COMPANY OF RUNNERS cordially invite you to join us for the 2023 running of the prestigious Stour Valley Marathon. Your challenge should you choose to accept it, is to self-navigate on a marathon trail course (approximately 27 “country” miles) following the highways, byways, trails and tracks around the Stour Valley using the Stour Valley Path, St Edmund’s Way and the Essex Way.
The course is a mixture of surfaces, so trail shoes are recommended. There will be checkpoints on the route, offering water, sweets and crisps, however we would encourage you to be as self-sufficient with fluid and fuel as possible. This year’s race will be cupless, so you need to bring your own cup or water bottles. Collapsible cups can be purchased from us at race registration at £5.
The race should only be attempted by runners who have completed a half marathon or greater distance race with training beyond 20 miles. The cut-off is eight hours, but that is not because we are being overly generous- this is a notoriously difficult route and some runners take several hours more than they expect to complete the route. We expect you to be confident long-distance runners who can manage trail running in what can often be hot conditions. Participants should also be comfortable with following navigation instructions, GPS files or by reading maps-this course is not marshalled nor does it have tape/arrows to show the way. The course is slightly different to that used prior to 2021.