A local charity run organised with Leatherhead fire station saw 10 of us up and ready to go at 10am.
The course is described as 4k uphill, 2k downhill and 4k flat with 70% road and 30% trail. So we knew what we were in for! The morning was bright and chilly and there was a field of 309 runners.
As it is Remembrance Sunday a minutes silence is observed before the start, and then we were off!
The first 4k is pretty much all uphill. We climbed in to Fetcham. We climbed on to Bocketts Farm. There was some downhill then followed by a rather large climb to Norbury Park that really did go on. However, all that effort was totally rewarded by a very long and at times very steep downhill. If you are brave on a downhill and you don’t have any knee problems then it was great couple of kilometres! There was a water station around the halfway mark. The second half of the race really was pretty flat. The route was picturesque; the road sections were surrounded by big houses to gawp at and the trail parts had some beautiful views and farms and was rather lovely.
Near the end there were some very tight turns which do affect rhythm and one big road to cross near the finish that was quite dangerous. As far as I know there were no casualties though. Overall the race was well marshalled (it’s amazing how well drivers behave when a fire officer stops their car!) and well organised (with chip to chip timing) and there was cake! A race is always better with cake!
Short race evaluation:
Would I do it again? Yes.
Would I recommend it to others? Yes.
Place |
Time |
Name |
Team |
Category |
Number |
Chip |
Grading |
||
21 |
00:39:53 |
26.2 RRC |
Senior Men |
217 |
00:39:48 |
67.63 |
|||
41 |
00:42:33 |
26.2 RRC |
Vets Men 46-50 |
251 |
00:42:28 |
69.5 |
|||
96 |
00:46:34 |
26.2 RRC |
Senior Ladies |
190 |
00:46:30 |
64.24 |
|||
158 |
00:51:20 |
26.2 RRC |
Vet Men 61-65 |
292 |
00:51:14 |
64.43 |
|||
171 |
00:52:21 |
26.2 RRC |
Vet Ladies 56-60 |
33 |
00:52:15 |
70.33 |
|||
191 |
00:53:50 |
26.2 RRC |
Senior Ladies |
51 |
00:53:24 |
55.57 |
|||
223 |
00:56:21 |
26.2 RRC |
Vet Men 66-70 |
336 |
00:56:07 |
62.47 |
|||
280 |
01:02:34 |
26.2 RRC |
Vet Ladies 66+ |
140 |
01:02:23 |
65.37 |
|||
284 |
01:03:29 |
26.2 RRC |
Vet Men 61-65 |
293 |
01:03:03 |
52.62 |
|||
305 |
01:14:00 |
26.2 RRC |
Vet Men 71+ |
141 |
01:13:33 |
50.51 |
|||
Mike Bryant ran as Ronald Hoare.