Valencia Marathon 2018

and still ricky villa · 13-06-2018 8:33pm #1

Just getting the ball rolling on this
Race, flight and hotel booked

Anyone else from this parish looking at this?

sideswipe · 14-06-2018 1:52pm

Considering it.....were are you flying in to?

and still ricky villa · 14-06-2018 2:03pm

I'm flying into Madrid and getting the train over. I thought about another flight but I've a sister in Madrid who recommends the train if you can avoid flying. No check in, delays or waiting around.
Dennis Bergkamp might have been on to something

ISOP · 14-06-2018 11:15pm

I'm in

ThePiedPiper · 15-06-2018 5:52pm

Ryanair to Madrid great value at €35 each way. What’s the story with trains?

and still ricky villa · 15-06-2018 5:57pm

Trains are tricky to work out. The marathon page is selling return tickets for €90 which if you take bags into account and the lack of air travel stuff you have to do, it could be decent value.
You can't seem to book them in advance yourself though but I'll probably wait until a bit closer to the date to book and ask the sister for her local knowledge

MrMacPhisto · 16-06-2018 1:15pm

and still ricky villa wrote: »

Trains are tricky to work out. The marathon page is selling return tickets for €90 which if you take bags into account and the lack of air travel stuff you have to do, it could be decent value.
You can't seem to book them in advance yourself though but I'll probably wait until a bit closer to the date to book and ask the sister for her local knowledge

They start selling the seats around 8 weeks out. Keep an eye on the Renfe site. Got first class seats (drink,newspaper, sandwich, choc and big seats) return for around 70-80euro return last year. I think the ticket was only 1 or 2 euro more expensive than standard fare. The renfe site isn't great to be honest. The discounted fare offered to marathon runners is only on full price tickets which are pretty expensive.

Highly recommend train. Airport express bus goes from outside arrivals in Madrid to Attocha every 15 mins or so. Takes around 20 mins to get to Attocha. 5 euro for single ticket. Some decent cafes, museums etc within 10 min walk of Attocha if you need to kill time before train. Train takes around 2 hours and you arrive to Joaquín Sorolla station in Valencia. Taxis, buses and metro close by to the train station.

MrMacPhisto · 17-06-2018 6:20pm

If you guys are looking for a good carb fix on the Saturday afternoon/eve I can recommend this place:

http://www.restaurantelapappardella.com/

Centrally located for a bit of tourism, great pasta and pizza, and for any companions the tiramisu is pretty special

I will leave Itziger to recommend the Cerveza venues!

chabsey · 20-06-2018 9:44am

This is no doubt a stupidly obvious thing but has anyone else found that on many marathon websites they have a count down (165 days left etc.) but they do not make it obvious when the actual marathon is on??

I decided to look into the Valencia one and it's the second or third time that I've gone to a marathon website only to find it difficult to see the actual dates the event is held on. You can calculate using their 'days remaining' countdown but surely it's not too much to ask for the dates to be made obvious?

No doubt the next reply will be a screenshot of a huge date in the middle of the site that I've missed

and still ricky villa · 20-06-2018 11:54am

That's a good point. You have to jump through a few hoops to get there
If you go to the https://www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com/en/ site and then hit the Marathon heading the ads start to rotate
The second one for the course and 3rd for registration give the date

chabsey · 20-06-2018 11:58am

Thanks, so it's not in your face right away, thought I was going mad.

and still ricky villa · 25-06-2018 10:04am

My flight from Dublin to Madrid has been cancelled already with Iberia.
Never had a flight cancelled before. Do I panic and start ringing Iberia, wait for a refund or wait for them to reschedule?

Diablo Verde · 02-07-2018 12:58pm

Signed up for my third go at this. Will be interesting to see what difference the cooler (probably) temperatures will make.

and still ricky villa · 02-07-2018 2:04pm

Do you think the new route will make much difference?
I'm not seeing huge changes, a few less turns, but it's hard to tell when you're only looking at a map

Itziger · 02-07-2018 6:48pm

and still ricky villa wrote: »

Do you think the new route will make much difference?
I'm not seeing huge changes, a few less turns, but it's hard to tell when you're only looking at a map

From what I've seen the changes since 2017 are minimal. Since 2012 they were a bit more significant but for us amateurs these tweaks will mean (next to) nothing.

MrMacPhisto · 02-07-2018 9:32pm

I have booked accommodation with free cancellation.... just in case.....

and still ricky villa · 03-07-2018 10:16am

Itziger wrote: »

From what I've seen the changes since 2017 are minimal. Since 2012 they were a bit more significant but for us amateurs these tweaks will mean (next to) nothing.

Speak for yourself, pal :P

Duanington · 07-07-2018 11:56pm

Strongly considering this one, so the best way to get there is fly to Madrid and train it to Valencia?

Itziger · 08-07-2018 6:07am

Duanington wrote: »

Strongly considering this one, so the best way to get there is fly to Madrid and train it to Valencia?

