Afan Forest Trail Half Marathon 2018
February 17th 2018
Half marathon trail race
So after the Gower 10k which I sort of (retrospectively) enjoyed, I thought it was time to try a bigger distance of trail...cue the Margam Park half marathon! Oddly, fewer than two weeks out from the event, the venue and course completely changed, to the Afan Forest. I didn't generally mind as it wasn't too far away, but the course profile which had ended in a nice long downhill, now displayed an ugly uphill finish.
The race started at a friendly 11am(ish) and I jogged up the first, fairly long hill. I felt pretty fresh which was nice, and pleased I had done a last minute glove-ditching before the start, as it was surprisingly warm and dry. After the first hill, there were some large undulations, which led along forest tracks up to the highest point of the course at about 7 miles in, near some windmills.
The views were stunning, with a range of sunshine and clouds lighting up the scenery spectacularly. More enjoyable too in the relief of a long section of downhill. This lasted a good 1.5 miles, although I was glad to get on the flat by the end as my left ankle was niggling me a bit. The 2 or so miles of flat allowed me to find a rhythm for the first time in the race, until around 10.5 miles in when the "final climb" began.
This started fairly steeply (bit more walking for me, ugh) and then rounded a sharp corner. Here I had a little trot for a bit whilst surveying the car park and waving to my car. With still nearly 2 miles to go I carried on up the increasingly steep hill in a crawl/run fashion, finally peaking at 12.5 miles. The next challenge was a very muddy and technical descent, the only one of its kind on the course. I enjoyed overtaking a few very cautious people on this bit, before making it out onto the road for the last couple of minutes, even managing to overtake another girl on this short downhill.
Overall an enjoyable event, although I would probably have preferred more varied and technical trail - the forest tracks were fairly hard and made my ankle and hip ache on extended downhills. I did like the very welsh medal though!
Times
Total time: 02:05:36
Standings
Age category: 12/42 29%
Gender category: 27/186 15%
Overall category: 215/538 40%
Half marathon trail race
So after the Gower 10k which I sort of (retrospectively) enjoyed, I thought it was time to try a bigger distance of trail...cue the Margam Park half marathon! Oddly, fewer than two weeks out from the event, the venue and course completely changed, to the Afan Forest. I didn't generally mind as it wasn't too far away, but the course profile which had ended in a nice long downhill, now displayed an ugly uphill finish.The race started at a friendly 11am(ish) and I jogged up the first, fairly long hill. I felt pretty fresh which was nice, and pleased I had done a last minute glove-ditching before the start, as it was surprisingly warm and dry. After the first hill, there were some large undulations, which led along forest tracks up to the highest point of the course at about 7 miles in, near some windmills.
The views were stunning, with a range of sunshine and clouds lighting up the scenery spectacularly. More enjoyable too in the relief of a long section of downhill. This lasted a good 1.5 miles, although I was glad to get on the flat by the end as my left ankle was niggling me a bit. The 2 or so miles of flat allowed me to find a rhythm for the first time in the race, until around 10.5 miles in when the "final climb" began.
This started fairly steeply (bit more walking for me, ugh) and then rounded a sharp corner. Here I had a little trot for a bit whilst surveying the car park and waving to my car. With still nearly 2 miles to go I carried on up the increasingly steep hill in a crawl/run fashion, finally peaking at 12.5 miles. The next challenge was a very muddy and technical descent, the only one of its kind on the course. I enjoyed overtaking a few very cautious people on this bit, before making it out onto the road for the last couple of minutes, even managing to overtake another girl on this short downhill.
Overall an enjoyable event, although I would probably have preferred more varied and technical trail - the forest tracks were fairly hard and made my ankle and hip ache on extended downhills. I did like the very welsh medal though!
Times
Total time: 02:05:36
Standings
Age category: 12/42 29%
Gender category: 27/186 15%
Overall category: 215/538 40%
Comments
Post a Comment