MOST people's idea of a relaxing summer holiday involves lounging on a beach with nothing more strenuous to tackle than rubbing in a bit of sun tan oil or turning the pages of a good book.

But not for Barnoldswick couple John and Rita Broughton, who ran the Gold Coast Marathon as the highlight of their holiday to Australia.

Barnoldswick town councillor John, 68, and his 63-year-old wife Rita, first ran the world-famous race last year and enjoyed it so much they decided to to do it all again this year.

It proved an incident-packed trip, involving encounters with football mad Japanese, a typhoon and an earthquake!

The couple left Barnoldswick at the end of June to fly out to Australia, with a stopover in Japan. They landed in Osaka on the day of the World Cup semi-final between Brazil and Turkey, to be greeted by huge crowds watching the match on big screens.

Once in Australia, the marathon was the highpoint of their stay, the route taking in stunning views along Australia's Gold Coast.

"The weather was absolutely superb again and we both enjoyed the run tremendously," said John.

"We finished in the same time as last year - about two hours, 35 minutes - and we were pleased with that because we're another year older."

They were able to take it easy for the rest of their holiday, before setting out for home, flying first to Tokyo, which was in the midst of a clean-up after being hit by a big typhoon.

Thinking they'd missed the excitement they were having a quiet night in their hotel room on the Saturday when the room began to shake.

"It was about 9pm when the hotel just started shaking," said John. "It was an earthquake, but we didn't realise that straight away. It felt like an express train passing very close by.

"It wasn't too bad really, but a lot of people were worried it might just be a small tremor before the big one hit.

"We were flying home the next day, but people who were staying were very worried there might be another."

All in all they were glad to get back home to Barnoldswick in one piece, but with a memorable holiday behind them.