pickupthepacepaul

On 23rd March 2025, I ran Limassol Marathon for the 5th time. However, I didn’t think it was going to happen. I had planned to travel early on Friday to settle in and enjoy the corporate 5km on the Saturday and pasta party. But I woke up at 05:30 on Friday to an email saying not to go to the airport, and later established that there was a nearby fire that had grounded all operations in Heathrow for the whole day. It was a nightmare trying to get anything sorted, but eventually, I got a flight 24 hours later. Usually my family comes with me, but because of the date we decided for me to go alone. I’m really glad we hadn’t planned for the family to come this time, because it would have been a nightmare. On my own, I made it work.

I arrived at my hotel at about 20:00 on saturday night, just 11 hours before race started. It was my 165th marathon (plus), and my 122nd event as a pacer (59 marathons). I am pleased I didn’t miss it, and everything went well because it was my 100th Sub 4 marathon.

Because of the delay I organised for my race kit to be at the hotel for me. Also, whilst I missed the pasta party, some awesome friends stocked up for me and dropped some off to my hotel. I went straight to bed and watched some TV, after getting my kit together.

The marathon started at 07:00, so I asked all the pacers to meet at 06:00 to get ready. We had a great international team of pacers. Whilst it is a small team, we had pacers from Cyprus, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the USA.

The start was as beautiful as ever. I made my way and found a large group of runners waiting to break sub 4 with me. It is the same course as last year, starting with the industrial section, the marathon does 20km before coming back to the start, and joining up with the marathon route. The roads are mostly long and straight, with a few inclines in the later stages of the marathon.

Water in bottles were given out every few KM, along with gatorade and fruit / gels. The aid stations were really well organised, which meant it was easy to stay hydrated and cool off. It did get hot in the later stages, but nowhere near as hot as last year, so we were lucky.

I had a large group stay with me until about 30km, then a few dropped off, but still, a good dozen were either around me or ahead of me. The only thing I would change would be the placements or the km markers. The course was correct, but some of the markers did not feel like they were in the right place, which made it more of a challenge to ensure my pace was correct. But it didn’t have the biggest impact, and mostly, they were correct. It was just the placement of a few towards the end.

I finished in an official time of 3:59:13. It was a little quicker than I would like, but I sped up when the final markers said I was only 20 seconds under target.

It is a lovely place to finish, and I got a massage at the end and only had to wait about 10 minutes. I didn’t have long in Limassol, so i stayed for 3 hours in Molos to enjoy the beer and food before going back to the hotel for a quick shower and transfer. Luckily, I had my Fussy roll on with me to stay smelling fresh.

I had a great big burger with friends and a few beers before it was time to leave. Overall, I would say it turned into a successful trip, even if I did lose a day. Limassol remains one of my favourite places to go, and I definitely recommend for a nice early season marathon in the sun.