The Maravan

Back in the very first year of Maravan, our toilet situation was… let’s say, character-building. The nearest loo was a quarter of a mile away in a local pub, which led to one unfortunate athlete being lapped mid-relief. It was a memorable moment — though probably not for the right reasons.

 

Since then, we’ve dutifully hired portable toilets each year. They did the job, but by Sunday evening, they were more “grin and bear it” than “comfort and joy.”

 

This year, we’re thrilled to announce a major upgrade: proper porcelain toilets, courtesy of the campsite. No more long treks or chemical cubicles — just clean, civilised facilities within easy reach. It’s a small detail, but one we know will make a big difference to your weekend.

 

In return for this luxury, the campsite has asked us to support Cancer Research UK, the chosen charity of Haven Holidays. We think that’s a brilliant cause, and we hope you’ll join us in making a donation — whether it’s a few coins or something more generous. Every bit helps.

 

Let’s make this year’s Maravan the most comfortable — and the most meaningful — yet.

I *love* this year’s wooden medal design. It has just the right amount of whimsy to really express the event.

I went for a kind of seaside postcard sort of theme, given the size of canvas I think it’s really paid off. What do you think?

Plenty of entries still available in all but the relay, if you want to get your hands on one of these. I realise that the new normal is to enter at the last minute, but I could really use another couple of entries coming in before I have to pay for the toilets…!

I’m recovering from a bit of a knack that I subjected myself to running the ABP half past weekend, and I’m resting it this week. It’s put me a couple of weeks behind where I want to be for the Lanzarote marathon, but that’s marathon running, I suppose.

Anyhow, I thought I’d better check the course, and make sure it’s measured as properly as I can. Because there’s a few metres more grass than allowed in a road race, there’s no point getting it measured with a calibrated bike, a GPS will suffice.

As we know, the lap is tantalisingly short of 6km. This is the third device now where I’ve measured the lap as 5.95km while walking the shortest route and taking the racing line wherever possible.

This means that 7 laps comes up 545m short of the full marathon distance.

A lap of the playing field where we finish the race is 375m.

In order to allow us to go slightly over, this year at least, we’re going to run as follows:

Starting from the hut, 2 laps of the small playing field, then 7 laps of the Maravan course.

This should bring the total distance down to a more acceptable Marathon distance.

Just need to check the half marathon variant now…

If you’re anything like Darren, fresh from the ABP Half Marathon yesterday, you’ll be jonesing to get out again.

Tape2Tape gave you a glimpse of what to look forward to in November, but their course barely scratches the surface of the Maravan. By the end of our race, you’ll have seen nearly every inch of one of Europe’s biggest holiday parks.

Plenty of entries still available in all categories:

https://www.evententry.co.uk/events/vigilantes-maravan-cic

I’m working with Zerowaste again this year on the medals for both the Maravan and the Marabank, and I hope to be able to share some design proposals soon.

Zerowaste are great – they understand the event and come up with some really nice designs. They also produced some trophies for the scout group I’m supporting, and even take back old medals that we’ve not issued for recycling.

As we look to become more and more sustainable as an event, I’m looking for ways to reduce our footprint, and Zerowaste was a good choice. I’m looking forward to sharing this year’s designs with you soon. 

Doing my weekly check of entries, I spotted that we’ve now got seven teams already in the relay.

Most exciting! I’ve been hoping for more relay teams for a while, and this yea looks like it’s setting up to be a fun one!

Still plenty of entries available. I’ll do my medal order at the end of the month, and once that’s done I’ll decide how many entries I’ll cap the event at.

August has come, and as usual, this is the month that entries start coming in with a bit more fervour.

I’ve still to get medals, but all the important paperwork, permits, insurance and the like are already paid for.

And we’ve already got three teams in the relay. We’d like a bit more of a crowd for the relay this year – it really is great fun.

If you haven’t yet found out what it’s all about, then have a look round this website and find out what makes people come back year after year.

And if you have entered, why not bring a friend along, we’ve got plenty of places still available for both halves, bot full marathons and the relay.

As I’ve said before, this event is difficult to sell, but it’s such fun and we rely on the word of mouth of folk who enjoy this year after year to get their friends to join in.

See you November…

Darren has nominated the West Grimsby 3rd & 8th Scouts at the official charity of Vigilantes Running for this year.

Why suddenly an official charity?

Well, you see, every year big major charities pay thousands of pounds to have representation in the London Marathon, some smaller charities get a bond place every few years.

Tiny community charities, like a local scout group, never get representation on that stage. And at the minute, West Grimsby 3rd and 8th doesn’t even have a Justgiving account, so they can’t raise funds for challenges like this the usual way – we’re working on it, more news on that soon.

Darren has been lucky enough to get drawn out of the hat for 2026’s London Marathon, so thought, what a better way to promote their current two big projects than “representing them” in the London Marathon.

Thanks to our friends at EventEntry, we’ve put an optional additional donation box on the entry form so you can give as much or as little as you wish at the same time as you enter.

And what will this worthy cause do with the funds it raises?

There are two main projects. The first, is to gather together the equipment it needs to take the young people from this deprived area of Grimsby to an international Scout jamboree in Lincoln, and the second, much more exciting project, is to redevelop their 1950s headquarters to bring them up to 21st century accessibility standards, to provide a valuable community facility in the area and to allow more young people to enjoy scouting.

Thanks for anything you can spare. I’ll share Justgiving details as soon as I have them.