Valencia Marathon, 7th December 2025
Congratulations to Guy Cowen-Hutton on completing his first marathon. He chose the Spanish city of Valencia to do it, and send us this report:
“Valencia markets itself as the ‘Ciudad del Running’ and its marathon is known for fast times
due to a flat course. With that in mind, what better place to go and attempt my first
marathon?
Despite its reputation for speed, I took my time getting there. Travelling over two days via
London, Paris and Barcelona on a series of trains, buses and my own two feet, watching out
of windows as the landscape of southern Europe rolled by, gently transforming from dull,
grey and wet to dry, bright and sunny.
After arriving on the Friday, visiting the expo to pick up my number and settling in to a diet of
heavy carbs, the nerves in my stomach began to settle. Having never done a winter sun
holiday before, I found it a bit surreal to spend the day before the marathon, the 6th
December, on a beach wearing shorts as the mercury shot up to 22 degrees. Would
recommend.
On the morning of the marathon, we made our way to the start line on city bikes, feeling the
atmosphere in the city building as we got closer and closer to the start, passing some of the
other 30,000 or so runners, their support crews and eager members of the public along the
way. Before we got into the starting pen, we caught a glimpse of the first wave of runners
just after they set off. The energy of the crowd cheering them on at this early section felt
electric.
Once in the starting pen, there wasn’t long to wait before we were at the start line, speakers
blaring loud Spanish music and an MC shouting words of encouragement I could only
partially understand thanks to a rudimentary language course I’d done a while ago. You
didn’t need Google Translate to know that this was hype.
Then we were off, through the noise, past the crowds and heading out east into the sun and
towards the port area. The course really is very flat. It winds its way through the city,
skimming the outer suburbs before bringing you back towards the old town and finishing
amongst the impressive modernist buildings of the City of Arts and Sciences on the edge of
the city centre. The support was excellent all the way around, with bands banging drums,
DJs playing music and plenty of people with cardboard signs promising you an energy boost
if you touched the target drawn on them. There were few quiet spots.
Running along large avenues with big monuments at the end of them was quite scenic but
also left runners exposed to the beating sunshine. By halfway through my race,
temperatures had risen to 24 degrees, and it seemed like many were feeling the heat. I was
glad I was wearing a hat. By that point, I was pleased with how I was running and had
settled into a rhythm that I was happy with. I was enjoying it.
I had heard enough stories about how a marathon doesn’t really start until the last 6.2 miles
so I felt mentally prepared for that but, owing in part to the heat and partly to an old knee
injury that flared up just after 20 miles, I found the last part of the race incredibly challenging
and slowed right down, watching somewhat forlornly as the 4h30 pacer group passed me by at
about 22 miles. Nevertheless, I preserved and grinded out the last few miles and felt
incredibly grateful to cross the finish line.”
