Setting the pace in 1993: Mike Gathercole (right) pulls along the field at Perelle in the last marathon staged locally. (0735792)
EIGHTEEN years have passed since the island saw its last full marathon.
Mike Gathercole, just short of his 50th birthday, led home the field of 25 in a time of 2hrs 50min. 59sec., the 15th fastest time over the distance by an islander.
Starting from Portelet at Rocquaine the route took in one full circle of the island’s main coast roads and, after hitting Portelet at 22 miles, continued a further four miles up the coast to finish at La Grande Mare.
So a nice flat introduction and finish to the race first introduced to Guernsey exactly 100 years ago, only then the start was not nearly so easy on the legs and lungs.
In fact, at a time when Le Val des Terres did not exist, the organisers could scarcely have chosen a more unfavourable start.
The first Guernsey marathon started, of all places, at the foot of Le Gouffre, outside the picturesque three-storey hotel that stood there at the time.
A little over 26 miles later it also finished there.
Earlier that year a full marathon had been staged only for one of the two competitors to withdraw at 15 miles with lacerated feet.
And, with his challenge gone, the remaining competitor, south of England 2-10-mile professional champion C. Gardiner, reached 20 miles and was declared the winner more than six miles short of the finishing line.
The entry doubled for the first completed marathon six months later and they included the Belgian waiter, G. Babbe, who worked at the Gouffre Hotel.
Previously Babbe had been invited to compete in running challenges starting or finishing in Town or at the Cycling Grounds, so, if he wouldn’t come to them, they would go to him in order to get the race on.
Why Babbe thought himself so special is unclear, or perhaps he simply had to work part of the lunchtime period before dashing outside for the one o’clock start.
Rain was falling as the four started their ascent of Le Gouffre.
Challenging Babbe were three of the finest Sarnian Harriers – club captain W. Mahy, the unknown talent of E. Le Moigne and H. Becker.
The winner would take home the princely amount of £1, plus a silver hot-water kettle.
The runner-up would get 15 shillings and a silver tray, the two consolation prizes being a silver-mounted sugar bowl and a silver cream jug.
The course was, in fact, 100 yards longer than the true marathon distance of 26 miles 385 yards.
From Le Gouffre, the runners and the accompanying motorcade headed east past the Forest Church and into St Martin’s.
From there they ran along Fort Road before dropping into the Charroterie via Colborne Road.
From there on they followed a coastal course right around to Pleinmont where they headed up the old and now closed ‘zig-zag’ road and back to the Gouffre via Torteval Church.
Other than the Gouffre climb the only hill was the steep one at Pleinmont.
The rain may have served to lay the dust from the pre-tarmac roads, but it had the consequence of making them heavy.
Keen to impress on his home patch Babbe was first up the hill, but it did not take long for Becker to hit the front and even as early as the Forest Church Becker and Le Moigne were 200 yards ahead of Babbe and Mahy.
Becker steadily pulled clear and was eight minutes inside the projected time when he was forced to slow at L’Eree, the result of a sore knee that had been troubling him for a fortnight.
It cost him four minutes but he still managed to stop the watch at three hours three minutes 50 seconds, just eight minutes 50 slower than the great London Marathon winner of the time, Dorando.
Had the Guernsey course not been 100 yards longer, the differential would have been a whole lot less.
Babbe ultimately finished second in 31-10, but Mahy and Le Moigne reached the finish in the back seat of a motorcar.
Le Moigne had been taking the easy route since stopping at Albecq (15.5 miles) and Mahy made it through 22 miles before his painful feet caused him to stop.
Colonel Duke, president of the Sarnian Harriers, afterwards addressed the Gouffre gathering and said that 25 November 1909 would forever be remembered in the annals of Guernsey athletics.
A century on, the Marathon Club of Guernsey aim to revive the toughest event in the domestic running calendar and on a course which will be more welcoming to runners nervously waiting on the start line at Foote’s Lane.
Quite how H. Becker would have handled such a challenge is anyone’s guess, but given his 1909 winning time, the most basic of running shoes and muddy roads, it’s clear he was some talent.
Article posted on 14th March, 2009 - 9.29am
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