The Malvern Marathon will in
future be organised by the group.
HISTORY OF THE MALVERN MIDSUMMER MARATHON The original event was the idea of James 'Mac'
McArthur who was the first B&W chairman. Together with Tony Rowley & Derek Farmer
the first event was planned which took place on 25th June 1977. Over the years the event has taken various routes
over & around the Malvern Hills. For many years the group gave a choice of
either 25 or 35 mile routes. Eventually Mac handed over the running of the event
to other group members including Shirley & Chris Hume who were assisted with
the route descriptions by John Bickerstaffe. Following Shirley
& Chris the task of organising was taken over in 1994 by Molly & Mike Dixon with Dave Street as entry secretary. Since it's inception in 1977 only two years have been missed, once due to the
Foot & Mouth outbreak and once in 2006 when the group could not support it
due to their commitment to the first WyeForest 50 event. Following the 2006 layoff it
was felt that the organisers should look at simplifying the logistics for
running the event. Dave Street devised a new 26 mile route for 2007 which
incorporated the full length of the Malvern range and also made the route easier
to marshal. At the suggestion of Mike Dixon an extra loop on Castlemorton Common
satisfied the desire for those who like an extra challenge. It turned out that
this "innovation" was history repeating it's self because we found
that one of Mac's early routes also went over Castlemorton Common. Although it would
have been nice to continue running two routes the group had to be realistic. It
takes a huge effort in terms of time & man power to run these events and so,
regrettably, it was decided to abandon the long route in 2008. In that year the
reins of power were handed over to Brian Pitts who organised the final three
B&W events. Of
course, all the organiser's efforts would be of little use without the dedicated
team of helpers both before hand, checking the route and preparing those much
loved check point goodies and the team of on the day marshals. Unfortunately 2010 was the final Malvern Midsummer Marathon
organised by Bristol & West. Our friends in the Heart of England group have
agreed to take over running this popular event. Click on the image for the picture gallery
of the final Bristol & West Malvern Midsummer Marathon organised by the Bristol &
West LDWA.
Follow the Country Code
Click on the
dog for the Natural England Countryside Code web page.
This page was last updated 04 July 2011 at 23:36
Website created by Dave Street