The trip

MARATHON WORLD RECORD!

… no not the record, just a record.

I was in Dubai for a while anyway so I thought I might as well sign up for the race. I went to collect my number a few days before and at the collection they were asking if I (and everyone else) wanted to be part of the world record attepmpt. They were handing out thousands of capes and going for the record of most capes word in a marathon. Bit of a niche record really but they are the easier ones to get. As I was just running for fun rather than going for a time myself, I thought I might as well get involved.

The race

The race started at 6am in the Dubai Police Academy. This meant a very early start. Luckily, getting a taxi is not a worry at any time of day or night in Dubai. I got out of the taxi at the Mall of the Emirates and walked across the monorail bridge there. It was a slightly surreal experience being in the police academy at 5am in the darkness. It was a bit of a winding walk to get to the start line but I found some space to stretch my legs with a few strides. Before long, we were off.

The start was a little underwhelming, as was the rest of the race. It just wasn't very exciting unfortunately. When we left the police academy we went straight down King Salman St towards the marina. But then we turned around before we got to explore the marina in any way. We then went backwards down the other side of the road past the exit to the police station and towards downton Dubai, but similarly didn't make it there either.

The most interesting part of this section of the route was passing some mega mega mega masnions owned, presumably, by royalty and other big dogs. These houses all back onto the beach and from what you could see behind the gates and trees was enormous. Estates more than houses.

Next up on the same side of the road was the Jumeirah resort. I had actually stayed at the Jumeirah Beach hotel over a decade before so it was cool to see it all close up again. After that it was just straight up the same road for another couple of miles before turning around. This section then formed a double lap loop, back to the Jumeirah hotel, back up again and then back past it towards the police academy for the finish line. The rest of the road in this section was lined mostly by cafes and small shops.

From a temperature perspective, it was good that the race started early, but the combination of the early start time and the general lack of walkability around Dubai meant that there were very few people lining the street in support. This meant that a lot of the atmosphere that you would normally expect with a marathon just wasn't there. Therefore, there wasn't much excitement at the beginning and there wasn't much to help keep you going towards the end. I started to flag a little bit but kept my legs ticking and made it to the end.

My general summary of the race was that it was just a bit of a mismatch between what I wanted and what it's good for. If I was going for a PB, it would probably be quite a good course to give it a go on. The lack of support might have made the mental side of that challenge tough but on paper it is an excellent course. Perfectly flat and only a handful of turns throughout. Where I was looking for more of a fun day out, it just didn't really live up to expectations.

Evidence