Masters & Maidens Marathon 1980/81

Hi everyone,

Hope this post is in the correct topic thread.

I ran in the Masters and Maidens marathon in Surrey in either 1980 or 1981 (the latter I think). I was 12 or 13 at the time (before the legal age limit was increased) but I have long since lost my certificate and copy of the results.

It's a long shot but I just wondered whether anyone competed in the race or was an organiser and has a copy of the results they would be prepared to send me (happy to pay postage costs etc). It is a bit of a hazy memory but I ran with my father and we finished together around 4 hours 4 minutes. It is the only marathon I have ever run but I am thinking of hitting the road again. Seeing the official results from all those years ago may just be the inspiration I need!

Cheers.

Comments

  • CharlieWCharlieW ✭✭✭
    Hi keef -- did you ever find anything? I am in a similar boat: I just found your posting when searching for any results, because I did it in 1983 (I think) when I was 13, with my mum... took me 4:12, so you were both younger and faster!
  • Hi Charlie.

    I was somewhat surprised to get your message just now, after all this time!

    Sadly though, I have never been able to find anything. I still search periodically but it seems unlikely that the results will ever appear online.

    My father and I did the Masters and Maidens 15 mile event as a warm-up and I remember that the winner gave me his trophy because he was impressed that a 12/13 year old could run so far - I have lost that as well of course!

    I will keep looking. I am following up a vague lead relating to the 1981 race.... will lead you know if that leads to anything.

    By the way, I did take up running again in 2010 but the M & M remains my only full marathon as I stick to half marathons these days - running seems so much harder now than it did then!
  • CharlieWCharlieW ✭✭✭

    Hi Keef. I was banking on you having a forum alert set up if I was to get a reply! Thanks very much for the info.

    I had a 26-year break from marathons myself, before trying to rev things up to take advantage of being a "young" V40. Just recovering from London now -- which went pretty well, except a)  that damned Dracula just beat me and b) having thought I'd scored a narrow PB, I was officially given precisely the same time as last year, to the second!

    And good luck with the half marathons... I aim to do a few this autumn, too, with Peterborough already booked.

  • Hi Keef55 & CharlieW

    I too ran the Masters & Maidens Marathon, it was on Sunday 11th October 1981

    I was 19 years old and was going to run with my brother in law who was a fair bit older than me and we started off at a slow but steady pace which was going to bring us home in something like 4 hours. I was straining at the leash so at 15 miles left him and never looked back, overtaking all the way. i finished in 3:16:25 in overall 72nd place, my race number was 111, he came in in 3:55 i have the weather down in my running diary back then as cold & windy. Alas i don't have any results. I ran through till about 1992 but then gave up due to injuries. Happy Days.

    Dave

  • Thanks Dave! Funnily enough I found myself being driven up the A3, on the Hog's Back I think, last week -- and thought I might well be retracing my steps from ?1983. Sounds like you had a hell of a negative split there :- )

  • Have you tried searching local newspapers for the time, don't know if the Surrey History Centre in Woking might have something or the Newspaper Library which is part of the British Library. I presume that some results might have been printed in the local press at the time.

  • Hi everyone - I love it when this thread suddenly comes back to life!

    Glad you're still following this Charlie - by the way, I never heard back from that vague lead I was following up before.

    Sounds like you had a great run in '81 David. I still can't quite work out which year I was there - I am now leaning towards '82. Anyway, your suggestion is a good one CJ and I shall look into that because I'm still determined to resolve this one day.

    Tunbridge Wells half is next up for me, a week tomorrow - my favourite race image

  • Yes Charlie it was a storming second half to the run, it was my first year back into running after leaving school at 16. After leaving school i thought that was it and off to work. It was the jogging boom at the begining of the 80's that got me started again and i was quickly  moving up the distances to the Marathon and then fining i suited some of the shorter distances better. I ran for Edmonton Joggers initially then also joined Enfield Harriers. It's sad i know but i kept every race number from all my races and kept running diaries which i look back on with great memories as i don't/can't run anymore. Hope you are all still churning out the miles.

    Dave

  • You did well to keep those diaries etc Dave -- I lament having lost early results and training logs along the way, especially from university years when I guess I was at my peak (hard to say when all the races were cross-country though).

    I've really come back to it in the last few years and am building up once again for the Cambridge half and London marathon, though age is against me of course. Good luck in that half keef55!

  • Good luck with your training, I did the Cambridge half a few times in the 80's it was a regular with our club. I have a few pictures of after the Masters Marathon, I will try and find, but new to this web site, not sure if you can post them?
  • I think I heard somwhere that this year there will be a 40th or 50th anniversary race somewhere in Surrey I think. It was a half marathon or full can't remember, but when I saw the info I thought "oh I remember that" from when I was a youngster.. Unfortunately my age means I forgot the details, might have been the Hogs Back race or Tanners.

  • Hi,looks like this thread stopped a while ago.I live in Surrey and watching the Tour of Britain cycling wandered whether any of it was the route for the Masters & Maiden Marathon which I ran in 1980 aged 20.I still have my medal in the loft somewhere and I'm assuming the results as well so will keep you updated.

  • Hi stephen. Just happened to glance at this and saw your post from a year ago. Somehow I missed that last year.

    Did you ever find the 1980 results? 

    All i remember of the M and M route is the Hogs Back!

  • My dad ran the Guildford marathon a couple of times late 80s I think would love to dig out his results, were they ever listed in the Surrey Advertiser? 

  • At my (other) end of Surrey in Oxted, the Surrey Mirror was the local paper of the day; I don't know if it covered the whole county, or whether it had results from the race, though.

  • I ran the race in 1977 aged 13 and again in 1978 at 14. I recorded a time of 3:41.38 having run a cross country race at Ardingley the day before. I was annoyed because I finished full of running and must have gained 30 odd places in the last mile. 1 finished 122nd out of about 400 starters.

    Probably the toughest course in the UK apart from the Isle of Wight. The Hogs Back was pretty challenging.

  • DeanR7DeanR7 ✭✭✭

    on facebook there is a group called "i was or am a runner" full of old types posting old races results from the 70's 80's.

    you might get lucky if you ask on there

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