by Claire Dean
25 February saw the first in the series of Maverick Race trail running events, with the debut starting in Amberley. In each event, there are 3 distances to choose from – on this day the ‘short’ was 7km with 137 foot of climb, the ‘medium’ was 13km with 226 foot of climb and the ‘long’ 23km with 348 foot of climb. Naturally, I wanted to go for the toughest even though my training did not reflect my choice, having run just 6 times in 4 months at this point.
The course starts with an almost 2 mile climb up onto the South Downs. Added to the challenge of the hills was the task of trying to avoid the weaving runners who had the advantage of being pulled up the hills by their dogs, as the event welcomed the Cani-Cross, and the wind up on the exposed hills was still very strong from Storm Doris which had hit just two days before.
After many undulating hills testing my lack of fitness, at around the 12 mile point I knew there would be some pay back, with a steep long downhill section. Sadly, when I reached this point, I found it was in the form of a long set of narrow steps. All the front runners had slowed right down to avoid cramp or falling and so there was no opportunity to gain any time back. Then came the final couple of miles where it proved to have been a wise decision to choose my ‘very off-road’ trainers as there was mud galore – my favourite!
The finish was back at the Amberley Museum, where you were welcomed with a bottle opener medal, bottle of Maverick beer and an ice coffee. Being almost 19 weeks pregnant, the tea and cake was the safer recovery option for me.
Not knowing at the start whether I could manage, let alone finish the 14.5 miles of the course, having not run double figures since Sept 2016, I was pleased to have clocked a time of 2:14:34. Needless to say, I was very tired that afternoon!