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| The first beer stop at Beer Lovers Marathon Liege 2017 – selfie by Lee-Stuart Evans |
Normally the main factors to successfully completing a marathon include adequate training, appropriate clothing , sensible nutrition and remaining hydrated throughout the race. None of these factors play any sensible part in 2 of the worlds most famous ‘boozy marathons.
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| Beer Lovers Marathon Liege route map 2017 |
The origins of the Marathon de Medoc go back to a gloriously creative period of french running with the same year as the founding of the Marathon de Sables. A race I review separately here http://airlandandsea.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/the-marathon-des-sables-2016-pooping-in.html
The Marathon de Medoc is the original and most well known of the boozy marathons and enjoys 23 ‘aid stations’ supplying wine from some of the greatest and most well known vineyards in the world held every year in September.
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| Visiting a Wine Cave in Bordeaux – pic by Lee-Stuart Evans |
The young upstart to this arena is the Beer Lovers Marathon held in May every year in Liege which in 2018 will be in its 3rd year. This has 15 beer stops and winds round the surprisingly scenic town and waterfront of Liege in Belgium.
Both of these races had been on my radar for a while so with the knowledge that Wine after Beer donesn’t make you feel queer I set off to Liege in May to find out what all the fuss is about.
Easiest option for Liege is on the Eurostar from London . We also chose to spend the night in Brussels on the way to visit the world famous Delerium Tremens Bar which in my opinion is the only reason to visit Brussels. Delerium Tremens holds the world record for largest range of beers for sale in the world at over 2000 !
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| visiting the Delerium Tremens Bar in Brussels |
I then traveled on to Liege the next day by train and arrived in time for the night before Pasta Party organised by the race. Its incredible and kicks of a weekend of genuine fun with everything feeling more like a festival than a race. The people and organisers were super friendly , beer was flowing and the hired oompah band playing modern songs was brilliant in its utter stupidity.
There are about 1500 runners ( from memory) for Beer Lovers so the start and registration on the day was easy . Before we knew it we were off running through the town , up some steep cobbled streets and out into the hilly countryside overlooking the town . There were beer stops with decent snacks every few miles and the weather was superb, although Liege is VERY humid so it can feel unbearably hot. Many of the runners were in fancy dress to which added to the fun .
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| Beer Lovers Marathon in Liege at the first beer stop. Pic by Lee-Stuart Evans |
The course eventually rejoined the riverside and spent the rest of the course up and down river paths. Highlights for me included a Beer Stop that was a boat where you got on at one end and off at the other , and the fact that they put 4 beer stops in the last 4km to really hammer you at the end !
The party atmosphere is there throughout the race , and despite having already done a 245mile week ( a story for another blog ) I managed a reasonable 6 hr 17min time which was 13 mins within the cutoff.
Many Many people I was out there with took many hours longer !
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| Lee-Stuart Evans at the Finish of the Beer Lovers Marathon in Liege |
Beer Lovers is a race anyone can do. You don’t need to have done a marathon before, can easily walk it if you wish and there are plenty of points where the course goes back on itself for you to ‘aggressively corner’ if you find the distance challenging. I loved this race. Absolutely loved it.
A few months back in the UK and towards the end of the summer it was time to fly to Nice in France.
Having faked the obligatory and utterly pointless medical form all French races seem to need I flew in to Nice Airport and traveled by train to Bordeaux. I stayed in a superb airbnb for very little money in the student area.
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| Fantastic Airbnb in Bordeaux on the marathon de medoc |
Marathon de Medoc is everything Beers Lovers isn’t. The start is chaotic, the hotels are massively overpriced in the region to take advantage of the event , transport to and form the area is tricky and its a 1 hour coach ride from Bordeaux to get to the start of the race. …and then there is the legendary rude French service in cafes and bars which infuriates me ……
Before I you get the feeling I totally hated Medoc …I didn’t . I should say that the race is fun. The views are incredible and the Chateaus are beautiful. There is a massive party atmosphere from all the fancy dress runners ( the weird theme was 33 rpm ) and I enjoyed much of the race.
The Marathon de Medoc rests on its past glories and disappoints in a number of areas. Firstly the sheer number of runners and lack of wave times cause HUGE logjams in the first few vineyards, if you are looking to even try to run this race you are doomed unless you are in the first 500. Secondly , and typically for European races, very little thought has been given to the toilet needs for all runners and although its generally OK for us gents to relieve ourselves anywhere and everywhere women are left with very little toilet options ( we counted only FIVE portaloos on the course for 20,000 runners !) If you are modest this race is not for you.
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| Lee-Stuart Evans at the Marathon de Medoc at one of the wine stops |
A large amount of shortcutting seems to go on, so the same inebriated tourists with no running ability and poor choices of footwear will get in your way time and time again, and its obvious at the start of the race from the arriving coachloads of people that tourist companies mass transport non runners to come and do this event ,with inevitable consequences.
The course is filled with cheering crowds and rather a large number of ‘extras’ who seem to be allowed to cycle on the course causing chaos with the already inebriated runners , and worst still the safety motorbikes do anything but raise safety on the course. The wine stops do have snacks at some of them , but the snack element is often small and swamped with people so you have to fight hard to get any cheese or meat etc.
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| Lee-Stuart Evans |
Although the route is incredibly beautiful you are out in the open for hours on end exposed to any type of weather and I learnt the hard way that Medoc is the wettest region in France. Also if you are a wine expert I suspect much of the wine being handed out was not their best 🙂
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| Marathon de Medoc 2017 taken by Lee-Stuart Evans |
The last 4 miles through the town are wholly depressing ( if it was my event I would do the course in reverse and let the runners blast through the industrial areas first while they are still exuberant and sober and fast).
Handing our oysters in the last few miles is also either a stroke of genius or absolutely evil. The state of the pavement just past the stop was ….. pas bon.
I completed Marathon de Medoc in a respectable 5 Hours 55 beating my Beer Lovers Marathon time by 32 minutes.
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| Lee-Stuart Evans at the finish of the Marathon de Medoc 2017 |
There is a superb Bad Boy Running Podcast about this here
http://badboyrunningpodcast.com/ep57-beer-lovers-marathon
You can find out more about Marathon de Medoc here
http://www.marathondumedoc.com/index.php?view=article&id=66&tmpl=index_en
Sign up for the Beer Lovers Marathon here
what kind of beer is often drunk at the event?
what you like between beer or wine? why you like this drink?
Boring old me has Leatherman info you might like to have. I, for example, when my grandfather died over 50 years ago facilitated his gift of a cave you mention. Want to know more Woody. justretired@gmail.com.