By Reb
Where to start? This is a race I have always wanted to do, but have always been put off by the hill. Now there is no getting away from the fact this 5 mile run has a hill as its centre piece, but it isn’t actually as scary as I thought it would be. I arrived early and was guided to my parking space by a duck and a bear (ducks are a theme of this run) and headed off to find the all important toilets. Which I fell over coming out of and was on the receiving end of the fabulous support of the running community of strangers who helped me up and made sure I was ok as apparently I went with quite a thud.
The race started at 10.30 outside the windmill pub (which does great food) and is a simple out and back course. It was orderly, with clear guidance given by the MC. The course starts flat for about 400m before the first of many varying elevations over the next 2.5 miles as we headed up the hill that is Narrow Lane to our turning point. It was nice to see the faster runners, who had already made the turn clapping us up to the summit. After the turn it wasn’t quite downhill all the way, as there were one or two sneeky little lumps, but it was certainly faster going down than up. Even managed my customary sprint finish over the last 400m back to the start/ finish line. I was super impressed with my time, considering I’m at the end of marathon training and the hilly nature of the course. I managed pewter county standard. I love my t shirt, which also has ducks on, (I said they were a theme). This race also forms part of their Mayday celebrations, which include stalls with various baked good (highly recommended) tombola etc and a duck race. Take some cash to support the local community first aid responders and Wymeswold pre school. I absolutely loved this race and can’t wait to do it again next year.