|
The Portuguese site
with results and more pictures is Porto Santo is a Portuguese island 7 miles long and two and
a half hours by ferry from Madeira. Unlike the volcanic Madeira it has
a 6 mile beach of lovely soft golden sand. It held a marathon for the first time
last year so as Susie and I needed a warm break after a long winter we went
over. Was it a success – it certainly was! I won another over 60 trophy with a
time of 4hrs 10mins. Here comes the catch; there were only 12 runners in the
marathon, including 3 Brits and 2 from Germany but not one lady. There were no
ladies in it! The marathon is part of the event which has a 4km social walk, a
7.5km mini marathon and a half marathon. There are about 250 entrants in total.
The marathon course is pretty flat and consists of 3 laps – it has to. In fact
the Race Director told me that they were applying to the Guinness Book of
Records as they believed it was the smallest island to hold a marathon.
The advantage of the laps is that spectators/supporters see you at the
start/finish area 6 times during the race. With such small numbers it does get
lonely later on but the organisation is very good and there are 60+ marshals on
duty. Crowd support is limited but
outweighed by always being able to see the sea as you run. The race is on
Saturday and my Sunday recovery programme was to walk the beach to a bar on the
point on the water’s edge – the three hours of contemplation flew by. Weather wise it was ideal for running, dry but not hot.
However, in 2008 it was very warm. Nearly everyone speaks good English. The
prize was a T shirt, medal and goody bag. Costs were £95 pp Easyjet return to
Madeira from Gatwick, £150 for return ferry and 2 nights accommodation for 2 in
Porto Santo. You’d also need first and last night accommodation in Funchal and
we got a double room in the old town in a lovely guest house for £40 a night.
Eating and drinking out was a little more expensive than most euro denominated
places. We met a couple of lively ladies from Jersey Spartans who were in the shorter events and took prizes. Last year five ladies from the club did the marathon and took all the ladies prizes. By the way they strongly recommend the Jersey Marathon. So Porto Santo is highly recommended and a pot hunters paradise. DAVE VAUGHAN |