Hutchinson conquers gruelling Snowdonia Marathon

TIM Hutchinson produced another spectacular run to complete the gruelling Snowdonia Marathon in a time of 3.01.17.

The inaugural Snowdonia Marathon was held in 1982 and was conceived as a dramatic alternative to the numerous city and town races becoming so popular at that time.

The demanding and spectacular route, encircling Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales and England, has given the event a unique place in the annual marathon calendar ever since.

Hutchinson, who runs for Stratford AC, chooses to run the race due to it being totally opposite to the London Marathon in terrain, scenery, weather and crowds, while the races are six months apart, which allows plenty of time for recovery.

As the hooter went off for the start of the race, Hutchinson found himself slightly further back than he would have liked, however, he’d passed all but 24 runners by the top of Pen-y-Pass and was happy with his pace at that point.

He went through the halfway point at around 1.25, close to his London time.

The race continued to go pretty much to plan and at the end of the race Hutchinson found he had improved his time, from when he last ran this race in 2015, by more than 13 minutes.

He finished in 28th place out of 2,220 finishers. The race was won by Daniel Jones, in a time of 2:36.54.