I am one of the Race Directors at Runbelievable Challenges and we are holding the first official marathon based at an airport in June at Manston. We are also holding the world's first 100-mile endurance event there in October.
We are very excited about these events. We have checked the internet and don't believe there has ever been an official marathon event based solely at an airport before and certainly not a 100-mile endurance event. This will be a world first.
The links to both events are below:
www.runbelievablechallenges.co.uk/the-runway-1 - Marathon in June
www.runbelievablechallenges.co.uk/the-runway-100-1 - 100 Mile Endurance in October
The first event is an eight-hour Challenge event, where many of our runners will run upwards of 40 miles. Being a Challenge event, as long as one lap is completed (6.5 miles), participants will receive a medal. However, many will choose to run as long as they can within the time limit, or simply to complete a half or full marathon.
Our second event is the world's first 100-mile endurance event at an airport. The aim: to complete 100 miles, running, jogging or walking. There is a 32-hour cut off which will see runners starting at 8am on Saturday October 4 through to 4pm on Sunday October 5!
With both events, we have been lucky to have the use of the control tower as our base camp where runners will register, drop their bags and refuel as they pass every lap. The course is flat and circumnavigates around the edge of the airport on a grassy trail, before culminating by running down the whole length of the runway, all 2,752 metres of it!
This truly will be such an epic, unique experience for anyone wanting to take part, and may, of course, be the last opportunity before work starts on making the airport operational again.