Probably, yeah. Check other possibilities just in case. Barcelona and Alicante, or via somewhere to Valencia itself. I went through Barcelona last year, train is easy from there too.

Rossi7 · 09-07-2018 10:21am

Flew into Alicante, short taxi ride to get the train into Valencia. Fairly handy and cheaper option when I last booked

and still ricky villa · 10-07-2018 12:13pm

Strava group just added with a nice map of the route
https://www.strava.com/clubs/454143/group_events/336942

hot buttered scones · 16-07-2018 7:27pm

I'm in. I was doing Frankfurt, but I don't think I'll be ready in time, so this seemed like a good one to do. Flying into Alicante and Air BnB booked. Hotels seem very expensive. I just have to start training now.

goodtiming · 17-07-2018 12:32pm

This is going to be my first Marathon. My 20 week schedule starts today so the timing is pretty good
I've booked flights into madrid and I'm hoping to take the high speed train on the Saturday....so if anyone finds a good deal on the train tickets I'd appreciate the heads up. Cheers.

and still ricky villa · 17-07-2018 12:36pm

goodtiming wrote: »

This is going to be my first Marathon. My 20 week schedule starts today so the timing is pretty good
I've booked flights into madrid and I'm hoping to take the high speed train on the Saturday....so if anyone finds a good deal on the train tickets I'd appreciate the heads up. Cheers.

There's some info on the train here
https://www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com/en/marathon-news/35-per-cent-discount-on-renfe-trains-to-speed-to-the-2018-valencia-marathon/

goodtiming · 17-07-2018 12:52pm

and still ricky villa wrote: »

There's some info on the train here

That's fantastic, thanks for that. I find the marathon website a bit confusing to get around so appreciate the help.

I've arranged my airbnb to stay in Valencia till the monday....I don't fancy walking around/travelling too much on the Sunday so I might have to arrange the trains myself....they don't look like they have a "special" one running on the Monday.

hot buttered scones · 17-07-2018 2:33pm

and still ricky villa wrote: »

There's some info on the train here
https://www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com/en/marathon-news/35-per-cent-discount-on-renfe-trains-to-speed-to-the-2018-valencia-marathon/

I was looking at that - but I'm staying until Monday and those trains are coming back on Sunday. I'm thinking of renting a car.

and still ricky villa · 17-07-2018 3:13pm

There are special offers on the flights on the site too.
The only one I see worth looking at flying from Ireland may be the 10% off Iberia flights.
That said I booked to fly with them on Friday, coming back Monday and they've cancelled the Friday flight.
I couldn't see anything too special about the KLM/Air France option

I booked my hotel through here too. Not much of a discount or anything but a nice late checkout, shuttle to the start etc
It'll probably come as standard but this being my latest swansong I may as well treat myself

hot buttered scones · 17-07-2018 3:56pm

and still ricky villa wrote: »

There are special offers on the flights on the site too.
The only one I see worth looking at flying from Ireland may be the 10% off Iberia flights.
That said I booked to fly with them on Friday, coming back Monday and they've cancelled the Friday flight.
I couldn't see anything too special about the KLM/Air France option

I booked my hotel through here too. Not much of a discount or anything but a nice late checkout, shuttle to the start etc
It'll probably come as standard but this being my latest swansong I may as well treat myself

I'm flying out of Dublin by Ryanair to Alicante at 10am-ish on the Friday and back on the Monday at around 2.30. €267 return for 2 of us including Priority boarding and cheap booked seats. Dunno if any if those flights are any good to you. Herself booked a nice looking apartment in the City Centre with Air BnB. I'll probably just get a taxi to the start

Itziger · 17-07-2018 6:58pm

I'll probably end up doing this again once I figure out how to tell the wife that I won't be staying with her Da. Might compromise and stay with her brother!! He lives about 150 metres from Tyris on Tap, if it's still open and operating. I was thinking of doing an October one but I'm in Spain on hols and the heat and humidity are sucking the joy out of running. Tossing and turning all night and then you finally get a bit of shut eye and it's time to get up and out. The beer, wine and copious amounts of food aren't helping much either.
On a side note; has anyone clicked on the Training Plans on the official marathon site? Jeez, the sub 3 one is so different to what I do. Hardly an easy run in sight in the last 6 weeks or so. I'll probably fly into Barcelona again and train it down. (****e, just remembered our friends in Barcelona are moving to Madrid........) Ach, we'll see.
Seems like a bit of a bunch doing Valencia then.

goodtiming · 17-07-2018 7:26pm

I'm getting in to Madrid at 5pm on the Friday Via Ryanair, so I've decided to stay the night there and have a look around....I've never been so it's a good opportunity.
Sat and Sun in Valencia and then back to madrid on the Monday for another night in Airbnb...
Back home on Tuesday morning with Ryanair...
The flights including seats and priority boarding were only 97E.

and still ricky villa · 01-08-2018 11:35am

Signed up for the half on October 28th this morning

Valencia Marathon 2018

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