GTA Marathon is going IRL for the first time! Taking place in the University of Portsmouth's Eldon Building in England between the 7th and 11th of April 2025. It's a mixed On-site and Online Speedrun marathon, featuring both the best of people in person and from those who can't attend online!
Rules regarding free and open travel to the UK change on the 2nd of April 2025 (5 days before the event!)
Please use this UK visa checking tool on the UK government website to get all the information you need. We highly recommend using this tool to get information on the correct visa/visa waiver BEFORE planning your trip.
For EU citizens you should just be required to apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) BEFORE entering the country. This should only take a few minutes to fill out, costs £10 and you should hear back within 3 working days. Unfortunately because this system is so new for EU citizens you cannot apply for this until the 5th of March at the earliest.
Room 1.11
Eldon Building
Southsea, Portsmouth PO1 2DJ
England
Open hours during the event are 8:00-18:00
The entrance to Eldon building is located on it's North-Western edge, facing Middle Street.
Signs to guide you to the stream room should be visible. The room is located up the stairs as you enter and then the first door on the left.
Other areas of Eldon building such as the Cafeteria and lobby will be available for non-stream room useage like chilling and eating.
Food and Drink are welcome to be brought into the building, as long as they are kept outside of computer labs (which we shouldn't be visiting anyway).
Please be respectful to the University's facilities which they're gracefully allowing us to use, as well as any students or staff member which may be around during the event. Students and staff with valid University IDs are permitted into the venue at the request of the University.
There's a lot of options for getting to Portsmouth and the venue, most involve traveling to Portsmouth & Southsea Train Station which is the main station in Portsmouth and is a 10 minute walk from the venue. You can either buy your train tickets from a machine at the station on the day, or by pre-purchasing them online from somewhere such as National Rail or Trainline.
Please note that the Portsmouth trainline is closed for Engineering Work on Sunday the 6th of April. If you travel via train into Portsmouth that day the trains will terminate at Havant/Fareham and you will need to get a Rail-Replacement bus the rest of the way to Portsmouth (about 30 minutes ride, and included in your ticket).
Below is a list of travel suggestions for international travellers, and is ordered from most to least recommended.
- Fly to Southampton Airport and take a train from Southampton Airport Parkway Train station (right next to the station) to Portsmouth & Southsea. This should take ~30 minutes and is a direct train costing about £10 each way. (Southampton Airport is much smaller than Gatwick and you are unlikely to find flights there, but it is much closer so ideal if you can)
- Fly to Gatwick Airport and take a train from Gatwick Train Station (located in the airport) to Portsmouth & Southsea. This should take 1-2 hours with between 0 and 2 changes and cost about £20 each way.
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- Also possible to take a Coach via National Express instead of a train if desired.
- Driving from the exit of the Channel Tunnel to Portsmouth via the M20, M25 and A3 after taking the train through the tunnel from the French side. This should take about 2 and a half hours, however you will be driving on the left side of the road and speed limits are in Miles Per Hour. We do not recommend taking non-motorway routes as these will be slower and much harder to navigate even if seeming more direct on a map.
- Eurostar train from various places in western mainland Europe to London St Pancras International Train Station. Then traveling from St Pancras International to Euston Underground Station, then taking the Charing Cross line to London Waterloo Station, from there getting a train to Portsmouth & Southsea.
- A Ferry from various places to Portsmouth or Southampton (then taking a train)
If you are driving to/in Portsmouth it's highly advised to pick a place to stay that has car parking! The Ibis hotel next to Eldon building includes a car park for example. Otherwise parking in Portsmouth is a very difficult endeavour. Street parking is almost 100% only for permit holders (given to those who live on that road) and even then is quite limited and challenging. Eldon Building itself has a car park however we are unable to use it as it is strictly for staff only. Parking is heavily enforced everywhere in Portsmouth so just "risking it" like is possible in other places is not a good idea.
Being in the city centre there's plenty of places to stay! Below are a few recommendations but the list is far from exhaustive.
Joshimuz's house- A Travelodge in the city centre, which is about 15 minute walk from Eldon building and a 5 minute walk from Portsmouth & Southsea Train Station. Costs about £50 a night for 1 Adult.
- An ibis hotel right next to Eldon building and about a 10 minute walk from the Portsmouth & Southsea station. Costs about £60 a night for 1 Adult.
