Gower Trail 10k 2017
November 11th 2017
7.8 mile run (not 10k!!)
My first every trail race! On a rather blustery and typically Welsh morning, I drove over from Swansea to the beautiful Gower peninsula. When arriving at Rhossilli I thought how dramatic the scenery looked, with the changeable weather and high tide!
Registration involved a tediously long queue, during which I pondered the sense of wearing shorts (no one else was!) and not having brought some sort of shell to run in. Finally in the tent, I was given some sort of dongle thing around my wrist (which turned out to be my chip to insert at checkpoints - spot the novice!) and a fairly standard tee.
The briefing ensured at 11am (odd, as this is normally a 2 minute silence) at which point the route and instructions were gone through in good detail. I still felt rather nervous as a first timer though, and the rain battering the tent wasn't helping. Soon afterwards though, we were off! The start was along a narrow track and then up a bit of a beast of a hill. I had to walk from pretty early on, to start because I was held up, and then because I needed to.
Once at the top, and having removed "auto-pause" from my watch, I jogged along enjoying the invigorating head-breeze. After a few muddy undulations the route took a steep downhill trend, where I overtook a few people, before rounding the hill and coming back on itself. This part was more sheltered so I wasn't feeling much tailwind benefit. It was also a long slight uphill drag and I'm ashamed to admit more walking was done... Finally it turned downhill and I hopped through the heather to the checkpoint at 4 miles.
Almost immediately afterwards, I had to negotiate a few stiles, which was a new one for me! One guy had failed badly at this, but as he had assistance already I just tried not to look at his bloody hand, and continued on down the hill. For the first time my HR finally clawed itself out of the 'ridiculous' and I felt a bit refreshed. Crossing the main road though and I was soon confronted with another steep and very slippery hill. I noticed those on the middle were slipping so I stuck to the edge and walked up in one peace, nearly slipping a number of times. Now I was on the coastal path, able to enjoy the cliff and sea views, whilst gradually turning back into the headwind.
The path here was lightly rolling, and I managed to run (or jog!) fairly continuously, noting 10k had already gone by and knowing I was nowhere near the end. A quick descent put me almost at the base of the cliff, where the crossing to Worm's Head is (or would be if the tide was out). From there it was a snacking path up onto the top of the cliff (last bit of walking) and then a "sprint" into the roaring wind to the line.
I was certainly glad to finish, but pleased that I seemed to have dressed appropriately. I didn't know how I'd done as the race had four distances (10k, HM, M, Ultra) and we were all mixed up by then. However, when I looked at the results a couple of days later I was very surprised to find I had come 8th out of 145 women! Even with all the walking.... I also observed that there were more female entrants than male, possibly a first for me too!
Times
Total time: 01:24:43
Standings
Age category: 8/127 6%
Gender category: 8/145 5%
Overall category: 56/268 21%
7.8 mile run (not 10k!!)
My first every trail race! On a rather blustery and typically Welsh morning, I drove over from Swansea to the beautiful Gower peninsula. When arriving at Rhossilli I thought how dramatic the scenery looked, with the changeable weather and high tide!Registration involved a tediously long queue, during which I pondered the sense of wearing shorts (no one else was!) and not having brought some sort of shell to run in. Finally in the tent, I was given some sort of dongle thing around my wrist (which turned out to be my chip to insert at checkpoints - spot the novice!) and a fairly standard tee.
The briefing ensured at 11am (odd, as this is normally a 2 minute silence) at which point the route and instructions were gone through in good detail. I still felt rather nervous as a first timer though, and the rain battering the tent wasn't helping. Soon afterwards though, we were off! The start was along a narrow track and then up a bit of a beast of a hill. I had to walk from pretty early on, to start because I was held up, and then because I needed to.
Once at the top, and having removed "auto-pause" from my watch, I jogged along enjoying the invigorating head-breeze. After a few muddy undulations the route took a steep downhill trend, where I overtook a few people, before rounding the hill and coming back on itself. This part was more sheltered so I wasn't feeling much tailwind benefit. It was also a long slight uphill drag and I'm ashamed to admit more walking was done... Finally it turned downhill and I hopped through the heather to the checkpoint at 4 miles.
Almost immediately afterwards, I had to negotiate a few stiles, which was a new one for me! One guy had failed badly at this, but as he had assistance already I just tried not to look at his bloody hand, and continued on down the hill. For the first time my HR finally clawed itself out of the 'ridiculous' and I felt a bit refreshed. Crossing the main road though and I was soon confronted with another steep and very slippery hill. I noticed those on the middle were slipping so I stuck to the edge and walked up in one peace, nearly slipping a number of times. Now I was on the coastal path, able to enjoy the cliff and sea views, whilst gradually turning back into the headwind.
The path here was lightly rolling, and I managed to run (or jog!) fairly continuously, noting 10k had already gone by and knowing I was nowhere near the end. A quick descent put me almost at the base of the cliff, where the crossing to Worm's Head is (or would be if the tide was out). From there it was a snacking path up onto the top of the cliff (last bit of walking) and then a "sprint" into the roaring wind to the line.
I was certainly glad to finish, but pleased that I seemed to have dressed appropriately. I didn't know how I'd done as the race had four distances (10k, HM, M, Ultra) and we were all mixed up by then. However, when I looked at the results a couple of days later I was very surprised to find I had come 8th out of 145 women! Even with all the walking.... I also observed that there were more female entrants than male, possibly a first for me too!
Times
Total time: 01:24:43
Standings
Age category: 8/127 6%
Gender category: 8/145 5%
Overall category: 56/268 21%
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