Margaret kindly acted as the chauffeur to myself and Caroline, for the 300 mile round trip to the Lake District to compete in the Hawkshead 17k (10.2 miles) Trail Race around spectacular scenery. The race was actually two races billed as the “Trail Race” and the “Challenge” but in effect was just two waves of the same race, 45 mins apart, probably set up to avoid congestion.
The course took us through Hawkshead then quickly up a steep, mile long hill which reduced us to walking and spread the field out. Then it was a roller coaster of ups and downs on rocky paths till we hit the infamous Coffin Hill which was another mile long affair again reducing us to a brisk walk, followed by a 3k descent to Hawkshead and the finish.
Overall it was a great day out everything went smoothly great scenery, good company and a very tough challenge in a well organised and marshaled race. We’d do it again, but only as a weekend away.
Results from both waves combined 652 finishers:
Chris 328th 1hr 45m 34s
Caroline 428th 1hr 52m 56s
Margaret 436th 1hr 53m 54s
