Hellrunner 29 Oct

Sunday morning revealed blue skies, no wind and a rising thermometer.

This event at Delamere Forest in Cheshire was the first of two Hellrunner races with the second taking place later in November on the South Coast. Described as being “over 10 but less than 12 miles” the race took us on a twisting route through the depths of the forest encompassing every possible change of level, bog, stream and patch of mud possible.

The organisers made a point of not issuing a route map or giving any indication of where you were on the course at any particular time. Coupled with the rather vague distance estimate, it made it extremely difficult to judge your pace and so my own estimated finish time given to my enthusiastic support team was “somewhere between 1 and 2 hours!”

The route started with a climb up the only hill in the area which, due to the sheer number of runners (1,000) was a slow, steady start. We then disappeared into the the forest and through a section called “Jordans Bog” which involved a waist deep wade through some particularly foul smelling forest floor debris.

The route pretty much continued in this vain with brief spells on forest roads before diving back in to the woods once again. After an hour I was starting to feel the pace and the extra 5lbs of mud I was carrying on each foot didn’t help. As I approached the 1.5 hour mark, I could hear the tannoy in the distance and guessed that we were getting close to the end but just as I thought the worst was over, the final sting in the tail was a leap into a 4 foot deep mud pool. After I had dragged myself out onto the bank on the other side, a final climb up a very short, very steep hill completed the route.

The winner apparantly finished around the hour mark, I came in in 1:36 with more people behind me than in front. Results are due to be posted on the Hellrunner website later today.

There is to be a Scottish Hellrunner next year so dig out your swimming trunks and wellies and give it a go.