Greetings Harriers,
I have always wanted to run the Marathon du Medoc in the Bordeaux region of France so when I saw this running event, I thought this might be the closest I get. The event was scheduled for the Sunday of an unofficial long weekend, owing to a public holiday for the running of the Melbourne Cup – a horse race that “stops the nation” on the first Tuesday in November. I thought it was a good opportunity to see another part of regional Victoria and make a weekend of it.
The race had multiple distances from the marathon that started at 6.30 in the morning, the half marathon which I did, that started at 7.30, the 10 km, 5 km and 2 km run for the kids. The early start was definitely needed as the temperatures climbed to 29 degrees by 11 am so I was glad to have finished in the cooler part of the day.
When we attended the Tahbilk winery (race HQ) on the Saturday to collect our bibs, we were warned that we should be aware that snakes (deadly Aussie ones) had been spotted on the course in the last few days. I’m not sure what I was supposed to do with that information – pack bandages instead of my trusty caffeine gel?
The lady that gave me my bib turned it over and I was expecting the usual – “Don’t forget to fill in your next of kin details … yada yada, but she explained that if we took the bib to the winery we would receive a free bottle of wine if we spent $50 at the winery. Too easy!!
I don’t normally have a drink the day before a race, but this was a Winery based run so I felt compelled. We headed to the winery, which incidentally is the oldest in Victoria established in 1870. We tasted a couple of wines, promising to return the next day after the race.
The event was really well organised and I thoroughly enjoyed the route. We ran around one vineyard then on to a main(ish) road which took us to another winery where we also ran and then reversed and back to Tahbilk winery where we finished.
The cellar door opened at 10 am and by 10.15 I returned to complete my wine tasting experience. I can highly recommend their sparkling wine which very much went to my head very quickly! I was glad for the food trucks that were very much needed to soak up my vino!
The festival atmosphere was enhanced by the local bands that played while we watched the various races finish.
I hadn’t intended to race this event and was treating it as an excuse for a weekend away so I was especially pleased to come 3rd female.
The winning times for the various races were:
Half marathon – Jill Wilkie 1:30:12
– Mark Spies 1:27:34
– Pru Clements 1:42:46
Marathon – Allecia Millard 3:05:09
– David Staehr 2:41:31
I can highly recommend this event if ever you don’t manage to get an entry to the more famous French experience. I plan to do it again next year.
Pru Clements