We Own The Night 10k Race Report

A 10k ladies only race on 10 May 2014

A time chip off the old starting block

It was a cold, blustery evening with driving rain when Alastair, Léonie, David and I travelled by train to Hackney Wick station for the Nike We Own The Night 10k ladies only race in Victoria Park. My daughter and I were women on a mission in pursuit of this little lovely:

Press play for a very short video of the designer creating the necklace that finishers would be given at the end of the race. 

The park looked amazing and so festive and we were hoping that the weather would behave itself long enough for our run. It did.

Early in the evening at the tented village

First things first and we did a quick tour of the tented village area where there were bars and refreshment stalls as well as a Nike shop and an Elle stand. 

The programme for the evening

I began feeling a bit overwhelmed by the scale of the event and the achingly hip youngsters cruising through life with such ease. Fortunately there were some, like me, in the Autumn of their lives and others at all levels of fitness to make me feel more relaxed and at home.

Léonie surveying the scene

It always pays to know where the medical tent is

When the rain came down we made for the tent with the bar and were soon enjoying a pre-race fruit juice whilst our men quenched their thirsts with a beer. I built up the courage as I was in the dry and relative warm of the bar tent to remove my coat and jogging bottoms and transformed myself into a runner without scaring the horses! Léonie helped me attach my chipped race tag to my shoe and thankfully there were no race numbers as I wanted to keep my running jacket on.

Then we left them to join the gigantic queues for the portapotties which were clean and easy to use - thumbs up for that facility. Fortunately, having supporters with us meant we did not need to use the bag check which looked more than adequate if we had needed it.

• At the start
• Getting round the park
• Through the finishing line
• Collecting our rewards
• Sating our hunger
• What I thought overall

At the start

There was a stage area with two large screens where a DJ called Martelo and The Fox Problem got us in the mood for the evening ahead. There was a pre-race warm up which we decided to skip in favour of keeping our men company in the bar.

Sadly, I did not get to see any of the stellar line up of celebrities running with us including Holly Fulton who had designed the bag we had been given with our race pack. The designers Henri Lloyd and Alex Munroe also ran with us as guest male celebrities.

My race pack included a lovely tee shirt and bag designed by Holly Fulton 

It wasn't long before a loudspeaker encouraged us along our starting routes. I think it might have been either Perri Shakes-Drayton or Katarina Johnson-Thompson who are top British female athletes who were our starters. 

Not long girls!

As we were waiting for the starting gun for our section we had some inspiring messages meant to build up the excitement.

I should think we were ready after all the build up

Getting round the park

Plumes of smoke as we left the start added to all the razzamatz and we were off out into the park. The trees were all lit up with purple and teal lights which were very pretty. Léonie made a good start (this was her first ever race and far longer than she has ever run) which was so pleasing.

The paths were almost all smooth, and even as dusk fell it was still easy to see but all the lights were even more attractive in the approaching darkness. 

There were plenty of stewards around which was very good when one runner collapsed in a faint and was quickly aided. This was very sad for that poor lady and I hope she was okay. 

Soon we were running towards a tunnel which was completely lit up and as we ran through it there was music playing and a smoke effect. Very unusual and great fun. There was also a second tunnel of light and I enjoyed running through both of them twice.

I love the abstract look of this photo taken
whilst on the move towards this amazing tunnel

We were also entertained en route by DJ Clara Ampho and two bands - one jazz and one steel. 

The kilometre markers were huge lighted numbers which proved useful to encourage Léonie to run to them and have a quick recovery just after. 

Through the finishing line

The course around Victoria Park

Before we knew it we had reached the finish line and there was the same razzmatazz that we had enjoyed at the beginning. We walked along to collect our goodie bags. We were given bottles of water and then our necklaces were handed to us by the athletes who had started the race.

All the spoils of the night - Nike did a wonderful job!

We were given vouchers for a glass of sparkling wine which I did not realise we had until I looked in my bag later on the train home. I would not have wanted it anyway as I would be driving home.

Sating our hunger

We were both very hungry at the end of the race and decided to get something from one of the vendors and choose a sushi roll which was very tasty and so welcome. 

The BBC Radio One DJ Nick Grimshaw made sure the finishers celebrated with the same energy they used for their race.

We were happy to leave them to it and wend our way to the station and home after a truly amazing race experience.

What I thought overall

I had read and heard quite a lot of negatives about the Nike races but was pleasantly surprised that the criticisms had been heard and addressed. The things that I found well organised were:

• A staggered start for different abilities 
• Plenty of water at water stations
• Efficient toilet systems

Conditions:

• No aggression from runners towards other maybe slower runners
• Plenty of friendly assistance 
• Pacer encouragement
• Dry weather throughout race
• Well organised finishing

A couple of very minor points of criticism:

• there were no plasters or any sign of medical supplies in medical tent
• the voucher for free glass of wine was not obvious as it was lost in the plethora of bits of paper etc in the goodie bag

Nike would be giving £4 of each entry fee to a charity called Women Win which is to help get women involved in becoming fit and healthy through sport. 

It was a brilliant experience and as a Mother I was so proud of my daughter and her achievement. The time was not bad for a very cold evening and a first time runner so I am very pleased with our results.

A race experience I would definitely recommend.