Adam Holland returns for the third year in a row in Pafos and he is more than ready to win for the third time the Logicom Cyprus Marathon. Adam has already won the marathon in 2018 and 2019. Last year he came really close to breaking the Logicom Cyprus Marathon course record with the time of 2:35:03 (CR: 2:33:03). We discussed with Adam to find out more! Your first time in Cyprus was at the 20th Logicom Cyprus Marathon in 2018. What has changed for Adam since then? Shortly after my return from the Logicom Cyprus Marathon in 2018, we welcomed our baby girl into the world! She is full of energy, so you better watch out for her in future marathons! I have also had confirmation from Guinness World Records and I am now officially the fastest male to run 10 marathons in 10 days averaging 2:45 per marathon. My next challenge, after I visit Cyprus, is to take on 20 marathons in 20 consecutive days, for an attempt at a new World Record, I am aiming to complete all 20 in under 3 hours. The challenge starts on April the 4th and I am raising money for the charity I am Ambassador to, Kids Run Free.
I have run many miles since the last time I visited, including running from John O’ Groats to Land’s End in 17 days, which I did, completing all 876 miles. Recently you started a new initiative with a “mentorship training group”. What is it and how did it come about? Yes, I am currently training a group of runners to improve their running speeds this spring. My website is www.runityourway.com and it is for all runners who want to improve their times and learn from my style of training. The emphasis of the three-month programme is to focus on how to train in a style that suits their body – hence ‘run it your way’ – but using my ethos, to run smarter, stronger and faster.
The current group are doing really well and we have already had some PBs! There are people running on 5k plans right up to marathon distances. If I can fit another group into my schedule, I will be organising another course over the summer months. What are your current and future goals in running? My current and future goals are to get faster, to keep inspiring others to achieve their running goals and to keep enjoying running. I have modified my training schedule to include more speed work using my Noble Pro treadmill which links up to the online running world Zwift, this allows me to run and train with people from across the globe in a virtual environment. It is a great way to train on the treadmill and chat to other runners and I am looking forward to using Zwift more in the coming months to get my speeds down. I am lucky that my treadmill allows me to run at 20kph. This allows me to really go for it! More details for each race: Marathon – Half-Marathon – 10km Road Race – 5km Fun Run Tell us a little bit about your experience in Pafos and winning the Logicom Cyprus Marathon for the past two years (2018 & 2019). Winning this prestigious marathon for 2 consecutive years felt amazing and it was such an honour to be awarded the trophy. Pafos is a great location and last year I also got to check out the other organised race, the Wine Run and learn more about the culture and history of the area.
Everyone is friendly and enthusiastic and the event attracts a global audience which gives the event a really exciting feel. I was very proud to be a part of it! What are your objectives participating for the third time at the Logicom Cyprus Marathon in 2020? I am really looking forward to running my third marathon here. The atmosphere is brilliant and I’m looking forward to seeing the local people cheering us on and meeting up with the local running group and other runners from previous years. My aim this year is to try and win the marathon for the third time in a row, but as always, I am there to enjoy running and to experience it. I am one of three people to have done it twice and I’d like to be the person to win it three times in a row, I would also love to break the course record of 2:33:03. Last year I was only two minutes outside the record. However, I didn’t push myself for that as I was about to undertake an ultra-running event back in the UK, running the length of the country in 17 days (876 miles), so I wanted to save some energy for that!
For the record: The Marathon winners 2000 – Pandelis Kambaxis – GRE – 2:47:03 h 2001 – Yiannakis Demetriou – CYP – 2:55:26 h 2002 – Pol Dekeirel – BEL – 2:48:58 h 2003 – Allan Fotheringham – UK – 2:54:55 h 2004 – Ditier Pomey – FRA – 2:52:41 h 2005 – Salameh Al Aqra – JOR – 2:33:03 h – Course Record 2006 – Andrzej Magier – POL – 2:52:01 h 2007 – Salameh Al Aqra – JOR – 2:41:07 h 2008 – Al Sheith Khaled – JOR – 2:56:15 h 2009 – Mark Werner – USA – 2:56:26 h 2010 – Joe Cawley – IRE – 2:51:22 h 2011 – Gabor Szabo – HUN – 2:44:07 h 2012 – Slim Samer – LEB – 2:55:47 h 2013 – Raphael Igrişianu – ROM – 2:44:50 h 2014 – Raphael Igrişianu – ROM – 2:48:20 h 2015 – Magnus Gödiker – GER – 2:45:39 h 2016 – Jose Ramon Torres Peanilla– SPA – 2:47:16 h 2017 – Liviu Croitoru – MOL – 2:36:18 h 2018 – Adam Holland – UK – 2:46:14 h 2019 – Adam Holland – UK – 2:35:03 h 2021 – Peter Nimmo – UK – 2:34:20
