13 Arches Trail Half Marathon (now with results)

James MacDonald writes… Conwy, Tatton or Bury? The latter is perhaps not your first choice, but there was an opportunity to sample an inaugural trail race, hosted by Radcliffe AC and promising lots of points of interest along the route. The race was a 300 capacity sell out, and six of us plunged for this option and made our way along the M60 to the venue. There was a promise that there was ample car parking but in reality there wasn’t, and some had to park on nearby streets instead. Perhaps it would have been true if there had been more car sharing, something that was abundantly clear as three of us car shared and three travelled independently. It does beg the question why we don’t use WhatsApp or some other tool to notify each other of races and interest to car share, etc.?

The registration was a typical simple affair with a small number bib and a separate chip to tie to one of your shoes. There were toilets at the HQ, however the enormous queue for the ladies was probably a symptom of hosting an event at a football stadium where the facilities are probably biased towards the men. The race start/finish was located about 1km from the HQ but they had provided additional toilets, changing rooms and a bag drop there which was good thinking. Unfortunately the 10:30 start was delayed by approx. 10 minutes because there was a large yellow van which was partially blocking the route and the organisers considered it to be a bottleneck. I thought it was too health and safety conscious as there was ample room for runners and so it proved when they did eventually commence the race.

The start was most welcome, as by this time, most of us were getting chilly. I over compensated by dressing like I was entering an artic race and after a couple of km wanted to discard at least my hat and gloves, opting instead to stuff them in my waistband where they stayed for the duration. The course profile recommended trail shoes and promised mud which it delivered but not on the scale of Boggart. It promised undulating trails which it did in parts including one section which reminded me of a rollercoaster as we banked to the left, then to the right, then swept down and back up again, several times. Fortunately it wasn’t necessary to go upside down.

I was running ok for about 8km until first Matt and then Sharon swept past. I could not respond as my legs were clearly hoping for a quiet weekend. They really should know better… At around the half way mark you travel through a park, climb some steps and return on a high path which then drops down and merges back on the trail against the traffic of runners. This wasn’t too bad except for one very narrow section where only one person could fit and someone had to give way in one direction and I’d recommend this part is modified for next year. The last few km have a slight incline but it is pretty straight and along a very wide tree lined trail and very pleasant.

At the finish there was the usual medal, a Radcliffe AC buff (which pleased Gail), some water, an apple, a banana (which will ripen in about one week), some crisps, polos and a mini-bounty bar. The latter was demolished pretty quickly. We waited for all our runners to come in and made our way back to the HQ. By this time we were suffering from the cold and made a small diversion back to our vehicles to get changed into some warm clothes. Back at the HQ there was an opportunity to have a tea or coffee and a cake or three from a fabulous selection for the price of a donation. I restrained myself to just the two cakes but could have easily gone for thirds. Whilst we were gripping our hot drinks to return some heat to our hands, there was the presentation. Sharon did what she does best and picked up a prize, this time as second fasted woman to finish and not far behind the first and within shouting distance of Matt.

The course was as promised, although I failed to spot most of the major landmarks, probably because I usually have my game face for a race and concentrate too much on the 20 metres ahead of me. The general consensus was that Radcliffe put on a great event and some of us would return next year. As I haven’t run Conwy and I’ve heard such great things about it, I’ll run that next year instead if the dates clash. More fun, than queuing in traffic outside Tatton Park for an hour. 🙂

A huge thanks to the marshals that gave up their time and braved the bitterly cold morning.