mate haha” he chirps after realising his mistake.
Ian’s bad luck didn’t stop there. The tram system that operates in the area was not working on the morning of the race.
“I had to walk and got lost. I was walking around for 40 minutes and only saw one other runner”
Ian found his way the start eventually at Startbaan Athletics Track in time for the off.
After a lap around the track, the course winds its way through the surrounding streets of Keizer Karelpark before emerging alongside De Poel for a trot around its banks. Ian then disappeared in to Amsterdam Forest for a quite a while as 12 more beautiful km ticked by.
“It was pancake flat. It was so hard to not go out too fast”
As he left the forest behind him, the halfway point beckoned at Bovenkerk. Ian turned south following the Bovenkerkerpolder as he made his way toward Uithoorn.
“That bit was tough because you could just see open ground for miles and miles around”
Ian eventually found himself on the banks of the River Amstel. The flat course beginning to taking its toll on his calves.He followed the rivers course for about 5 miles before embarking on the last 5k through the commercial district and the welcome sight of the finish at Stadshart Amstelveen.
“I crossed the line and looked at my time… I’d been training with the hope of achieving a sub 4 hour time… my unofficial time said 4 hours and 5 SECONDS! I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry!”
But after a short wait the times were finalised … 3 hours 59 minutes and 49 seconds! He’d done it!
As a footnote the other runner that Ian saw that had got lost before the race did ok too……. he won!
