Report from Suzanne on the Brathay Windermere marathon. On Sunday 20 May I ran the Brathay Windermere Marathon. It starts just outside Ambleside in the Lake District, and the route takes you round Lake Windermere via Hawkshead and Newby Bridge. This is not a fast course, in fact I was stuggling to find any flat sections. The first half is on closed ‘B’ roads and the second half takes you up towards Windermere on the A952/A591 which does get a little busy with traffic, but the drivers were careful. Most of the course is ‘hilly undulating’ interspersed with some bigger hills between, 1-3 miles, 7-8 miles, 13-17 miles and a ‘mountain’ at 22 miles. The ‘mountain’ has a viewpoint and an ice-cream van at the top should you wish your efforts to be rewarded with a double nougat or a 99 cone. Despite the hills the course is beautiful and there is great support all the way round – helped by the glorious sunshine we had. If you enjoy a challenge and taking part in a beautiful hilly marathon, with a good local atmosphere then this is for you. If you are chasing a PB then probably best to avoid. There was about 800 participants. http://www.brathaywindermeremarathon.org.uk/ First woman: Nicola Shaw at 3:15:46 First man: Mike Jeffries 2:45:30 (Swaledale Road Runners) First and only Bella – me at 4:06:32!
Daily archives: May 27, 2012
Report from Matt of the 55 mile Cateran trail race on Saturday, 19 May. So the Cateran Trail race was really my first serious race this year. Having had a decent season last year, my body final said enough is enough at the end of September last year and I picked up a bit of an injury ( a pain in the butt- to use the technical term). A wee lesson learnt on the number of ultra races it is wise to do in a year! This frustratingly lasted a number of months and I only managed to start training in earnest about Feb/March.. Having looked at the racing calendar the Cateran was the main race that caught my eye, but by time I was on the mend the race was full. I contacted the organiser who put me the waiting list, in the mean time I trained assuming i’d be racing. A few weeks later I was in! The race is a 55m loop starting and finishing in Glenshee, it’s a waymarked course taking in 7450ft of ascent. Terrain varies between road, farm track, single track, muddy fields, bog- oh and some of the highest stiles I have ever seen! I had never set foot on the course before Saturday, which many of the other racers found odd, but for me part of what I enjoy about a race like that is running somewhere new and not knowing what is around the corner. It’s all part of the adventure. Another part of the adventure was the fact that entering late meant there was no room at the inn (or hotel) where most others were staying. Thankfully they had a suitable square of grass outside for me to pitch my tent- ( a tree outside even had a plug in it to let me charge my phone- luxury to me). On the morning of the race conditions were pretty much perfect, nice and cool, dry and not too windy. After a quick race briefing warning us about the potentially aggressive cattle on the course we set off. The first few miles took us over some farm tracks and some pretty muddy, sh***y fields and I thought “yeeh ha this is a proper trail race” A few of the ultras i have done have had a bit too much road for my liking. At this stage I was just running steadily along with a few others wondering who the guy was way out on front. I wasn’t too concerned though as in a race like this, as far as i’m concerned the race doesn’t really begin until about 30m. Our first check point came close to a nice pad by the name of Dalnagair Castle before a road section took us onto a more agreeable off road trail towards Loch Shandra. I chatted to a few other runners and enjoyed the Perthshire countryside until we hit out next check point at 15m (still not an angry bull in sight). At the check […]