Not only did France’s Guillaume Ruel smash the outright course record with 2hrs 24min. 58sec., but English veteran Harriet Carr finally took the women’s mark into sub-3hr territory and then some, while every participant played their part in ensuring a best-ever field of 251 finishers for Sunday’s gruelling 26.2-miler.
Ethan Woodhead had taken the home honours in a stunning personal best of 2-33-52 for fourth overall and veteran Ulrike Maisch proved a popular runner-up in the women’s race.
The marathon set out from South Esplanade and almost immediately ramped up Le Val des Terres, giving competitors a harsh awakening before some rolling miles in the ‘upper parishes’, a headwind-impeded slog along the west coast and then a waterfront return leg where runners faced the final reckoning against heat and fuel depletion.
Marathon man Ruel seemed to make light work of it all. Despite this being his fourth marathon in as many weeks, having Greece’s Serres and France’s Bayeux and Poitiers-Futuroscope races in his legs, he took the front immediately and showed no signs of giving it up.
The Frenchman brought a certain sense of deja vu – he had won in 2024 – but he went significantly faster this time to slash 4-50 from the record set by Morocco’s Otmane Menbar last year.
‘I wanted to win the race and make the course record, and it’s my fourth marathon in four weeks,’ he said.
‘I did 2-18 last week, 2-20 two weeks ago. I do quite some marathons to train, and I’m preparing for the Comrades Marathon in June.
‘Guernsey is close to home, because I live on the west Normandy coast, so it’s like 20 miles away.’
South Africa’s Comrades Marathon, actually an 87km ‘ultra’, is a very different beast but at least gives runners time to get going before sending them up a 70m-high hill.
‘We start up the big hill, for one mile approximately, and after it’s quite easy, it’s quite flat, and the landscapes are amazing,’ he added.
‘More so today because it’s sunny and beautiful weather, so we can enjoy the landscapes, so that’s nice.’
Behind him, the race for runner-up had been highly competitive, including Guernsey triathlon professional Josh Lewis shaking things up in his first standalone marathon.
Passing L‘Islet at 17 miles, early ‘hitting the wall’ territory, he was holding his own with the UK’s Henry Hart and the runaway winner’s brother Pierre-Antoine Ruel but beginning to fatigue.
A more conservative Woodhead, who was hanging just behind them but had momentum in his favour, ultimately picked his Guernsey rival off.
Hart followed in 2-30-35, Ruel another 1-38 behind, and then came Woodhead in a PB of over 4min.
Lewis took fifth in 2-36-46 and the triathlon theme continued with the man in a more distant sixth, James Travers.
Travers has nowadays dropped his triathlon focus for Hyrox, but his 2-55-17 proved good enough for top veteran on the day.
Following positions came down to fine margins as James Rabey finished another 10sec. back for seventh overall.
But next across the line was Carr in a record-breaking 2-56-09.
Guernsey’s Maisch had raced up and over ‘Valdees’ in gutsy fashion, making it immediately apparent that her good friend Vicky Carre’s record of 3-10-10 was on borrowed time.
However, the similarly-named Carr soon levelled, running with her for a good while before beginning to push on around the 10-mile marker.
Her rhythm had been interrupted by a hole in her sock, forcing a temporary stop that allowed Maisch to regain ground.
But despite running with a single sock from then on, Carr was soon gone, amplifying her advantage on a tiring Maisch over the final nine miles.
‘Target was sub-3hrs, which I did, and to get top of the podium was a bonus, really,’ she said.
‘It was beautiful. I target the Major marathons, so I’ve done five out of the six – the only one I haven’t done is Tokyo – but I have to admit this is the most beautiful course I’ve ever run.
‘It’s really, really beautiful. A couple of "wow" moments when I turned some corners.
‘The headwind was brutal. If you’d given me 2-56 at the beginning of the day, I would have happily taken it – I’m in good shape.’
The 2006 European marathon champion for Germany, Maisch had one of her toughest races ever to push through the inevitable fatigue, ultimately coming home well inside the old record with 3-01-29.
Even her foil could not help but notice how much support she was getting.
‘Her son cycled past at some point and they exchanged words in another language and she said to me, "Oh, that’s my son, he’s going to football".’
‘Pretty much every household that was cheering, and they said, "Go, Ulrike", which was obviously lovely.’
Although Carr also had no shortage of cheers, adding: ‘The support was actually really amazing. To have cars go past with their windows down and shout, "Well done, you look amazing" or "First woman", it was really well-supported.’
Cementing this as the best women’s edition yet, Sophie Fletcher also went well under the old record with a 3-03-54 and France’s Eugenie Boterf came in just outside on 3-10-18.
