Final instructions can be found here.

They’re working quickly there at Zerowaste medals!

They’ve sent me a proposed medal design, which I love! There’s a bit of artistic licence there – you can see the cathedral from the course, of course – it was the tallest structure the world had ever seen for a few hundred years – but it’s not that close!

The remit was “Lincoln” and “canal”, though, and I think it captures that perfectly.

Because we’ve had a flurry of late entries, we’ve managed to secure enough to get a bespoke medals order in, so assuming that I have got enough lead time to be able to get the design approved, you’ll all be having a bespoke, sustainable wooden medal from Zero Waste Medals, who’ve worked with various race organisers over the years.

We’ll share the design with you once we’ve signed it off!

I’ll therefore have to cap entries at exactly 75 over the whole weekend.

That means there are 11 places left for anyone who fancies a go at running anything between 3.8 and infinity miles alongside the beautiful Foss Dyke canal.

So, I’ve got the van booked. I’m buying food over the next couple of weeks.

Most importantly, though, is that I’m delighted to announce that Norma has cleared her diary to join us all on the Foss Dyke at the end of the month.

As a result, I’ve booked a comfier van!

There are a handful of places left now, if anyone still fancies it. Run anywhere between 3.8 and infinity miles in a seven hour window for Norma’s hospitality, and a goody bag with probably some chocolate, some crisps and a medal with a mobile home on it.

Most importantly, if you’re chasing numbers for a marathon club, we’ve got two events on the same weekend, to get you two closer to that much coveted vest…

Hi folks.

In the interest of transparency, I need to put a post about medals for Marabank next month.

Like many events, we use a local company to manufacture our medals. They have a 12 week lead time, and a minimum order of 100, and they require payment in full on order.

Before Maravan, we were nowhere near 100 entrants to Marabank. In fact, we still aren’t. Only half that many, in fact.

The intention was, therefore, to use up our existing stock of “crest” medals for Marabank rather than ordering a bespoke 100. The crest medals are designed like the Vigilantes Maravan company logo, the badge used as the logo for this page. This is a less “event specific” medal as it doesn’t contain the image of a hulking great caravan on it.

Each medal would have a new ribbon for the Marabank event, so it would be a uniquely Marabank medal.

(If the event proves a success, we’ll make a special set of nesting medals for our next two events.)

We had a number of very late entries to Maravan in November, and therefore to ensure sufficient matching supply for each event, I dipped into the stock of “crest” medals, in the knowledge that I’d probably not need them all for Marabank.

So, anyway, I did a stock check this morning and found that I’m about a dozen “crest” medals short. The nature of the event means I’m not anticipating many no shows. I can’t order any more in time for the event.

So that leaves me with a conundrum. I have well over 100 medals with a caravan, Lincolnshire flag and Vigilantes logo on, but not enough that don’t scream “Caravan park”. Each medal will have a Marabank ribbon on.

I realise that some folk don’t cherish medals as much as others, so I’m going to give you a choice of which to take.

I thank you for your understanding.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Maravan this weekend.

Full results are here.

  

Final details are here

It’s getting quite exciting now, we’re really looking forward to our favourite weekend of the year!

Long range weather forecast is looking acceptable – our biggest worry was frost, but it looks like we’ll be getting rain instead; it’s not like that something we haven’t had to deal with before.

Darren is going to make a lap of the course this weekend to set out arrows and double check that Haven haven’t put any caravans or fences up on the course (it’s happened before!). Once he’s checked all of those arrangements, then he’ll let you know the final details for the 25th and 26th; by email, on this website and on social media.

Excited? 

We don’t like to stay too quiet in the run-up to an event, but as we’re nine years into organising the Maravan, we know, pretty much, what to expect.

The team are in place, all the various things that we need to buy in are booked and paid for, so all we’re waiting for is you.

 Entries are still open, and will be for a while yet. Darren’s got an appointment with the New York City marathon first, though, and he’s had hurty feet for a few months so he’s a bit nervous!

It would be helpful to us, if you’re planning on entering the Maravan, if you could get your entries in this month, that way we can get stuff bought before Darren goes to New York, so he can have as relaxing a time as a man can have who is going to run a marathon on two long runs of 15 miles!

Enter The Maravan