One family. One weekend. One challenge…
To conquer the Milton Keynes Marathon Weekend.
The Rocket 5K.
The Superhero Fun Run.
And the ultimate test…
The Marathon.
But as the miles build…
And the legs grow heavy…
Will we rise to the challenge…
Or fall before the finish line?
Our fate awaits…
At the MK Arena.
Watch our Video of Milton Keynes Marathon Weekend on YouTube
Milton Keynes?
Milton Keynes, perhaps unfairly, is still shorthand for roundabouts, concrete and corporate business parks. Yet for one weekend every May, the city transforms into something altogether different: a celebration of running and this year, thanks to the May the Fourth timing, an intergalactic convention.
The Milton Keynes Marathon Weekend has become a UK running calendar highlight. There’s a run for everyone, from the Super Hero fun run and Rocket 5k, to the half and full marathon, you can even run as a team and take the marathon on as a relay. Routes sweep through the city’s tree-shaded boulevards, snake along parkland and lakes, and spill out into the unexpectedly rural villages that surround the new town. There are elite runners chasing fast times, first-timers nervously pinning on bibs, families dressed in superhero capes, and people dressed — as we discovered on the marathon start line — as The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
For our family, the Star Wars-themed medals were the irresistible lure. Yoda and a concrete cow wielding a lightsaber is not the sort of thing one casually ignores.
And so our adventure began with the Rocket 5K.
Day One: Iona Chasing a Sub-30 at the Rocket 5k
The Rocket 5K starts in the centre of Milton Keynes and finishes outside Stadium MK, home of the marathon finish and, for the weekend, the epicentre of the entire event.
The route is famously “net downhill”, words that sound delightfully reassuring before the opening run UP Midsummer Boulevard reminds you that “net” is doing some heavy lifting there.
Ewan disappeared into the distance almost immediately, while I settled into pace-running duties beside Iona. This was her target race. The mission: break 30 minutes for the first time.
Once we crested the early incline and turned onto the long descending stretches, Iona’s pace picked up as we were swept along by a stream of runners spread out across the tree-lined boulevards.
At two miles, we were only just on pace. It could still have gone either way. Two lovely ladies came alongside Iona, encouraging and pacing her, giving her a real boost for that final push.
With Stadium MK appearing in the distance and encouragement coming from runners all around us, Iona lifted her cadence and lengthened her stride, weaving through tiring runners, accelerating towards the finish gantry.
29:34 – A first sub-30. Mission accomplished.
Th
e immediate aftermath was considerably less glamorous. We retraced the entire route on foot back to race HQ — located, with pleasing running practicality, inside a Wetherspoons on Midsummer Boulevard — where Ruth was waiting and a full English breakfast, the recovery strategy.
One final task remained for the day: locating Milton Keynes’ famous concrete cows, stars of the marathon medal design and perhaps the most beloved public artworks in Britain. Created in 1978 as part of a community arts project, the cows have long outgrown their satirical origins and become unlikely local icons. On marathon weekend, they feel less like sculptures and more like mascots.
Day Two: The Milton Keynes Marathon
Monday morning, an early start!
We vacated the Airbnb, gathered kit bags and cycled back towards Stadium MK beneath grey skies and that nervous energy unique to marathon mornings, which tends to result in multiple pre-race loo trips!
Natalie Vidler joined me on the start line while, elsewhere, runners adjusted costumes ranging from Jedi robes to tutus and costumes with dubious aerodynamic qualities.
At 9am, we were off.
The marathon initially retraces the Rocket 5K route — cruelly in reverse. What had felt like a pleasant downhill the previous morning became a long grind uphill into central Milton Keynes before the course escaped into greener territory.
This is where the MK Marathon surprises you.
For all the city’s reputation as a monument to concrete and the grid system, much of the route winds through lakeside paths, wooded sections and quiet Buckinghamshire villages. One moment, you are running through wide urban boulevards; the next, through peaceful countryside where residents stand outside cottages ringing cowbells and offering jelly babies.
Meanwhile, Ruth, Ewan and Iona had embarked on the Superhero Fun Run. The Yoda medal proved impossible to resist. Ewan stormed round at a blistering pace while Ruth and Iona went for a more conversational approach.
Back on the marathon course, the field gradually spread out. As I was heading towards the end of my first lap, the elite runners came flying past heading to the finish, effortlessly lapping me at phenomenal speed. The half-marathon runners peeled away towards their finish while we marathoners continued out for our second lap.
That second lap carried a sting.
Roads had reopened by then, diverting runners onto Milton Keynes’ Redways and underpasses. What had previously been smooth cruising suddenly became an endless sequence of down-and-up gradients. Not brutal individually, but cumulatively draining in the way only marathon courses can be, but I managed to stay on pace.
In fact, somehow, the second half ended up marginally quicker than the first — a rare and deeply satisfying negative split. One by one, tired runners ahead became targets to reel in as I ran through the Open University campus for the second time.
Then the vista of Stadium MK reappeared, this time we turned towards it rather than off to run another lap. Entering the stadium itself, emerging beside the pitch before completing a full lap to the finish line while my family and the Vidlers cheer from the stands. After 26.2 miles, a football pitch suddenly feels enormous.
But eventually, the finish line was reached, and the prize attained, a medal featuring a concrete cow holding a lightsabre. Worth every step.
I received an additional challenge medal too, awarded for completing multiple events across the weekend. By this point our family medal collection had reached eight in total, spanning four different designs.
With IKEA conveni
ently located a short walk from the stadium, meatballs called. IKEA became our post-marathon refuelling station before we cycled back to Bletchley station and boarded a London Northwestern Railway train home, legs aching but a sense of satisfaction from a fabulous weekend. The Fourth had definitely been with us!
We’ve already entered next year’s MK weekend of running events, it’s James Bond themed medals! Will you join us on the start lines?
Recent Comments