TUI Palma Marathon Mallorca 2026

by Ian Trencher

One of our amazing SBH club away weekends planned for 2026 this year was to Palma, Majorca and this appealed personally as an exciting travel opportunity to an iconic event. One that attracts an international field of around 9,500 athletes, including over 50% Germans and around 20% British and offers great marathon, half marathon and 10k options for all. Personally it also meant I would make my international race debut, if one discounts all my previous forays to Wales, Scotland and of course Yorkshire

We took a healthy group of six SBH athletes with myself, Anna, Liz, Bernice, Hamda and Jemma, plus the Palma Marathon veteran Ursula for support and a motley crew of accompanying non running spouses.

Planning and packing involved trying to prepare for an endurance event in heat but also potentially stormy weather, which proved to be sensible as about half the weekend was spent in hot conditions and the other half in extreme stormy weather. We were lucky enough that the weather stayed nice for race morning but then had biblical storms and flooding rudely announced by an emergency mobile alert over tea on Sunday night, which ultimately meant Hamda and Jemma had their flights cancelled and were forced kicking and screaming to enjoy an extra two nights 4 star hotel hospitality.

Arriving at the JS Palma Stay, I christened the freezing cold swimming pool for SBH and also discovered our roof top Jacuzzi, as well as learning that other hotel guests apparently already knew me and found that they were my friends Owens from St Helens who surprised me as I entered the indoor spa.

The event itself was very well organised and several of us took part in a specially organised Run 361 Breakfast Run pre event ahead of registration at the race village, followed by the ladies stocking up on race merch whilst I resisted all temptation to add to my overflowing running wardrobe.

Race morning commenced with very welcome complimentary free bus services to the start in the dark and a very picturesque sunrise as we gathered in our start line pen. The course itself was a combination of flat road running followed by windy paved paths through the city and I paced the first half perfectly before slowing down on the second half for the terrain, Karolina-esque on course running photography and to enjoy the frequent water stops in the heat. Our other Harriers zoomed around especially Bernice and Hamda who bagged their personal bests despite the heat and varied course.

The finish line reward was the smallest of small beers at the finish, although I skipped mine due to the lengthy queues and it felt like that time on the Haworth Hobble when I finished after the pizza.

We had all very sensibly opted for the half marathon on the basis that made for a much more relaxing running holiday in the sun, but in hindsight it was also the wisest choice as it avoided doing two laps of the exact same course in the heat as our Billinge friend Mike Preston attested after going around the same samey Palma alleyways twice in the heat on the full marathon.

And there was also the opportunity afterwards to enjoy excellent Palma sightseeing and I visited the Cathedral, the Castle and the Arabic Baths. Others more energetic than me better worked off their hotel buffets with additional cycling, running and walking around Palma.

Overall, this was an excellent event and weekend away with lovely club mates and we would certainly recommend it to other Harriers, although it would also be nice to enjoy similar events in different locations in future as well. And next up on our half marathon agenda will be crossing the border to the Conwy Half Marathon in November with around 30 SBH taking part.