Sidmouth Running Club member Jo Earlam took part in the eighth Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon on the Sunday before Christmas, completing her 10th marathon of the year and here 66th in total, writes Hamish Spence.

A chilly and windy day greeted the competitors on the start line at the South Parade Pier, Portsmouth.

The route takes the runners east along the seafront to Langston Harbour and then north along the edge of the estuary and onto the Farlington Marshes.

It continues onto Hayling Island following the Hayling Billy Leisure Trail all the way to the Station Theatre.

Then, the runners turn around and retrace their footsteps back to Portsmouth. This is a flat, multi-terrain, competition, with some fantastic views across Langstone Harbour.

There were a few runners dressed in Rudolf or Santa costumes and a lot of Elves! Joe ran dressed in a Christmas Pudding costume – the only one in the race – and the outfit proved to be problematic!

The first malfunction with the costume required a pit stop after only 2.5 miles!

Jo fixed the problem, but lost a lot of time in the process! Then, just before the turn-around point on a wind swept Hayling Island, she lost the rear half!

Ouch! That’s a ‘painful’ thing to happen and would have meant a very draughty run back! Despite the costume woes, her time for the race was still a most respectable 5:37:35.