Whilst down in the lake district on a (much needed) holiday (but with iPhone and an occasional GPRS signal), I thought it’d be fun to squeeze in a race. Poking about on fetcheveryone.com, which really has about the best race finder service going, I found this race and signed up.
It’s an undulating course, probably THE most undulating course I’ve run to date. A few tips from organizers about taking it easy in the first couple of miles were hard to ignore! Hardest on the loop part of the course, the hill around the 5 mile mark felt never ending. Of course given the loop nature of the route, many of the ups became downs on the return, and vice versa.
It was sunny too for much of the race, which meant that the water stations were very welcome indeed. I made sure I drank my fill, pausing for a second or two as I was worried about dehydration. The (short) rest was a welcome break too.
I’d set it mind on the 9 mile marker as that meant it was downhill all the way to the finish line. Crossing the finish line and getting handed a bottle of Cumberland ale made for something very different to a goody bag and a medal! Breweray Jennings are sponsors, and the race started and finished underneath the brewery signs.
Very friendly and well organized, derwant AC (www.derwantac.com) made for great hosts. Definitely a great little race, despite the hills! But then this is the lake district!
Got around in 1:17:27, coming in around 22nd in not a huge field. I’d hoped for a bit faster, but that was before I realised how ‘undulating’ the course was. So quite happy with my time, just one week after the Glasgow half. Plus I’ve lots of runs to look forward to over the next week near our cottage, just outside of Keswick. But that’s probably it on the blogging front for the duration. Honest!
More info
- Derwent AC
- My flickr photo set courtesy of my wife Frances.
- http://tinyurl.com/2008cumberlandale10 – Map of the course
Entries (RSS)
September 15th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Fell Racing next??