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  Up & Running has been an integral nationwide organisation for over 25 years and for three key running events in 2018, they will be partnering with leading mass participation running event organisers, Sports Tours International. This years editions of the famous multi-day Tour of Tameside, UKFast We Love Manchester 10k and UKFast City of Salford 10k will officially partner with Up & Running and the sports retailer will be on hand to share their knowledge with training hints and tips, product reviews, special offers and experiential offerings on the race days. Kevin Harmer, UK Events & Sponsorship Manager said; “Sports Tours International are delighted to be working with one of the UK’s leading running retailers. We here at Sports Tours International only work with businesses and organisations which we feel will improve our offering and add to the experiences of our participants and we firmly believe that that Up & Running fit that bill”. Jonathan Midwood, Up &

With the 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon less than a month away and the 2018 Manchester Marathon less than two weeks away, the running bug is taking the U.K by storm and has started to work it’s way into the Sports Tours International office. We are used to taking runners around the world to compete in some of the world’s most iconic races and again this year some of our team are taking on a Spring marathon themselves. Similar to every runner in the U.K, this year has been particularly hard as they have been battling with the elements throughout the winter months, but spring is finally here and we hope the change in seasons brings around a change in weather so we can all start enjoying the outdoors again. Meet the Sports Tours Marathon runners  Julie… …will be running the 2018 Manchester Marathon on the 8th April 2018. The 2018 Manchester Marathon will be her 10 th marathon and she’s using it as part of her training for the 2018 Ironman Bolton, so for Julie “It’s just about get

The 3 Grand Tours of cycling are the Giro d’Italia , the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana. These amazing feats of human endurance finish in Rome, Paris and Madrid respectively. At Sports Tours International we offer excellently located 4 star hotels with the opportunity to purchase some excellent VIP access and hospitality to make these into 3 brilliant weekend city breaks. Find out more below. Rome and the finish of the Giro d’Italia The 101st edition of the Giro d’Italia has its spectacular final in Rome with a circular stage that starts and finishes in Rome. A classic and historic finale in the capital city of Italy which takes in all of Rome’s famous landmarks. Our hotel is in the heart of Rome, within easy access of all the action. You have the choice to book 2 or 3 nights at the hotel and a great addition to your weekend away will be booking some fantastic Giro d’Italia hospitality. All major tourist attractions are within walking distance from the hotel. The Roman Foru

Venice The Venice Marathon is now available with Sports Tours International. The beautiful city of Venice is the perfect running and city break destination. Read a bit more below about this fascinating, historical city. BOOK THE 2018 VENICE MARATHON NOW La Serenissima Venice is called La Serenissima, “the most serene,” and as anyone who has threaded the narrow streets and some 400 lithe footbridges over twisting canals to link pigeon-filled Piazza San Marco with the Titan– and Tintoretto-filled Accademia painting gallery or the shop-lined Rialto Bridge over the majestic Grand Canal will tell you, that nickname is absolute hogwash. What makes Venice one of the most beautiful cities in, well, the world? Let us count the ways… There’s Venice’s unique, lovely architecture (learn the secrets of Venetian symbolism in our blog on how to “read” Venice’s palaces!), its beautiful churches, and, of course, the show-stopping St. Mark’s Square. But what really makes Venice beautiful is the fa

One Week in the Sun by Roy Pearson Albir Gardens Spanish Cycle Training Camp 2018 This was my first time on the Sports Tours Training Camp. I came to this same resort two years ago for the Vuelta Espania, Spain’s major 3 week tour. We stayed at the same complex and had 3 pro teams for company. That was September 2016 and temperatures were hot. For this camp, in March 2018, I was expecting cooler temperatures. Weather was pretty perfect really. 12’c to 23’c! It was windy some days, but you are by the sea. I arrived late Saturday from Liverpool, but had food waiting for me when I reached Albir Gardens. Flying into Alicante is good with a bike, not many cyclist so no big queues waiting for your bike. Also working were Darrel & Tony, who have been coming here for the last 15 years. When asked why here, they say it works. The routes, weather, choice of cafes which they have built up contacts with over the years. The routes each day heading in a different direction. Most of the

We all know about the big sell out marque events of Marathon running; the 6 Marathon Majors. But what about running one of the many other international marathons that are on offer? We’ve asked legendary Marathon runner and Sports Tours International Ambassador Dr Ron Hill to have a look at the ‘best of the rest’; alternatives to the Abbott World Marathon Majors that you can use as alternatives to the 6 WMM events or that you can use as your main event. CLICK HERE FOR OUR OVERVIEW OF THE 6 WMM Tokyo Marathon – The first Major of the year Alternative Marathon – Malta Marathon – 24 February 2019 Ron says: ‘”One of the most enjoyable places to run a marathon, as it’s mostly downhill and a great place for a holiday!” Both the Marathon and Half Marathon routes are predominantly downhill, with the start being at 200 metres and the finish at sea level. Whereas the Half Marathon heads directly to the finish after the 1st km from the start, the Marathon deviates from this direction wit

