WELCOME TO 2:09 EVENTS

Cyprus Challenge: Stage 3 - Half Marathon start

Great Wall Marathon

The Boston Marathon is one of the toughest events to get into - usually runners have to get a qualifying time but we have 15 places available for non-qualifiers. The race, on Monday 18th April 2011, may sound like a long way off but qualifying places sold out by November last year and our non-qualifier places way before that so early booking is essential.

Great Wall of China Marathon - May 21st, 2011

One of the highlights of the adventure marathon year is the Great Wall of China Marathon (May 21) - which also has a half marathon, 10km and 5km option. It fits neatly the broad description of what an adventure marathon should be; tough but with scenery the blows your mind away.

The Great Wall Marathon also ticks all the boxes for a superb exotic destination with our two centre holiday that takes in Beijing and a remote and mountainous section of the Wall - May temperatures around 28C in Beijing and 24C at the Wall also add to the holiday atmosphere.

For full details visit the web page.  

CYPRUS 4-DAY CHALLENGE - Nov 25th to 28th

In the same vein, the Cyprus 4-day Challenge is both tough and with superb scenery across the Akamas National Park and a fab holiday to boot. The Race HQ is the 5-star Coral Beach Hotel, host hotel to Team GB for warm weather training, and a perfect place to relax between the daily races.

Click here for the details of the Cyprus 4-Day Challenge (Nov 25th to 28th).

ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON - Nov 7th

We now have only 80 places from our allocation of 800 left for the New York Marathon and you need to act quickly if you are keen to run the world's leading marathon this year.

RUN NEW YORK FOR CHARITY

Some of the UK's leading charities are holding space with us for the New York Marathon so why not visit Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie, British Heart Foundation, The Children's Trust and Sue Ryder Care and run New York for a great cause.  

WHAT'S HOT

Bookings for the Athens Marathon (Oct 31) have been exceptional and we are now SOLD Out.

We have sold out of our group flights with BA from Heathrow for the Berlin Marathon (Sept 26), but we have 20 entry places remaining and can offer a hotel & entry package to the race that boasts several world best times.

Venice (Oct 25) has closed for direct entries but we have space under the Travel Partner scheme for those booking a hotel package through us.

Our bookings for the Florence Marathon (Nov 28) are 25% up on this time last year and we are expecting a record group for this excellent marathon and its historic setting, from Piazza Michelangelo, passing the Domo and across the Ponte Vecchio on the way.

We had sold out on the Chicago Marathon but some more entries have come our way and we have re-opened bookings for a Hotel & Entry package.

TRAINING, HEALTH & FITNESS

We are now taking bookings for our Algarve late-Summer training week (from Sept 19) - Chicago Marathon winner, 2:08 marathon runner, Olympic finalist and all-around nice guy, Paul Evans is already excited about looking after you. This is a week for all abilities; very relaxed, infact strangely relaxing despite the running, which you can dip into to suit your needs.

Our new fitness venture with Fit for a Princess is now up and running - as we have used the venue at the 5-star Coral Beach Hotel for 6 years now we can say with absolute confidence that the Cyprus Boot Camp will be superb - great activity lead by Janey from Fit For a Princess, followed by relaxing afternoons in the late summer sun and excellent food and drink - the camp runs from October 16th and is not to be missed.

ADVENTURE & TRAIL RUNNING

Trail running comes in various forms - our next overseas trip is to the 25th Anniversary of the Swiss Alpine Marathon (July 21 to Aug 1) - we have a group of 42 going out for our 24th trip to Europe's leading trail race, which this year will have over 5,000 competitors across the range of distances from 11km to 78km.

On a smaller scale - but no less brilliant for it - we have again got the biggest group travelling to the Polar Circle Marathon in Greenland (Oct 23), and looking ahead bookings are now being taken for the Cuban Trail Marathon on Feb 20.

Closer to home, join us for our evening Salomon Forest Trail 10km series Bracknell and Epping were successfully held on very warm evenings this week and the series moves on to Delemare in Cheshire (Jul 15).  

We have made a change to the route of the Rivington Trail Half Marathon now that a route to White Coppice on the side of Angelzark Moor is now possible.

Dunsfold 10km and Duathlon - August 22nd

With the switch from March to August, Dunsfold takes on a slightly different format with the duathlon kicking off proceedings in the afternoon and the 10km moving to the evening - hopefully we will see some nice summer evening weather and with extensive areas of grass this promises to be a bit of a festival event - details can be found in the UK Events section.

Yours in sport,

Mike Gratton