Race Date 06 November 2022
Lying on the River Douro, Porto is Portugal’s second city, a Unesco World Heritage site and home to the eponymous fortified wine. Its marathon’s river and coastal route is described as fast and flat and with good potential for those seeking a pb with a largely out and back route and with any lumpy bits early on in the race.
Back in August, after an indifferent summer’s training, Luke Mair was looking for an Autumn marathon with Porto being late enough to give himself time to try and get fit. Training went well with an excellent half marathon pb of 79:53 at Manchester at the beginning of October putting him on track for a good marathon time provided he had built up enough endurance.
Luke’s existing marathon best of 3:19:53 was set in Manchester in October 2021 where he confessed that he “hit the wall at mile 16 but managed to drag himself round the last 10 to the finish line!” A year later and more experienced this time he got to 30k in 2:07:12 and on target for sub three hours but after that his pace slowed to finish in 3:02:32 still averaging seven minutes per mile. A seventeen minute pb is not to be scoffed at and Luke was delighted with his time although still a little disappointed not to have been able to hang on for the sub three.
Looking strong, detective work (only one gel left) suggests that this photograph was taken about 30km.
Luke takes up the story ……. “I had a delayed start to my training, which was cut short due to COVID in the Summer and so targeted a November marathon. Fearing the English weather I looked to Europe and chose Porto as a fast course and city I had never visited. Training went smoothly and was injury free which could well be attributed to the introduction of yoga and a higher protein diet recommended by my girlfriend. I felt much stronger than last year at Manchester and was slightly gutted not to hold on for sub three hours. However, finishing any marathon is an achievement and I take all the positives of a big pb and another solid training block. Huge thanks to everyone on the Marathon Bus who provide competitive training and expert advice in the lead up to the race. It’s a decent rest now before deciding when to try again for sub three hours….”
With 2771 finishers the field is far less crowded than experienced at some other big city marathons. First female was Alice Kepjemboi Kimutai 2:29:58 and first male James Mwangui 2:08:47 both from Kenya. Link to Porto Marathon 2022 Results
The old adage that the marathon begins at twenty proves itself again with Luke looking a little more tired n the finishing straight.
| Pos | Name | Cat | Time |
| 155 | Luke Mair | SM | 3:02:32 |
A Unesco World Heritage site Porto is packed with things to do and see but only after you have completed your race.