Eaves Wood Trail Race

Event website | Activity on Garmin Connect

As last minute preparation before next weekend’s British & Irish Masters at Bellahouston Park, the 8.6km Eaves Wood Trail Race at Silverdale near Lancaster looked a good choice. The venue was quite unusual, starting and finishing in Holgates Caravan Park.

Standing on the startline, I could see there were 3 fast guys champing at the bit. And soon after the fast downhill start, I was sitting in 4th place. Carl Bell of Howgill Harriers and the other 2 fast guys quickly disappeared from view as the route twisted and turned into the woods. After a couple of kilometres I was caught and exchanged places a few times with Mark Saunders of Bowland Fell Runners before he got away from me on a steep climb. Around the halfway point I was also caught by another runner, but managed to dig in on one of the long uphill return drags and pulled clear back into 5th position which I held to the end, although Mark who finished ahead of me won’t appear in the results since he didn’t have a race number. Anyhow, it was a good little low-key race, with a pretty tough undulating course, and plenty of narrow twists and turns, and greasy limestone underfoot to keep you on your toes.