On a sunny Sunday morning at the end of April, Team Law gathered in the Wiltshire market town of Corsham to run the local running club’s annual 10k event. Having taken part a couple of years ago (report here) daughter and I knew what to expect. Son and husband didn’t but we had pre-warned them about ‘the hill’. This time around the race village was at the rugby club, adjacent to the football club where it was located last time. The bag drop was better organised but, despite many more being provided, the queue for the toilets was as long as ever.
Husband and I had given ourselves plenty of time to find a car parking space and walk to the start point – about a mile away. Despite this, cars were already circling and being positioned imaginatively. Daughter arrived just a little later and struggled to find anywhere available for her car – which she found quite upsetting. Her mood probably wasn’t helped by the fact she had been out the night before so was tired even before she set off. Elder son arrived later still but managed to find a space without too much issue, perhaps because some people had by this time left having supported their child in the 2k run for little people which takes place before the main event.
Having gathered the family team there was time for a warm up. For those who want to join in, a group dance and stretch is organised on the gravel by the club entrance. All were then directed to line up on the road – closed to traffic for the morning. The event had sold out a few months before and the crowd gathering made for an impressive sight, perhaps because I rarely enter races of this size. Pacers were holding expected finish time signs to enable everyone to position themselves appropriately. I stood by the 60 minute pacer although once the race started she vanished into the distance and I didn’t see her again.
I started my watch tracker when I heard the start gun. The crowd surged forward, stopped and then started again, presumably due to sheer number of runners trying to go. As the race is chip timed this wasn’t an issue. When I crossed the start line I checked my watch and it was on 1min 20secs so I was able to calculate my times knowing this would not be counted.
From here it was possible to overtake easily throughout the run. Most of the course is on roads but in places where marshals were asking participants to stay on pavements these were wide enough to allow runners to pass. The joy of this event is the support given along the way. The route through the town and then the village of Neston was lined with supporters cheering on everyone. It was a warm day and later in the race some supporters had brought out hoses from their houses and were sprinkling water on anyone who wanted the cool down – this was very welcome.
One water station is provided enroute, around the 5k point. A couple of kilometres further on quarters of orange were offered. I declined both of these, as is usual for me, although at the end I downed 3 tumblers of water in quick succession so was clearly dehydrated. I passed others who appeared to be struggling with this. They stopped by marshals asking for water – which was provided. A couple of runners had to pull over and sit down – they were being cared for by those who had come out to cheer everyone along. Rather more worryingly, later in the race an ambulance passed with sirens blasting. Husband reported that he had seen a faster runner collapse. I do hope they were okay.
I had no such issues. The route has some challenging hills but I was able to push through these. I couldn’t quite achieve the pace required to finish in under an hour but did beat my previous time by over 4 minutes. When I checked my track I had a PB on every Strava segment.
Earlier I mentioned ‘the hill’, an ascent just before the 9km mark. Husband and son reported that this wasn’t as bad as we had made out and that they found the lengthier climb up to Neston more challenging. As the first 4km of the route is uphill legs were already tired here. Neither of them were pleased with their times but enjoyed the race, as did daughter. She finished just a little slower than previously which, given she had chosen to take it easy due to her enjoyment of the evening before, was pleasing.
We had entered on the ‘frilled’ package so earned a finisher’s t-shirt, medal and Marshfield Farm ice cream (yum!). Everyone is offered a banana which I was grateful for as I do not eat before running. The medal is actually a wooden coaster so will be useful.
The fastest finisher was Tobi Loughlin in a time of 32:23. Although I came in over the hour mark I was still 9th in my age category which rather pleased me. 1274 runners finished. There were 10 DNFs and 2 DQs.
This was a lovely event to take part in – well organised throughout and with plenty of marshals. We all agreed we would be happy to do again.
