Marathon van Gent, October 2017?

jtced

In a spirit of 'in for a penny, in for a pound', I'm thinking about popping over to Belgium to run in this, handily a wee rest and some easy runs after Loch Ness.

Just wondered if anyone else was considering it? October 28th. Looks like a nice, flat course (quelle surprise, it is Belgium after all...) and Gent has some cracking bierhaus and the best chocolate for recovery..... might be a nice way to consolidate my first marathon by quickly adding a second....

jtced

I'm guessing that this isn't on most folks' radars... I've looked into flights, and have friends in Gent who will give me somewhere to stay, so it's looking 95% certain I'll enter....

jtced

OK, I'm signed up.  Anyone else?  Nice flat route, ideal for a PB?

jtced

This is only three weeks away on Saturday.  Anyone else running it?  It is supposed to be a fast, flat route on the outskirts of Gent.  I hear they have nearly 5000 entrants (though whether that's across the 5/10K/half and the marathon or just the marathon I don't know)....

jtced

OK, so I did this, had a great time and still can't figure out why nobody over here seems interested in it.  Nice fast route, great organisation, bands en route, stadium finish, superb pacers.  Not as pretty as my last marathon - Loch Ness - but I think I enjoyed it more

MrM2

Great find. Tell us more about the numbers, and how the different distances were run. (Same day, etc.) Hope the recovery goes well.

jtced

OK, numbers for the marathon: ~1100 finishers, ~50 DNFs.  Route shared in part with the half and 10K, although those races started later.  I blogged about it - you'll find *way* more detail there than I have time to write here, but it will also give you some pictures:

https://runladdierun.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/milestone-race-day-4-the-gent-marathon-2017

Would I run it again: definitely, although it'd depend if my Belgian friend was doing it as otherwise I'd have to sort out accommodation, transport etc.  I doubt I'd have done it without his (a) letting me know about it, and (b) the offer of accommodation/transport.  Which would have been a shame!