Cragside 10K, Saturday 19th March
Richard and Marie Slack ran the Cragside 10K at the weekend and Richard sent this report:
On a cool Saturday morning, Marie and I set off early from Newcastle for the Cragside 10k which started at 9.30am. Arriving at Cragside around 8.45am, there was plenty of car parking for the runners and registration well organised near to the house. Milling around before the start was a happy Claremont reunion with Colette and Elaine (both now Elswick Harriers) and then a wander up to the start. There was a good turn out with around 500 runners taking part, but as like many busy parkruns the course as it unfolded soon began to allow you plenty of running space and never felt overcrowded or congested. And what a lovely route it was, hills or no hills (!), as it made a circular tour around the perimeter of Cragside, all on well marshalled and well-signed paths.
The first kilometre was pretty much straight downhill back towards the house before flattening out for the next 2-3 kms. Anyone who has ever run at Cragside before always mentions the uphill part and sure enough around 4km onwards for the next 3kms came the uphill part of the route. Fortunately the route was always going around corners so as you ran you did not have the Denton Bank equivalent of a never ending hill going straight out in front of you. Instead the uphill meandered past beautiful waterfalls, a couple of tarns and in general stunning scenery. On reaching the crest of the ascent there followed a gentle 1-2km of relatively level running followed by the grand finale of the final 1.5km being back down the hill to the finish ( a repeat of the first km).
I was hopeful of a sub 50 minute given the hilly nature of the event but delighted with a sub-48 minute, although Colette zoomed by on the final downhill. Marie obviously enjoys the countryside running with a PB of 55.36. After the finish we enjoyed tea and breakfast in the café, well satisfied with the morning out. A lovely run and thoroughly recommended.
Full results below:
http://run-nation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Cragside-10k-results-2016.pdf
