Going into it with a solid block of training behind him, Chris O’Brien had set himself a target of 3 hours 9 minutes for the ABP Newport Marathon. He felt like that would be achievable based on the work he’d put in which included some decent long runs and the interval sessions from the marathon training schedule that a lot of local athletes follow.

The Newport Marathon was purported to be flattest one on the UK so that would certainly help his plight. Chris is still afflicted with the Long COVID condition, with damaged peripheral muscle cells meaning that they can quickly become overwhelmed. The result of which is a very narrow threshold zone where he can go from upper easy to anaerobic without much of an increase in intensity, so it’s a delicate balance when racing.

The route for the Newport Marathon was devised by double Olympic marathon runner Steve Brace and touches on some iconic city centre landmarks as well as some scenic countryside and coastal stretches.

The race starts and finishes on Newport’s vibrant riverfront and features an initial loop around the city centre incorporating the high street, the traditional Victorian market and historic castle. It then heads out for a loop of Newport’s International Sports Village which is home to the Gerraint Thomas National Velodrome, Newport Stadium and Dragon Park.

The course then takes the runner out on to the flat, open roads of the Gwent Levels before turning round at the medieval village of Redwick. It also features a couple of loops round the Wetlands and Goldcliff areas before heading back to the city centre for the finish.

Starting off at 7:09 pace for his first mile split, Chris then followed it up with a couple of miles at 6:58 and then one at 7. His next He then registered a 7:08 for his next mile before putting in a couple of 7:05 splits. A 7:14, a 7:09 and then a 7:15 saw him through to 10 miles in 1 hour 11 minutes.

He seemed to have found a good rhythm and went through the next eight miles at around 7:15 pace. He’d gone through the half marathon point in 1:33:28 so was looking on track to achieve his target time if he could keep that going. With marathons though, it tends to be after 18 miles that the real challenges start to come.

Going through the 19th mile in 7:23, Chris then registered a 7:39 for his 20th mile. He was starting to lose power gradually by that stage. He then followed that up with a 7:36 and then a 7:37. It was on the 23rd mile where he really began to struggle. His pace hard to fall to closer to 8 minutes per mile.

Interestingly his heart rate hadn’t really changed so the intensity of the output was the same but he just couldn’t produce enough power any more. It was similar to hitting the wall except that he’d been fuelling with 100g of carbs each hour and had been hydrating at every water station so it energy levels hadn’t dropped. It was physiological.

Going through the 23rd mile in 7:50, he then went through the next one at 7:58 before registering a 7:51 for his 25th mile. There are a couple of small inclines to contend with on the 26th mile and Chris got through that one in 8:05 before closing it out at 7:28 pace for the last third of a mile.

His finishing time of 3 hours 13 minutes and 35 seconds which put him in 517th place out of the 2,850 who completed the course. He was 33rd out of 182 in the M50 category and his average pace for the run had come out at 7:21 per mile. That was almost the same time that Chris did when he ran the Manchester Marathon in 2023. In fact, it was just 14 seconds slower.

The winner of the race was Daniel Husbands of Shrewsbury AC who got round in a time of 2:27:57. Sam Humphrey of Penarth & Dinas Runners took second place in 2:32:15 and Charlie Cook of Runhead AC was third in 2:32:32.

Melissah Gibson of Ealing Eagles was first female in a course record time of 2:38:30 which put her in 21st place overall. That was quicker than any other woman by a substantial margin, with Kelly Barnett of Daventry coming in as second female in 2:56:51. That put her 205th overall. Naomi Flanagan of Torbay Triathlon Club was third lady in 2:58:40 and she came 274th overall.

There was also a Half Marathon and a 10k race on and Bournemouth AC’s Somalian speed merchant Abdi Elmi was going for gold in the 10k race. The Half Marathon race was won by Ronnie Richmond who beat his own course record from the previous year, this time clocking a very quick time of 1:06:54.

Tom Morton of Newquay & Par was second in 1:08:16 and Samuel Goodchild of Cornwall AC took third in 1:08:32. Grace Leyland of Herne Hill Harriers was first female in 1:17:53 which put her in 11th place overall out of 1,609 finishers.

It was a good marathon time by any standards from Chris but the frustration from his perspective was that he felt like he hadn’t been able to achieve what his training should have set him up for. The peripheral muscle cell damage that Long COVID had caused just made it impossible. He knew that he could look back on it and know that he gave it 100% effort though and achieved the best result that he could under the circumstances. That’s all anyone can do as you can only control what you can control.

What’s most admirable about Chris is that he won’t let his condition stop him from doing what he loves. He’s a competitive runner and that is ingrained into him. He has the hunger and desire to keep racing, keep trying to better himself and keep giving providing himself with difficult challenges to overcome. Marathons are never easy, even for those with a clean bill of health and no underlying issues to manage. Chris took it on though and achieved a time that the vast majority of runners would be over the moon with so he has to take some semblance of pride in that.