When first time marathon runner Mallt Maskell crossed the line and caught his breath at the end of the Snowdonia marathon recently the first thought that crossed his mind was “That was hard!!” Writes Julie John.
Maskell a local man from Cardigan and son of former Cardigan rugby captain and hooker Malcolm was entered for this race by his dad after celebrating last New Year’s Eve and he informed his son a few days later that he was doing the Snowdon marathon this year! Mallt then decided that if he was going to go through all that hard work and pain he was going to choose a charity that would benefit and asked Cardigan Cancer Care if he could represent them, as he explains:
“I’ve lost two grandparents and a few friends to cancer over the years so the charity is close to my heart and they were the choice for me.”
He had little experience of long distance running until this event, he’d taken part in a charity fun run a few years ago, and had also competed in the Aquathlon at Poppit Sands, but nothing at this level .
His training began under the wing of Penparc man Andrew Toft who helped keep him on track on his training sessions. His longest distance prior to the marathon was 20 miles. The race was tough going, but Mallt felt spurred on at all times with the continuous support from the crowd who he said kept him and the other runners going especially over some of the more tougher sections of this difficult course.
As Mallt approached the finishing line, his parents and friends were lined up to cheer him in and were understandably proud of his achievement in completing one of the most gruelling marathons.
The event has built a reputation for being not only one of the most scenic road marathons around, but also one of the toughest in Europe and when you consider the route encircles Britain’s second highest mountain you know it’s going to be hard.
Mallt’s advice to anyone considering taking up running and especially a marathon is to believe in yourself, as anyone can do it, with some hard work and dedication – anything is possible, and yes he would run another marathon!
Mallt will be reaching for new summits in December when he heads off to France to undertake a ski season as a chalet host.
The volunteers at Cardigan Cancer Care were extremely helpful and assisted him in organising the fund raising and the young Cardigan man completed the marathon in 4 hours and 49 minutes alongside a large contingency of Cardigan runners, many of whom were very happy to sponsor Mallt even though they completed the race themselves.
He would like to thank every single person who sponsored and enabled him to raise the grand total of £757.50 for the charity.
