Kielder Marathon, 6th October 2024
Kielder bills itself as Britain’s most beautiful marathon, and while other routes may dispute this, it must certainly be up there. It is probably also amongst the toughest; having walked and cycled the route, I can certainly vouch for that! Indeed anybody who completes the course has my total admiration.
This year we had 3 taking on the full route and two settling for the half – all women! All can be proud of their achievements, but a special “well done” to Sonja Fenske who improved on her Great North Run despite the tough terrain.
Nina Jensen, a Kielder veteran, summed her day up:
“Kielder never fails to disappoint and today was no exception. Yes it’s a tough course but it’s not called the most beautiful marathon for no reason. Running with a friend today on her first marathon so was overjoyed to see her smash her goal and finish with a smile! “
Lucy Ward’s take on it was “Tough tough tough, did I say tough.” She also said “Never again”, but Strava shows it as a marathon PB, so I suspect she may be back one day!
Finally, Tara Hipwood had this to say: “This was a very different beast from my previous marathon races. The ‘undulating’ course meant it was difficult to get a rhythm going. However, the changing terrain and views also held my attention better than previous races – no chance of getting bored on this one. The atmosphere was also fantastic and the weather kind. All in all: a great day out!”
Half-Marathon | ||
---|---|---|
Position | Runner | Time |
116 | Sonja Fenske | 1:42:42 |
? | Kimberley Metson | ? |
Marathon | ||
---|---|---|
Position | Runner | Time |
358 | Lucy Ward | 4:42:26 |
367 | Nina Jensen | 4:44:02 |
426 | Tara Hipwood | 4:52:41 |


