Marlow is situated in one of the loveliest locations on the River Thames, set amongst the rich meadows of the Thames Valley and alongside the woodlands of the Chiltern Hills. The vibrant Georgian market town has many historic streets with boutique shops, restaurants, cafes and bistros adding to the town’s unique charm.

The town’s most famous landmark is the suspension bridge which spans the River Thames and joins the counties of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. The bridge was designed by William Tierney Clark and was first opened in 1832. Marlow is home to one of Britain’s most premier rowing clubs which has produced many Olympic oarsmen including Sir Steve Redgrave whose statue stands in Higginson Park.

Rowing is far from the only sport now taking place in this idyllic location. For more than 30 years, Marlow Striders have been quietly building the popularity of the Marlow Half Marathon and Marlow 7 and this year’s races on Sunday (6th November) drew 1,200 runners to Marlow Sports Club for the latest edition of this popular event. The rural and incredibly scenic course can be previewed in this short video…

The short course option was taken by just under 500 athletes and the winners were Findley Dyer (Belgrave Harriers, 39:49) and Jilly Raw (Datchet Dashers, 47:20) – 14th overall. There were 493 finishers in two hours.

The main event has always been the Marlow Half Marathon. There were 657 finishers in just over three hours. The top three men were Aran Davidson (Chiltern Harriers, 1:15:48), Thomas (Payne (unattached, 1:18:49) and Stuart MacDougall (Fulham RC, 1:18:52).

Helen Record (Clapham Chasers, 1:23:56) went two minutes clear to win the women’s race from Ania Gabb (Dacorum AC, 1:26:10) and W40 Becky Atkinson (Maidenhead AC, 1:28:26) with all three leading ladies among the 31 finishers inside 1:30:00 on this testing course with an elevation gain of 1,102 feet.

Results are available via runABC South race listing here

Image courtesy Marlow Half Marathon on Facebook