GK Runderings

There's a running joke (sorry, not intended - blame it on a lack of sugar) in our running club concerning me and a race called the Belvoir Challenge. This is a local trail race in March over 16 or 24 miles, and specialises in mud - this is a central feature of every piece of publicity about it. I don't do mud running, so I've only done this race twice - the second time was to see if the first time had been as bad as I remembered (it was). Since then, its been "the race that Martin doesn't do". So instead we entered the Green Gateways race. This is a 20 mile event (13 and 34 miles were also available) based out of Otley in Yorkshire, running in an anti-clockwise loop down to the fringes of North Leeds and back up again. Its a "urban trail" event, which means its a mix of fields, bits of moor and woodland, and some running through town parks and other urban areas. It's a real mix, and reminded me of the RRUM race in Reading I did some years back. H...

The Wall 2022 - Race Report The Wall is a Rat Race ultramarathon that takes you from Carlisle to Newcastle in a single day, loosely following the route of Hadrian’s Wall - a total of 70 miles or 112 km. The route is about 80% road (or at least tarmac) running, and 20% on the trails over the hills. It would be my second attempt at a 100km ultra, after pulling out of last year’s Race to the Castle at the 60km point. Being a Rat Race event, it was extremely well organised and the route was very well marked. They are picky about you carrying a mandatory set of kit, which caused some checking and chasing around when packing, but that’s made pretty clear up front. On the day, it was a very well run event. Start was at Carlisle castle at 7am. We went up the previous evening along with fellow local runner Nick and stayed over at the Travelodge. Once there, we registered and went through the mandatory kit check, which took a while, and then found a pizza together. On the day, the weather was as...