Classic Marathon 2025 Final News Piece | 14 – 19 September

After 2000 kms and six days across sensational driving roads of the Alps and Pyrenees, a three-way fight between ultra-competitive crews was one won by just one second. The sensational route provided vistas and driving challenges worthy of the heritage of The Classic Marathon as driven by no less than the late great Sir Stirling Moss in previous editions.

In fact, the top three were separated by just 14 seconds going into the final day, which wouldn’t  take much of an error to flip the order around, but with five regularities remaining to decide the victory, the three-horse race was between Paul Bloxidge and Ian Canavan in their VW Golf GTi, Dick and Harry Baines in their Porsche 911 and 2023 winner Mark Godfrey and Dutch Navigational Master, Bart den Hartog in the MGB. They had put themselves well within reach of repeating Mark’s 2023 triumph.

The first two regularities were down the lanes to the west of Pau, tight and niggly, classic rallying routes. There were some tricky bits of navigation, and they were costing people time.

Regularity three was a tough one, a tremendous hill climb, with the battle for time playing out against the most tremendous back drop as crews wrestled their cars to the summit. Such was the consistent challenge of the red coded event for the advanced level, that this climb was typical of this endurance rally.

By lunchtime, almost all of the chasing pack had fallen away and only Vincent Hayes and Peter Rushforth had managed to claw a few seconds back on the podium position in their quirky but competitive Renault 4 which eventually won its class. Out front and Bloxidge and Canavan still held the lead, but only by six seconds with Mark Godfrey and Bart den Hartog now in second after clearing the Baines’ Porsche.

Elsewhere in the table there were crucial class positions being decided, and positions were swapping all over the place, with barely 25% of the crews staying in the position they had begun the day in. It was frantic. The German crew of Thomas Koerner and Udo Schauss finished an excellent fifth but also won their class in their Porsche 911. Previous winners of the endurance rally London Lisbon, Graham Platts and Neil Ripley were sixth overall and won their class in their Austin Healey M100.

With two more regularities in the afternoon, it would mean just 32 km of competitive distance would finally decide the winners. These regularities were both mountainous ones, in the Col d’Ilrey and around the Pic d’Arradoy, a final opportunity to reach the summit of the leaderboard. The Baines wouldn’t do enough, adding 24 seconds to their daily total during the afternoon, but they would do enough to secure a fantastic third position after their recent podium on the Scottish Malts in their new 911.

The fight for first and second though was getting tight, and the new Anglo-Dutch partnership of Godfrey and den Hartog were doing all they could to secure a win. Bloxidge and Canavan were haemorrhaging more time than the chasing MG B, including losing ten seconds after getting blocked by a medical emergency. They would lose 56 seconds on the day, and their pursuers would drop only 41 on the day. It wasn’t enough though, the win going to Paul Bloxidge and Ian Canavan by just one second!

They were delighted at the finish. Paul Bloxidge and Ian Canavan have won many rallies, including winning the HERO Cup Championship for Drivers and the Golden Roamer Championship for winning navigators in their careers, but they have also finished second plenty of times. They have also suffered the agony of finishing runners up by just one second on three separate occasions!

This win was perhaps one of the sweetest, Paul declaring afterwards; “This win was one of the sweetest I can remember, I am absolutely over the moon”. Winning navigator Ian Canavan declared; “The Classic Marathon was everything I want in an event. It was both a challenging and competitive six days across some of the very best driving roads Europe can offer. We are delighted to finally take a close win after such a tough endurance event, just what the Classic Marathon is about. “