Held fully within the Lambton Estate, used by the BBC for the filming of their drama 'The Paradise', this was the fourth running of this multi terrain event.
It's probably fair to say that this is one of the lower key events in the region, but it was my first attempt at this scenic and undulating course. The plan was just to get around in one piece, starting off easy and trying to worm (that's one for those with a knowledge of North East folk lore) my way through the field, depending upon how I felt.
Conditions were good, a little overcast, warm with a slight breeze as the race got under-way. I perhaps started a little too far back and found it very difficult to overtake people on the narrow path as we headed down towards the River Wear.
The first 3km went reasonably well despite having to weave my way between other runners. After this point though I seemed to be moving at more or less the same pace as those around me but still feeling relatively comfortable apart from the uphill section. Still there was no reaction from the troublesome hamstring, so it wasn't all bad.
Between 3 and 6 km I continued to make some progress passing more runners than passed me. But, the effort was starting to take it's toll.
After 6km I started to loose my way and began to drop back down through the field. I particularly struggled on the up-hill section towards the end. Dropping even further back.
But I managed to hold it together to finish in around 43 minutes. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any results yet to confirm my time.
However, it was pleasing to finish with only a slight twinge from my hamstring. Also, although my pace was well down on what I would consider to be normal, a pace of something in the region of 6.50 miling on this course compared with an average of 6.44 on the shorter and faster Blaydon course a couple of weeks ago, I will put down as a slight improvement.
A little worrying though, in light of the Yorkshire Wolds in 3 weeks time was my inability to get up the hills!
I will provide a link to the results, when I find them. In the meantime, Thanks, once again to Francesca for the photos. More of which can be found here
Conditions were good, a little overcast, warm with a slight breeze as the race got under-way. I perhaps started a little too far back and found it very difficult to overtake people on the narrow path as we headed down towards the River Wear.
The first 3km went reasonably well despite having to weave my way between other runners. After this point though I seemed to be moving at more or less the same pace as those around me but still feeling relatively comfortable apart from the uphill section. Still there was no reaction from the troublesome hamstring, so it wasn't all bad.Between 3 and 6 km I continued to make some progress passing more runners than passed me. But, the effort was starting to take it's toll.
After 6km I started to loose my way and began to drop back down through the field. I particularly struggled on the up-hill section towards the end. Dropping even further back.
But I managed to hold it together to finish in around 43 minutes. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any results yet to confirm my time.
However, it was pleasing to finish with only a slight twinge from my hamstring. Also, although my pace was well down on what I would consider to be normal, a pace of something in the region of 6.50 miling on this course compared with an average of 6.44 on the shorter and faster Blaydon course a couple of weeks ago, I will put down as a slight improvement.A little worrying though, in light of the Yorkshire Wolds in 3 weeks time was my inability to get up the hills!
I will provide a link to the results, when I find them. In the meantime, Thanks, once again to Francesca for the photos. More of which can be found here
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