This is billed as a half marathon. The event description stated it was 14 miles. I was beginning to lose my sense of humour when my watch hit 15 miles with no sign of the end in sight (it came in at 15.24 miles on my watch in the end).
The race itself is based in the hilly Stanhope. Driving in to the race you see lots of signs for ‘low gear now’ ‘20% incline’, etc. And, sure enough, that’s where you’re running back up. Quite steeply. For miles.
I did not particularly enjoy the second mile; I started walking which always makes me feel like I’ve admitted defeat in a race. I wasn’t sure if I’d go faster walking, but I checked on the watch and confirmed my extremely slow jog was still faster than a walk.
You are running through former mining country, old coal railways and access tracks. So with the pain of the steep uphill, I did have to admit it was pretty dramatic landscape.
The two miles of steep uphill gets you to the top of a plateau, then there’s a small amount of trotting along the flat and the most glorious downhill. I really enjoyed this – I was flying! And caught up some of the positions I lost on the uphill. I was logging 7 min miles on this steep technical descent – wahay!
Wahay! (Dear reader, I eventually caught this chappie up 💪💪)
One thing I really liked about this race was that the trail is generally pretty firm, so you get quite a lot of power back. It’s not as even as Hamsterley or as springy as Kielder, but it was quite a confidence inspiring surface compared to Isaac’s Tea Trail (race report coming soon!). Except for the last few miles that are extremely muddy, and not helped by the fact that I was geared up for the thing to end at 13 miles.
Hard packed trails at Stanhope
After the descent, the two routes (10km and half) diverge and the 10kers start their downhill, whereas the half marathoners go up a long steep ascent. I’m pleased to say after my jubilant downhill, there was no further walking.
The way of the half marathoners (taken from Greener Mile’s 2023 race photos which were a bit sunnier!)
After about 10 miles, I was gaining pace. I was working hard (topping out at a heart rate of 184 bpm), but I was overtaking and holding my position. The track here was firm and I felt able to just keep going up those uphills. I spied a woman and thought I was probably near the front and that it would be good to up my position.
The trail then went quickly downhill, which was fun but not quite as steep as the one at mile 3. Around 13 miles we got into the forest and I asked a marshal if it was a mile to go. She replied ‘it’s not far’. The final 2.5 miles was hard – much more technical than anything else on the race. The first 13 miles had been on hard packed stony ground. This switched to very muddy small tracks through the forest, including slippy steps and one steep section where you were instructed to walk (so as not to go catapulting down the side of a ravine).
The race was brilliant, really varied, really hard earned. I came in 7th woman and had a good chat with the woman in 6th and the male runner I’d ran with at the start once I’d finished.
The finish in sight!
I should mention that:
- Jarlath won the half and set a new course record
- Cees won the race outright in the 10k
- John Tollit got v50 prize
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Why did you enter?
I thought this might be a good combination of things I’m good at: hills (particularly downhill) on runnable terrain and over a distance where I might be able to burn off some other runners. I’d entered Hamsterley 10k at the start of 2023 as my first trail race and had been a bit intimidated to run a trail half as a race. So this was that.
Race prep?
Probably not excellent, lots of hiking (and the TBH 3 peaks trip, but I walked the uphills) – some cow hill (Town Moor) laps. It’s quite difficult to find a 2 mile hill in Newcastle!
In my home life we’ve been trying to get pregnant this year and it’s not happened for us yet. To some extent, these races were booked in to fill the gap that I thought might be busy this year. I’m finding it a funny one – trying to balance two separate plans for your life.
Highs?
Getting to the finish and feeling I’d been on an adventure and done good, I’d been strong on the track throughout.
That downhill at mile 3 was brilliant!
Lows?
Getting into a bit of a bad head space about walking towards the 2nd mile.
Key takeaways?
I think I should be eating earlier in the race; within the first 20 mins.
The foot of my arch got really stiff switching from hard trail to mud and I got quite bad knee pain in my right knee – time to see a physio!
Author: Georgina Brooke
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