6th Marathon – Stockholm – 9th June 2007
When we landed at Stockholm Airport and exited the plane, the first thing that hit us was the heat. The air was very hot, much hotter than I thought it would be already I am not looking forward to running the Marathon next day with these heat conditions.
We went to Marathon expo for pick up my registered number and joined the Marathon Pasta Party, which incidentally was excellent. In the morning, I checked the weather and heat it was worse! I decided to go ahead and run because I wanted to complete my sixth marathon.
The Stockholm Marathon started at 14.00, the temperature was 29 degrees! I was in the start area and looking at the runners, everybody was looking very nervous about heat. The Marathon Course is 2 laps of around the small city of Stockholm with 24 showers provided around the course. I ran well until 30km (2hrs 14 minute) then decided to take it easy because the heat was increasing to 32 degrees, at this stage lots of runners were giving up. After 30km, I wasn’t feeling very well but I took an easy and light run to the finish, finally crossing the finish line with a time of 3.19 within the famous 1912 Olympic Stadium.
The course is interesting and good sightseeing of the city of Stockholm but there was a problem with the heat.
Facts and figures:-
18000 runners registered, 14,319 runners started and 12,435 finished the race. 1,884 dropped out, the majority of them after the first lap – at 20 kilometres. Seven were diagnosed with dehydrated. Realising that this was not a day for personal bests, the runners took it easy. There were two minor problems with the timing during the race. The intermediate time at 10 km was wrongly positioned at 10 380 meters.
Oliver Westbury: Half Marathon 1.30.56, Finish – 3.19.41 (Position 445)
Top 3, 29th Stockholm Marathon
Men
1) Phillip Bandawe -73, Zimbabwe, 2.20.56
2) Jonah Kipiwiott Kemboi -76, Kenya, 2.22.16
3) Sergey Lukin -75, Russia, 2.22.57
Women
1) Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu -70, Norge, 2.37.03
2 Anna Rahm -81, Sweden, 2.39.02
3) Winfrida Kwamboka Nyansikera – 82, Kenya, 2.45.48
Stockholm Marathon website: http://www.stockholmmarathon.se/Start/index.cfm?Lan_ID=3