Alongside our range of cycling and running holidays across the world, Sports Tours International also organise a wide rnage of UK running events, including the UKFast We Love Manchester 10k, The UKFast City of Salford 10k, The Alder Hey 10k, The Preston City 10k, The Tour of Tameside & more! To keep these events running, we are very fortunate to have the help of volunteers. Volunteers are as we all know ‘worth their weight in gold’ and it’s no different for us here at Sports Tours International. We are very luck that to have a core of regular volunteers who help on our events, working on areas such as Race Marshaling, Cheering Stations, Medal Presenters and much more. For 2018 we are really pleased to open up our Official Volunteer Programme again for anyone and everyone who wishes to be part of an amazing day. Being a volunteer on our races means you become part of a great team, part of a really important team, you are giving something back that the runners really do appreciate

Alongside our range of cycling and running holidays across the world, Sports Tours International also organise a wide rnage of UK running events, including the UKFast We Love Manchester 10k, The UKFast City of Salford 10k, The Alder Hey 10k, The Preston City 10k, The Tour of Tameside & more! But did you know that each and every one of our races welcomes participants from all over the globe. In 2017 at the Tour of Tameside, we were delighted to see two runners travel all the way from China to compete in the famous 4 day back-to-back endurance event as well as a former Tameside resident returning to the region from Australia. For this June’s event we have received confirmation of four runners travelling to run and meet Ron Hill MBE, our Ambassador, from Berlin in Germany. Actually from Ron Hill AC Berlin! Their running club was formed in the late 1980’s after the unification of East and West Germany when one of the clubs founding members bumped into Ron and asked if he would kindly

Specialist cycling holiday provider and sister brand of Sports Tours International, Freewheel Holidays, has announced the launch of its newly revamped website. The website has introduced Feefo, one of the biggest review sites, to enable people to read reviews from previous customers before they book a trip. Visitors to the site can also use the new interactive map for inspiration to decide which country they want to travel to. Freewheel Holidays offers a range of cycling breaks to destinations across Europe, including Austria, France, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and Slovenia. Steven Rittey, Product Manager for Freewheel Holidays, said: “We’ve worked hard revamping the website so it is more user-friendly. We have introduced testimonials from people who have travelled with us; it’s great for us to receive feedback and for customers to share their experiences with others who may be looking to book a trip with us. Over the coming months we will also be adding new tours to the e

Last year our rep Colin Robertson went out to look after our guests on the Marine Corp Marathon and also had the opportunity to run this special race. Find out why it made it into his top three races ever  (with Colin being a Six Star Finisher this is a decent accolade.) Firstly a little more info on Colin. Some of his more notable runs include: Six Star World Marathon Majors finisher , 6 x Edinburgh Marathon,  2 x York Marathon, 2 x London Marathon, Athens Authentic Marathon, 2 x Calgary Marathon, Toronto Marathon, Disney Dopey Challenge, Reykjavik Marathon, Washington Marine Corps Marathon, 3 x New York Half Marathon, Scottish Half Marathon x 3, Kilomathon, Para’s Ultimate Endurance 10miler and Rock n’ roll Series Edinburgh, Lisbon & Nice. So he’s run a fair few Marathons! Colin started working for us in 2014 and has been a regular for us on many of  the big city marathons. Now over Colin.   Marine Corps Marathon lived up to its reputation.  It’s the most American experie

Welcome to the second of our five-month series of articles supporting you in your training and preparation for the 2018 Etape du Tour. Over the past few weeks you should hopefully kicked off your training (although for UK residents the weather has definitely been against us!) and had your bike checked out to ensure it’s up to the challenge ahead.  If you have not yet done so then it’s time to get cracking! Hopefully you should now have an established training routine that works around your family and work life, and pencilled in some build up events and/or you’ve already been on a warm weather training week. A reminder of what we are training for. At 169km long the Etape involves four tough climbs;   As with other continental rides, the climbs you will face are nothing like you will find in the UK so to ensure you are not caught out and end up in the broom wagon by missing the cut offs we need to make sure you are fully prepared.   We will therefore start to think about your nutritio

The Vuelta is well-known for its tough mountain top finishes. We have a look at these below and we also show you how you can be there in person to either spectate or to actually ride the climbs yourself before you watch how the Pros do it. You can either choose to come on one of our fully supported tours for spectators and cyclists which include exclusive 2018 Vuelta a Espana VIP access or alternatively you can book daily VIP access. Every day of the Vuelta we offer you the opportunity to experience the race from the inside by booking one of our VIP experiences. These include daily VIP finish hospitality, a day on the stage route in an official Vuelta a Espana car and even a helicopter experience. Daily 2018 Vuelta a Espana VIP experiences –  CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION Want to see what happens on our VIP experiences, have a look at 2017 here –  READ ABOUT OUR 2017 VUELTA VIP EXPERIENCES HERE  Caminito del Rey The peloton will leave the sea behind and head towards the mountain

Here at Sports Tours International we take pride in going above and beyond to ensure our customers have memorable sporting trips. The people who are the front line of this are our fantastic overseas team. As the cycling season starts to take place our overseas team prepare themselves for another year of creating memorable holidays. Cycling rep Roy has written this blog to give you an insight into Ardennes Classics  and what you can expect from this famous collection of Spring Classics races. First thing first – A little more about Roy… Roy has huge amounts of experience as an International Cycling Rep. Roy has also had the fantastic opportunity of being a bike mechanic on the professional cycling circuit so you know you are in safe hands. Roy will use his excellent knowledge of the Spring Classics to take you on rides where you’ll be able to see the professionals race at fantastic viewpoints that combine beautiful scenery with locations that give you a real sense of the atmosphere t