Delighted to have finalised arrangements with Matt at the Woodcocks again this year.
Darren will be available on the Friday night for numbers to be given out and last minute entries, questions, drinks, whatever.
The pub will be open from 8am for breakfast and coffee and will also be providing toilet facilities throughout both days.
Of course, they’re hoping, as are we, that you’ll put some money across their bar to thank them for their hospitality.
And if you’re needing somewhere to stay, rooms are currently available for Marabank weekend for about £78 a night, with 20% off food if you book direct at https://www.woodcockspub.co.uk/ .
I’ve just had a look at the entries for Marabank, and it looks like currently 32 of you will be joining us for fun and games over the weekend. That’s a nice little crowd, but I’ve got 100 medals ordered and I don’t want to take any home.
Last year we had 78 entries, and I’m hoping to at least match that this year.
As I’ve got a bit of life between now and March 8th, I’d like to organise what I need, which means that I’ll de ordering food and drinks and stuff relatively early. It would, or course, help me to avoid wastage if I can have a decent idea of numbers before I go to the cash and carry.
And, of course, it’s payday coming up, so why not treat yourself…!
We’re proud to announce the return of the Cleethorpes Maravan for its 11th running, joined by it’s baby sister, the Lincoln Marabank.
Conscious that times are tight, and in the full knowledge that we don’t have to make a profit, we’ve kept the entry fees at the same level as 2024, so you’re only paying to cover our costs.
LINCOLN MARABANK:
7 hour challenge on the Fosse Dyke canal in Burton Waters.
8th AND 9th MARCH 2025
CLEETHORPES MARAVAN:
An official but social marathon with half marathon and relay options.
Just done a preliminary course inspection before next weekend. I’ve made a habit of it since I got to the park one Friday to find a gate had been removed and replaced with a fence.
I’ve found a new gate on the course, but it’s actually quite a welcome addition, as it’s in a location that occasionally meant people missed a turn and I had nowhere nearby to put a sign.
This new gate can be kept open.
The course is signposted now, hoping local toughs don’t remove them between now and next week. If you’re running a recce this week be aware that there’s no signage between this point through the fitties until you get back on the Haven park, as it’s a heritage conservation area and I don’t like to put signage up there until he eve of the event.
I’ll put the finishing touches to event instructions and try to get them out tomorrow.
I’ve placed the order for medals this morning with Zerowaste and am waiting for proofs of the new design. I’m very excited to work with Zerowaste for our medals, as it does let us wait until nearer the event before we have to finalise numbers. Even so, there’s only so much risk I can take, so although I’ve ordered 120 medals, which is about 10% more than I have entries right now, I’m anticipating a bit of an uptick as event day approaches, but if you enter after all 120 spaces are gone, I can’t guarantee you any medals.
We event organisers need to accept that this is the new normal as far as us small events are concerned, and this means that we can’t necessarily come up with huge outlay (several hundred pounds for medals) 12-16 weeks before the event as is the case with the well-known local medal distributors, who have their medals manufactured in China and ship them across the world.
Next thing for me to worry about is the fun activity of finding goodies at knock-down prices…!
As regards Lincoln, all is going smoothly, although they’ve asked me to send a revised risk assessment including mitigation for towpath congestion. Those of you who ran day 2 of the Marabank will remember that I had to add such mitigation to the risk assessment anyway following what we’ll call “community consultation”, and basically I’ve just had to confirm that you won’t have right of way on the towpath, and I won’t block it with a table or signage – pretty normal stuff to be fair.
Still entries for all events, get them while they’re hot…
I’m in a meeting this evening about the ABP half marathon organised by our friends at Tape2Tape next weekend, so thoughts as always turn towards our own fun and games in November.
We’ve got just over 30 people joining us for the Maravan at the moment, which is a decent number, but ideally I’d like more. I will have to order medals soon – if I’m going to need to order some – but I’m going to have to base the order on the number of entries on the books at that time. So if you want to be 100% certain of getting a decent medal, you need to enter sooner rather than later.
We’re really keen to have some more teams join us as well. Right now there’s a really strong change for any team in the race to win their category, and it’s the most fun part of the weekend for me, so the more the merrier would be ideal.
Remember, also, that we’ve got a half marathon both days this year, so there’s fun for everyone for the whole weekend.
Even though things might seem quiet on the surface, like the ducks on the Foss Dyke we’re paddling as fast as our little legs will carry us.
Our annual land use licence for the Canal and River Trust assumes 100 runners will take part in the Marabank weekend, and they charge us accordingly, well in advance, for that many people, so we’re delighted to have handed over a significant chunk of money – a good few quid per person – to the Canal and Rivers Trust just now to pay for our licence.
Land use has been confirmed for a while, but we wanted to get the paperwork out of the way now.
So there are definitely no more than 100 places for the whole weekend in March available. Ironically, we got quite close by the start of the event this year, so I wouldn’t hang around if I were you.
Those of you who are running around caravans in November, everything’s booked now apart from medals and supplies, but I still have to pay for timing and toilets as well, and I want to be able to get some of that sorted as soon as possible, so if you’re thinking of entering, please help us out by getting entries in sooner rather than later. We’ve got 75 places per day for the runs, and we’ll open up to 24 teams this year, we’d like to see as many people as possible taking part, it’s an amazing event – if you know it well, please share it with your friends and if you’re entering, think to bring a team of friends to run alongside…?
Places are still available for all events if you want to join us.