ABP Southampton Marathon 6 April 2025
I decided to pay to park in a private drive using Just Park. I found an option about half a mile from the start which was ideal. The Southampton car park reviews list problems and delays getting out, vandalism and anti-social behaviour for the main multi-story car parks!
The bag drop in the Guildhall was a nightmare. It took nearly half an hour to drop my bag off, which was basically just my warmer top as it was cold early on. Six separate queues going into a small door. This with people going through the queues sideways.
It could have been better and should be better and much less crowded, if those doing the half marathon started half an hour after the marathon runners.
The route of the ABP Southampton Marathon is described on their website as "a course designed to showcase the best of the city. Runners will experience stunning views of Southampton’s landmarks, including the waterfront, parks, and historic streets. Starting and finishing at the iconic Southampton Guildhall Square, the route offers a mix of flat and slightly hilly terrain, providing the perfect balance of challenge and enjoyment."
We set off at 9am just as the sun was beginning to warm the air. Dry weather was forecast and just a single t-shirt was sufficient. It was nice being able to run alongside large stretches of the river Itchin waterfrontage and in large parks these areas being mostly flat. The route also took us through Southampton’s St Mary’s stadium alongside the pitch.
Having now run the route twice (as the route consists of two identical laps) it is not "slightly hilly" It has a total elevation gain of 330 metres. (put into context the Kingley Vale half marathon was 491m). One section of around at least a mile is very steep. OK it is a nice downhill to the finish. Another issue were the cars actually parked on roads on the route! Right after the start, you run through a narrow gate into a small park and then another pinch point at the exit. Really annoying!
Itchen Bridge with its glorious views across the Southampton Water, The Solent and, even, the New Forest. Well what can I say? The bridge is basically a large hill up and down which you do four times!
The aid stations were good plenty of proper bottled water, none of this save the planet, plastic-free nonsense which makes a change. Also available were Precision Fuel gels (30g carb) but I didn’t like the taste.
The marshals were excellent with their encouragement and support. Just as well as most of the public support had gone once the half marathon and 10k had gone through. Lots of support though at the finish straight and it's best to run here that as many of the free photos are taken here. Yes free photos. This was a nice touch. I don’t know why more marathon event organisers don’t add £5 to the price and let everyone have free photos.
The entertainment was also better than most with a live group and a large choir singing and dancing to Wham and the like. Not sure how the drummers could keep that up for 4 hours and not go deaf.
Best signs were "It’s too early to pretend you have cramp" which morphed into "Now is the time you can claim to have cramp" on the second lap. Also "Your cat knows you can run faster" "Only a fool would choose to run a marathon when you don’t have to so you must be a fool."
The medal was excellent. A proper weighty well-designed square chunk of metal with matching ribbon. This celebrated the 10th anniversary of the ABP Southampton Marathon.
I managed a sub- 5 hour marathon PB time of 4 hrs 56 mins in a mass event with hills and somewhat hot too!
There are also plenty of options for snacks at the end too. Collecting your bag was easy and there were chairs to sit down and rest whilst you sorted yourself out. I think every marathon should provide 40 or 50 chairs at the end.
