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Sports Tours International has been announced as the exclusive UK travel operator for the 2017 Virgin Sport San Francisco Bay Half Marathon, Virgin Sport’s first U.S.A. event and “Festival of Fitness” which will celebrate the local SF community and be an opportunity to get everyone moving. The event, hosted by Virgin Sport, will take place  on the 14 th -15 th October 2017 and will see runners take on a brand new one mile race and unique 13.1 mile  around the hills and stunning streets of the City by the Bay. The inaugural Festival of Fitness includes the Twin Peaks Mile Challenge on 14 th October and the SF Bay Half on 5 th October, as well as fitness classes to get everybody moving.  There will also be entertainment, local food, drinks and activities for all the family. We have exclusive travel packages with a choice of 3, 4 and 5 nights available from £1139 which includes 4 star boutique accommodation in the Golden Gate City’s Fisherman’s Wharf area, return flig...

The Madonna del Ghisallo is the mythical climb that forms the heart of perhaps the least known and least celebrated of the five monuments of cycling: The Giro di Lombardia . Set in the stunning region of Lombardy in early October, Lombardia winds around lush green climbs and stunning lakes, and is a truly spectacular race that deserves more recognition. Its autumn date has lead to it being nicknamed ‘the ride of the falling leaves’, and that romantic moniker carries across to the legendary status of the climb to the Madonna del Ghisallo. The route of Il Lombardia has varied slightly each year since its first edition in 1905. However, the one constant feature has been the Madonna del Ghisallo. It is not just this permanence that provides the climb its fame however. The chapel that lies at the top of the ascent is the point where, according to legend, the Count of Ghisallo was saved from bandits by the appearance of an image of the Virgin Mary. As a result of this, the Madonna del Ghi...

  On Sunday October 29th, Heaton Park in Manchester will play host to a wicked new spooky running event for the city. In collaboration with the charity Dreams Come True, the Halloween Fun Run will be a spooky 5km course suitable for runners of all ages and ability levels, with participants encouraged to take part dressed up as ghosts and ghouls! Martin Neal, Head of Events for Dreams Come True said “We have a long standing relationship with Sports Tours International and to be heavily involved with the local community is a Dream for us too. If we raise as much money as possible, we are then in a position to help a number of children and young adults in the Manchester region and bring joy and happiness fulfilling their treasured dreams. Graham Jackson, Race Director for Sports Tours International said “We are delighted to be delivering Dreams Come True’s first ever event in the North West and to be able to deliver a short distance fun run that’s suitable for all ages and ability...

Running a marathon is on most people’s “bucket list”. Here’s our tips on how to get it ticked off! Choose an Autumn Marathon You will spend a lot of time outdoors training and the benefit of your Marathon taking place in the autumn is that most of your training will be done in the summer with better weather, longer days and less chance of catching a bug and losing valuable training time through illness. Also this is much preferable to trying to stick to your training plan over the Christmas hols. Buy your entry Put your money where your mouth is and buy the entry. Get in there early to ensure the event doesn’t sell out. You can buy guaranteed entry, even to some who are already sold out with us, including autumn events like the Berlin Marathon , Chicago Marathon , the Marine Corps Marathon (Washington) , New York Marathon , Athens Marathon and several Italian races . Tell your family and friends There is a variety of reason for this. Not only do you want the motivation of ...

Michael Dolan tells us how he got on when he decided to complete the Abbott Marathon Majors. London Marathon – April 2016 My first – I was lucky enough to get a place through Phab Kids. I got my sponsorship going and my training was on target. Then 9 weeks before, I slipped down a couple of steps and hurt my knee. Not the best preparation! Cortisone injections seemed to work and I was committed to run as I didn’t want to let anyone down and I was really starting to get into this running. On the day of the race, my knee held up ok and I was focused on just finishing and getting that medal. I then got chatting to a fellow runner at the end (Steven Lewis who I’m now good friends with – amazing that you can turn those chance meetings into friendships through Facebook), who turned to me and said “Are you tempted to do the Majors?” Being ex-forces the only Majors I knew were those I had to salute. Back home, once I googled it I was sold. I’d attempt to complete the Abbott World Marathon ...

Its July already, so I thought I would say a massive ‘Thank You’ for supporting our races and making them so special so far this year. This also gives me the perfect opportunity to update you on our UK Events to date and those we have coming up! Check out my update below. I look forward to seeing you in the future and would like to wish you the very best of luck in your training! Race Director, Graham June – Tour of Tameside This year was the most successful since we revived this historic event in 2015, with more participants, supporters, sponsors and partners than every were involved this June. The original Tour of Tameside ran for 20 consecutive year and was founded by Dr. Ron Hill O.B.E. It was great to see some old faces returning plus many new runners accepting ‘The Ultimate Running Challenge’. Many people tasted the event by running one of the individual days in 2015 or 2016 and then caught the bug, and decided to take on the four days this year – and they all loved the exper...