The Maravan

If, like us, you’ve been rejected by London for the umpteenth time, but are still really excited by the idea of running a marathon, all is not lost.

We’re delighted to tell you that we still have loads of ballot-free places in November in Cleethorpes for the 26.2 mile Maravan, or in March in Lincoln for the 7 hour long Marabank.

We’ve got medals, and feeding stations, and we can even put a foil blanket on you when you finish if you want the full experience. Plus, it’s much easier to get a seat in the pub afterwards and the local hotels haven’t yet worked out how to scalp everyone for the weekend.

And you can have friends run alongside in other races and win a medal as well. It’s awesome!

Come and join us, we know you’ll love it.

More info can be found all over the website, or if you want to get stuck right in and enter the link is here

https://www.evententry.co.uk/events/vigilantes-maravan-cic

 

We’ve been running around in the background sorting out the relevant paperwork for everything, all the permissions are in place and insurance has been sorted for the Maravan Weekend, on 23 and 24 November 2024.

It’s 10 years since the first running of the event, and it’s gone from an idea in someone’s head after a few drinks at Thunder Run to a well-loved and well established fun local event known to the people of Northern Lincolnshire and beyond by a single word.

We’re like Madonna or Pele in that regard!

This year we’re giving half marathon runners that chance to double up as well, with a half on *both* days as well as a full marathon, and the team relay, and as a result we’ve upped the entry limit on the permit to 300 people over the weekend.

We’ll probably be going with Zerowaste again for medals, but we’ve still got confirmations and deposits to pay, so it’d be super if you’re planning on entering if you could get in early, as if we’re going big I need to be able to confirm some important stuff now.

Entries via Event Entry.

Saturday

Sunday

There was a slight technical hitch with Saturday’s results because Darren hadn’t set up the category distances before the event. This was resolved for Sunday, so Sunday’s results were available immediately after the race.

Saturday should now also be correct. Please let us know if not. Lap times are a bit approximate, though. If there’s anything glaringly wrong, please get in touch.

I have the raw data files for these two events if anyone needs a copy for any reason.

I’ve initiated contact with the CRT with a view to returning at the same time next year, but until then, we’ve got a slightly different variety of fun and games in Cleethorpes in November and we’d love to see you there…

We’re very grateful to Mike Wells, who has run a recce of the course this morning.

Lincolnshire’s a bit wet at the minute, and down on the fields in the flatlands there’s a lot of standing water.

Canals are useful things, though, and the banks of this canal are quite high.

Wet underfoot, but bearing up well, as these photos would attest.

The bottom two photos are the area where we were planning on having the aid station – a little bit squelchier, but nothing we can’t work with.

If it were me running, I’d wear road shoes, although probably not the ones I’ve still got sitting in a box in my wardrobe.

Thanks Mike, see you Saturday.

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.