- A Premier Inn right next to Portsmouth & Southsea station and a 10 minute walk to Eldon building. Costs about £90 a night for 1 Adult.
- An ibis budget hotel in Fratton, east of the city centre and near Fratton train station which is 1 stop away from Portsmouth & Southsea, or walking is 30 minutes. Costs about £50 a night for 1 Adult, with options for larger than double rooms.
Food and drink is allowed to be brought into Eldon Building (outside of computer rooms). Being in the city centre there's plenty of places to get food, be it sit in restaurants, takeaways or supermarkets. Below are a few recommendations but the list is far from exhaustive.
- Eldon Building has a small Cafeteria nearby the main building entrance. Open hours will be reduced during the Easter break when the event is being held but should still be open sometimes.
- Guildhall Walk right next to Eldon building has various late night pubs and businesses should you want to take in some nightlife or get a 2:00 Kebab, but also a small supermarket.
- Portsmouth City Centre has an abundance of places to eat, including Indian, Chinese, Gelatos etc, and loads of shops such including a massive Tesco Superstore.
- Portsmouth City Centre is also home to a local legend, the Jacket Potato Ladies, who have been serving various fantastic Jacket Potatoes (Baked Potatoes) based street food since the early 90s. (Young Joshimuz ate there many times!) There is also sometimes a Dinky Donuts trailer open nearby too.
- There are FOUR different Greggs within walking distance of Eldon Building. One a three minute walk away away which is also next to a Subway, and then three more in the city centre.
The best way to travel around Portsmouth during your stay is via Bus. There are mainly two different bus companies operating; First and Stagecoach. Tickets are not interchangeable between the two companies, however there is a significant overlap between routes so this shouldn't be too much of an issue. The easiest and cheapiest way to pay is via the tap on tap off system with a contactless debit card, again however it's best to stick to one company where possible to avoid paying for two different tickets. (EG: if you ride on a First bus Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and a Stagecoach bus Tuesday and Thursday, you could end up paying for two week tickets instead of just one week long ticket)
- Portsmouth City Centre has plenty of places to shop. One place of note is the large two floor CEX nearby the train station, which is a second hand (used) media/technology shop. They're likely to have plenty on offer for any retro software/hardware enthusiasts!
- Southsea Beach and Southsea Common, which has a 3 mile long promenade along the south of the island. Featuring Arcades, Fun fair rides, Fish & Chip shops, Ice Cream, Paddle Boat Lakes, Several Crazy/Mini Golf, 19th Century Castles, etc. The quintessential British seaside experience. (Don't feed the seagulls)
- Gunwharf Quays shopping centre. Located along the coastline of Portsmouth Harbour, Gunwharf is a very lovely shopping area, with cinemas and the skyline dominating Spinnaker Tower skyscrapper which you can go up and look across the south coast, as well as stand atop it's glass floor!
- Loads of D-Day Memorials, Museums and such, again along Southsea's coastline.
- Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, being the home of the British Navy, the Dockyard has loads of Historic (and modern!) warships to go and see!
- Dice Board Game Lounge is a board game Cafe in Albert Road. They have an open-night style group/friend forming event every Wednesday night from 18:00.
- Portsmouth Football Club have a Home game in their Fratton Park stadium in Fratton against "Derby County" on Saturday the 12th of April should you want to experience British Football.
- The last surviving commercial hovercraft service runs between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, and is an attraction on it's own! But the Isle of Weight has lots to see and do was well including Steam Trains, Go Karting and Zoos!
As mentioned above, if you're traveling from abroad use this UK visa checking tool to figure out what kind of visa or visa wavier you require to enter the country before your trip.
The UK is a largely cashless country, especially in cities such as Portsmouth, so acquiring physical UK cash is not required, almost everywhere will accept VISA and Mastercard debit/credit cards, and most places will prefer/only accept card!
Most businesses and public services will operate on a Sunday, albeit with reduced hours or service. For example busses and trains will still run, but they will be more infrequent or with limited services. Saturday is largely a normal day for the things you'd use on your trip.
UK plug sockets are physically very different to other European country's, however adapters are widely available and cheap due to our power being also 230v 50hz, the same as Europe's. As long as you have adapters you'll be fine to plug whatever you want into UK sockets.