Moyleman Lewes Marathon 2016. Photo by James McCauley
By Tom Roper
It was a great pleasure to marshal this year’s Moyleman. I’ve been Chief Marshal for all three runnings of this idiosyncratic race, an off-road marathon on the South Downs around Lewes.
It’s run in memory of a great Sussex runner, Chris Moyle, who ran with Brighton and Hove AC and died too young in 2009 aged 42. He loved the hills, so this route, with ascents just a shade less than those of the Beachy Head marathon, would have been just his sort of run.
Ash Head, a formidable Lewes-based runner, and close running friend of Chris, is Race Director, and seems to think I know something about marshalling. And so I find myself, each March, organising, in the loosest sense of the word, a volunteer team who gladly give up a Sunday, at a time when the weather can be uncertain, to stand in exposed places on the tops of the Downs and help the field of 200 who go the full distance, and 50 two-runner relay teams, who run half each.
There’s no other race like it. Harveys brewery generously give us the use of their yard for the finish line, and provide free beer for the finishing runners and marshals. Circa provided pizza. And Ash stands by the finish line, shaking every runner by the hand as they finish. This year one finisher, a hard man, was overcome with emotion, and fell into Ash’s arms, sobbing like a child.
This year Strider Ed Tuckley ran it, finishing in a very creditable 13th place in a time of 3:44:20. Entries open in the autumn, if you’d like to run it. Or you could join me and Chris Wrathall, and others, as a marshal. Chris ran it in 2015, and can tell you what’s its like. Maybe I will one day.