Trionium Greensand Marathon

Hi Guys,

Some pictures of many (sadly not all) of you at http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/1515055955

They're pretty much raw from the camera, and many would benefit from a bit of work, but Dr Rob asked me if I'd take as many general pictures as I could, and it's just too much like hard work to get the best out of all of them before you've all forgotten about the event entirely! (Some people, and they know who they are, even had the temerity to suggest that taking pictures was somehow easier than running the marathon. I shan't dignify that with a response.)

No nice indexing by name or number either, but if you know when you were at Leith Hill, the Radnor Road car park, the halfway point, the Plough pub or the finish line, you can work out if there's a picture of you by looking at the filenames (and adding an hour because they're timed in GMT just to confuse you.)

If you see a picture you'd like a decent copy of, drop me an email at gm2012@rsn-tech.co.uk and I'll see what I can do.

Some of you will know me from previous events, but I'm not there as official photographer, I'm there to support my wife (Amanda #155, 4:50:06). That means that if you're too far ahead of or behind her, you're much less likely to be photographed. Sorry about that, but absolutely anyone who does that course, regardless of time, has my admiration and respect!

I remember you well - two fellow runners and I were shooting straight on through the car park before you yelled us back to turn right. Saved us som extra distance - which was the last thing that I would have needed.

Mud made this harder than otherwise might have been but great course and organisation. Well done to Rob and marshalls, much appreciated your efforts and support. Congrats to all runners.

Five days taper now before I see some of you again at Beachy... and I'll probably take even longer there than here!

Here's something that might be of interest...  From 2013, if the race takes place (the doubt originates from increasingly burdensome paperwork, ever-increasing costs to stage the race and difficulty of enlisting sufficient numbers of marshals to ensure that the race can be organised safely...), it will include - officially for the first time - a half marathon option. The Greensand Half Marathon will be run on the same course as the Leith Hill Half Marathon (March) - up to just beyond Leith Hill Tower and back, on the same course as the Greensand Marathon, starting half an hour after the marathon runners. Entry numbers for the races will be strictly limited. From 2013, all MP3s/iPods etc will be strictly banned on the course - we've previously politely asked runners not to use them! Hope that's in order.

Absolutely SUPER! I will most definitely be there. Fully understand, and appreciate, the costs and manpower involved in staging such a big event. To include a half-marathon option will, hopefully, cover the costs. Any date yet? LOL! I want to make sure that I won't miss that one.

Any information on when the 2013 race entries will open (or have they closed already)? I keep checking the website but there's nothing about how to enter on there. I'd really like to do this one this year!

Lemony wrote (see)

Any information on when the 2013 race entries will open (or have they closed already)? I keep checking the website but there's nothing about how to enter on there. I'd really like to do this one this year!

Same here - I left a note on Dr Rob's facebook page too. I really want to get a spot on this. Something epic to aim for and just up the road from me.

I did this in 2012 - it was an epic race! I will definitely be trying to improve my time in October. If you haven't already checked them out, the other Trionium races are excellent; good atmosphere, great trails, spectacular views, awesome challenges and woprthwhile giveaways (I never buy running tops anymore, I just wear my trionium tee's).

Lemony and Kharnivore -

Entries for all Trionium races have always, AFAIK, been handled exclusively by the Runner's World system. If the system's not advertising the Greensand then the race isn't open yet.

I notice that the Leith Hill page on the Trionium website has a link to its Entry Sytem, and that the Munro (22 June) page says that Entry will open in February.  That four-month lead time suggests that the Greensand will open in June.

Rob usually broadcasts an email about a month before a race saying that it's filling up; if you check the website every month I think you'll be OK. The Greensand is a superb run across lovely countryside, and I hope you'll enjoy it. It is, however, only a curtain-raiser to the Picnic (June 2014), generally regarded as a cynical and brutal waste of young (and middle-aged) lives.

Gotcha back, Khanivore.

Come and do the Munro in June - it's half of the Picnic, so twice the fun. 

I considered it but I think I will give it a miss. After the VLM I am going to spend several weeks just training at a low heart rate (HADD style). Consequently I wont be able to train on hills (which I am really bad at by the way).

Thanks BRM. I'll keep an eye out for Greensand and think about the Picnic next year!

I noticed there is a cut off, 74 mins to get 1/4 of the way i think? Roughly what kind of time would someone just making the cutoff do a flat marathon in? I have no idea if I will be fast enough to attempt this.

Depends on whether you're prepared to front-load this one. If you are, you could get away with a fast 6.3 miles then relax but accept that your time for the whole thing might be slower than you would have done otherwise.

I like to set off relatively slowly, but my flat marathon time is 3:09 and I'm sort of OK on hills, so I'm hoping that the cut-off won't be an issue for me.

Khanivore, I would have thought you'd be OK on this one. My flat marathon PB is 4:12:25 and on the 4 occasions that I have run the Leith Hill Half Marathon (which is run over the 1st and 4th quarters of the Greensand) I have comfortably reached the tower within the cut off time (cut off time is actually 73 minutes). That said, I have been pacing myself for that particular race knowing that the 2nd half is (mainly) downhill , whereas I am led to believe that the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the Greensand are the toughest! As long as you approach the race reallistically, appreciating it for what it is (i.e. one of Dr Rob's brutal but magnificent races, and you WILL get completely knackered) you should enjoy it. You've probably already studied these, but here's the link to the Runners World discussion forum for the race http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/events/ratingsall.asp?en=67538&year=2012&ugn=7952&sp=&v=2

Entry for the Greensand Marathon and half marathon 2013 should be open within the next couple of days - depending on RW.

If you can do a four hour marathon or 1:50 half on the flat, then the cut-off wouldn't  trouble you. It's there to ensure that all the runners get back within six hours.

Enjoy... and remember to keep smiling.

Well i've done a 1:53 half (and that really was all out) in Nov but my form has dipped since then due to injury. I'm going to sign up and go for it! I'll have to work hard. I'm going to practice on the North Downs hear Reigate!