With Folksworth in January and Stamford in February, it nice to, finally, have a local 20 mile race in March. It keeps the training going for those of us that are preparing for long distance events in the late spring/early summer. Up until now to do a 20 mile event in March some amount of travelling would have been involved Ashby, Oakley and Wymondham to name a few.   At a price of £28, it was good of the organisers to reschedule the race from the 4th to the 25th due to snow. Unlike some of the other races were competitors have lost their money due to cancellation.

The race was hosted from Oundle Primary School. The pre race instructions stated there was no official parking, which I thought would be a problem but it turned out there was plenty of street parking in the housing estate adjacent to the school.

There was no need to register on the day for this race as our race numbers had already been sent to us, this led to a lack of officials on the day to tell us where to go but we soon found a sports hall to wait in (which was warm and dry). The baggage drop was a tarpaulin on the field by the finish line which I was told would be covered if it rained.

The race started at 9:30 which, on the morning of the clocks change, was really quite early.

The race itself was interesting; a one lap lollipop course taking us through some very pretty local villages and undulating countryside. The route was completely tarmaced and, although not closed, there was very little traffic on the roads. All directional changes were mashalled

and there were ample water stations around the course, some of which supplied jelly babies and jaffa cakes. The Sun came out early and this had us stripping down to our vests. Onlookers and support was quite light, but those who had made the effort cheered and clapped enthusiastically as we passed.

The race ended on the field of the school and again no mass crowds just a few people, mainly runners to see us in. Here we got a finishers medal to go with the long sleeve T-Shirt, both of which are quite smart.

 I found this a very enjoyable race it does not have the flare,support or occasion of some other races but if your looking for a local no frills event then this is for you.

Mark Turner