Coniston 14 miler

Richard Slack has been running in the mountains again.

Coniston 14 mile 30 March 2019

Another weekend in Cumbria and this time a road race – a full anti-clockwise circuit of Coniston. This is a very popular race, first run in 1982, and now attracts around 1,600 entrants, and like most races, sold out. Today, the weather was kind, with a gentle breeze from the South and overcast with some sunny spells late on – so no sun burn worries for those that remember my performance at Allendale a few years ago!

Leaving Coniston village, the route heads steadily but gently uphill to Torver on the West side of the Lake and then due South following the Lake and passing beautiful scenery and some stunning houses overlooking the lake shore. At around 6 miles the South end of the Lake is reached and the route heads due East for about a mile before returning up the East side of the Lake and round the top to Consiton village for the finish. Generally the route is lots of little ups and downs but always beautiful views to compensate on the ups. Towards the end of the East side (around 11 miles) there is one last ascent above Brantwood, John Ruskin’s house, but thereafter it is downhill and flat for the final two miles to Consiton.

After a decent amount of long runs recently a 14 miler was a welcome return to just a bit beyond half marathon distance and I loved the feeling of thinking at 10 miles that I only had a final four miles to go. So I upped my pace today and was delighted to post a time of 1 hour 48 minutes 45 seconds. Great run, loads of parking at the start area (Consiton school grounds), really well marshalled and plenty of water stations through the route. For anyone wanting a scenic and fair Lakeland run this should be on your list!

Full results

https://www.tdleventservices.co.uk/event-results/events?event=3111