Race Date: Sunday 12th May 2024

Firstly, I don’t think I can beat Brian Jenkins’ report from last year, so please refresh your memory of this event here:

Beer Lovers marathon, Belgium, result and report by Brian Jenkins

Ben Heller was the instigator of this trip and planned it miticulously so we left Sheffield on Saturday morning at 5.56am, squeezed in a Parkrun at Finsbury Park, got the Eurostar to Brussels, the connecting train to Liege and had plenty of time for a few practice drinks in the late afternoon and early evening. Sunday was run a marathon, drink lots of beer then get the train all the way back to Sheffield to arrive home at 00.13 on Monday morning and be up and out for school at 7am. It worked perfectly, except for the tiredness!

For anyone who likes running and drinking beer, eg, Adam McAuley, Richard Pegg, Neil Schofield, etc, this is an event that combines them both. It’s a no pressure, fun run with the challenge being how much (or how little) can you drink on the way round.

There are 16 beer stops but not equally spaced, breakfast is at 3k, first beer at 5k, second at 10 and third at 15k. By the time we’d done a half, we’d had 5 beers. They came thick and fast in the second half!! With a free bar and free food at the end, it can (and often does) get very messy.

Despite our 5 hours 30 minute time, we were still in the top 15% of finishers so it was easy to get beers afterwards. By the time we had to leave for the train, around 5.45pm, it was 5 deep at the bar.

The course is surprisingly rural and Liege reminds me somewhat of Sheffield with its hilly, industrial nature but close to the countryside and lots of greenery. There was a significant part of the route on trails and along the canal. I thought it was a wonderful route with excellent support from the locals and police and amazing aid stations.

I’m gutted that next year’s clashes with Old County Tops as I would love to do this annually. It is up there as one of my favourite races of all time and cannot recommend it highly enough.

The winner of the race was Sebastian Mahia in 3.04.07 (how many beers did he have???). The female winner was Wendy Castiaux in 3.50.34. There were 1431 finishers

Striders Results: