Race Report: Sandstone 10k Trail 06/04/2014

Well one of my last comments on last year’s NSPCC race report was, “I’d do it again next year.” Well, I did! This time I dragged Gordon and Tolli around with me so a good morning’s exercise was had by the Hutchins gang.

Striders pre-race gathering.

After a night on the tiles by me and a late return home for Gordon from work, neither of us was particularly sparkly on the morning of the race although Tolli had no excuse and was raring to go.
We arrived just before 9.30am and quickly registered in the blustery car park of Beeston Market. We asked if we could take Tolli and with no reason not to, we were given permission. Thank goodness as I think she would have scraped her way out of the car as she’d spied all the runners and you know what she’s like with all those bare legs and sweaty bodies around!

Tony Taylor met up with us for a pre-race chat and photo before disappearing off for the first wave that left at 10am. Gordon, Tolli and I were in the 2nd wave at 10.10am. Apparently, there were some issues about running the course anti-clockwise so it was run clockwise this year and due to some narrow areas, 2 waves were needed.

Mud, mud, glorious mud.

With Tolli straining at the lead (and wearing an improvised collar…Gordon forgot her real one!!!?) we were off. We flew past the first bunch of people on the hill up towards Beeston; Tolli was doing a stirling job of pulling me along.

The course quickly got us off the road and onto the mud and sludge of the course. It wasn’t long before we hit the bogs which had excessive amounts of stagnant water in and so with squelching feet we kept a steady pace up the green slopes towards the top of Peckforton Hill.

5k was at the top and a welcome water stop and Tolli threw herself into the small lake. Thankfully, the rain stayed at bay and with a warm, blustery wind, we started our decent through the wooded side of the hill. At this point we just ploughed our way through all the mud and managed again to overtake other runners who were trying to skirt around it.

One last little, wooded hill was in front which took us up to Beeston Castle and then a charge back down the lanes where we had been sand blasted last year.  One last little wooded off road part took us to the finishing field. Gordon mentioned that we had 2 minutes to make it to the finish line if we wanted to get under an hour. Now I had to encourage Tolli to go a little faster, but by the skin of our teeth we did it – 59.20! Tolli got first dog home.

Even Tolli is smiling.

Yet again, a thoroughly enjoyable run made better by the fact that all three of us could do it and that we did it together (it’s becoming a bit of a habit). We were like a well-oiled machine when negotiating the stiles where we had to pick Tolli up and all three of us had to nip over in rapid succession so we didn’t get tangled or choked!

This one’s definitely in my diary again for next year. It’s just one of those lovely off road runs which is small and friendly.  Hope to see you there next year.

Collar or headband?

Well deserved rest.

For more information, visit the website.

Cheryl