Alton Water 10k Race Report

The second race of the weekend

It was quite by accident that I found myself undertaking a 10k race on Saturday and Sunday this week. My daughter and I completed the Nike We Own The Night 10k in London's Victoria Park on Saturday evening. Then on the Sunday I was off to Alton Water with my running buddy Becci where we would be racing in another 10k.

The weather over the past month has veered from bright, warm sunshine to wet cold and windy winter-like days. This Sunday it felt more like November than May and I would have been perfectly happy to stay in bed with a coffee and the papers. Nevertheless, a race is a race and I picked Becci up and I set off in the direction I thought would take us towards Lawford. It turned out we were going to take the long route but a pretty one through the Spring green countryside.

It was a very busy weekend for sports in the area with several running races and also the Tour de Tendering cycling and stage three of the Women's Tour in Clacton.

• We get ready for the off
• En route
• At the finish
• Thoughts on the race
• A brilliant mini-Commando result

We get ready for the off

Having seen the horrid portapotty (there may have been more than one but it couldn't have been many more) we decided to try the toilets behind the café. There was a really horrid smell of sewers which seemed very unhealthy near the café's kitchens. Then we had to pick up our race numbers and chipped timer to go on our footwear. After that we wandered towards the start passing some food stalls and other stalls for organisations such as a physiotherapy service.

There was a warm up which we did not take part in and pretty soon it was time for the off. The surface was very strange being open concrete squares with grass growing through. It was not very comfortable but I think being cold had made me slightly grumpy. I almost ran in my fleece lined hoody but was glad I hadn't. I did have a knitted woollen hat on for the beginning of the course.

En route

You certainly cannot complain about the location as it is very pretty with the water, woodland and farmland all looking great in Spring greens and yellows with bluebells just going over. 

The course was undulating and we were running on tracks which were sometimes muddy and mostly stoney. After my recent fall I was a bit wary of anything with larger blocks of hardcore ready to trip me up. 

Alton Waters is a large inland reservoir which was built in the 1960's and took thirteen years to construct and fill. It is an area of outstanding natural beauty which attracts lots of waterfowl.

The first five kilometres took us through trails up to the road where we went across the top of the reservoir and then back along paths round the water again. 

At one point we were treated to the beautiful singing of a Nightingale - in my view that made the run really special.

Unfortunately at about the seven kilometre point I developed a severe pain in my big toe.  I thought was going to have to pull up but I decided that we were so close to the finish that I would just have to put up with it. 

At the finish

The finish was soon reached and I heard them calling out my name as I got over the line.  I certainly knew that I had been doing a lot of running over the past three days. Then we were laughing and chatting with other runners we know from the Commando Runners group and having our picture taken with a rather smart medal.

Thoughts on the race

The course was really lovely and the event was very well supported. There were just a few negatives:

• There was no water at the first station. 
• The second water station needed more organisation (the marshall standing near the station encouraging could have more usefully helped the one struggling to fill up water cups for the runners)
• The hand dryers were not working in the toilets and there was no other means of drying hands on a very cold day.

I would definitely run this course again and feel that the terrible weather lessened my enjoyment as did tiredness and my foot hurting. That's just life though and I would happily recommend this race. If the weather had been better it would be a great place to picnic afterwards.

A brilliant mini-Commando result

The five year old daughter of one of our Commando Runner friends was inspired to take part in the 2k race to raise money running like her Daddy for Multiple Sclerosis which her Mummy suffers from. Another of the Commando Runners ran with her and had made them both fairy outfits and said that she ran a brilliant race. Stella raised over £250 - brilliant!

And our results - quite respectable given the terrain and conditions:

Becci and I with our Alton Water 10k medals