I was looking forward to a race on home turf and less travelling added to the appeal. I had entered the later heat of the 10k Mighty Deerstalker, the appeal of running in the darkness just too much to pass up. However, call me crazy but I also ran the 5km Deerstalker during the day!
Set in absolutely beautiful surroundings, the hills all around gave you a small indication of what you were in for. Outstanding race.
What a day!! Tremendous all round, the daytime event, the 5km, was in retrospect a lot quieter with less buzz around the camp. I think I brought most of the buzz myself. The queue for the registration was very quick, bag drop off very clear and self- organised which seemed to work for the event.
Set in absolutely beautiful surroundings, the hills all around gave you a small indication of what you were in for. The 5km was an all-in, with the one wave, facing us to kickstart everything approximately 50 metres from the start was a small fort of hay bales before a sharp left turn downhill to spread the field.
By now the quads and lungs are shouting at you, yep not screaming yet … that’s to come.
We hit our first muddy patch after not too long, this slowed down a number of the runners but nothing too serious. Before long we are heading up our first hill. In fact, a veeeery long hill, it goes on for what seems like a long time, just when you think it is plateauing out – no, it’s a trick you are still in fact climbing! The climbs become increasingly steeper, increasingly difficult terrain to deal with. By now the quads and lungs are shouting at you, yep not screaming yet… that’s to come.
The obstacles in this race are primarily natural terrain based, but challenges they certainly are. Taking a momentary pause to look over my shoulder the view is simply terrific and makes completely the earlier 5k completely worth it. In denial at what my legs are telling me, I keep on climbing and then you turn a corner and the descent is on.
These descents are are possibly some of the most technical I have come across in a race.
The going was slow for many of the racers, steadily making their way down through the trees. This was my opportunity to run with the hill and descend at the same angle as the hill – BOOYAH!
Oh but wait, cruelly, just down the road, you have to climb again and again the descent equals the climb. On the uphill this time, on wobbly legs you have balance beams to walk along, made possibly too easy with the trees to lean on. With a token cargo net to crawl under, these did not add to the race unfortunately.
Initially on the downhill, a section I named speed bumps, that allowed you to control your speed and from there, there was no stopping you. At one point I tried using a tree to slow myself down, this resulted in a pretty impressive spin around the tree and a great face plant before continuing. A cargo net a the bottom allows you to do a cool swing under to slow down. Before we head to the water elements of the race. The finishing obstacles were again nothing taxing, the final obstacle did make you pause as you looked down from what all of a sudden seemed like some height.
Fantastic race, definitely a challenging event and not even just for the beginner out there. Just to round it off, I managed a great wee 3rd place female, my excitement for the challenge is ‘BACK’.
10k The Mighty Deerstalker
At the returning station for the 5k race, I thought I had heard someone say it was the same race twice round! I didn’t think it could get any worse – I was wrong. The 10k route followed the 5km route, the darkness creeping in and really hitting while we were in the woods.
Everything heightened to overcome the obstacles - the added element of darkness, straining to see in the dark, concentration levels at maximum throughout the race.
Everything heightened to overcome the obstacles - the added element of darkness, straining to see in the dark, concentration levels at maximum throughout the race. The hills were more brutal, but what made it even more awesome?
The string of lights leading up, over and around the hill on the opposite side, absolutely amazing. Either that or the fear was setting in for the hill that was coming. Rocky terrain, scree slopes, that began to look increasingly vertical, to the point I had a sore neck just from looking upwards. The slopes, I am obviously delirious writing this, and downhill sections were the highlight of the race. The one area that let the race down and this was a massive bone of contention amongst my group of friends racing, was the bottle neck at the top of the rope descent. I was lucky enough to have a short wait, but it was a bit cold with the breeze having been dooked in the water.
Outstanding race, taken to another level in the 10k event. Helped along by great weather and great marshalls cheering you on at every point.