Stately Trails Aske Hall 10k, 24th July 2025
Another week where the hills are alive with the sound of Cate Walker’s feet:
“This was an impromptu sign up, one week on from the challenging Durham 10km. It came about through my friend Susanna, who I’d arranged months ago to travel to our church camping trip with. Susanna was keen to break the journey with a 10k trail run and mini family reunion in North Yorkshire, and who was I to stand in the way?!
As it happened, it was a very good decision. We had a lovely evening for it, a fresh, comfortable running temperature after the mugginess of the last week and lovely and bright. And the location was wonderful. Aske Hall is a stately home with a large estate affording views into the Yorkshire Dales National Park. I also appreciated the small scale of this run. No danger of getting boxed in here!
The course was challenging, and – as has been made clear in the event description – undulating. We began with a long (2k) slow climb on spongy ground up to the top of a field, before turning into a wooded area where we remained for a good while, twisting and turning and occasionally more climbing. Until about 7k in, it felt like we were entirely running uphill. There were few really steep stretches, but it was the constancy of the elevation that made this run feel like a slog for the first half especially.
Around half way there was a water point, and I was relieved to find that I wasn’t gasping for water as in other recent runs. Nonetheless, it was a welcome break and chance to re-hydrate for a few seconds.
We ploughed on amidst beautiful but challenging turns through woodland, before eventually getting to a mercifully flat and even downhill-in-parts trail for the last part of the run. Having felt slow and slog-burdened for most of the course, this was the part where I finally felt strong (relatively speaking) as I enjoyed the views and the start of the sunset.
I had originally been hoping to complete this race in around 55 mins but as time went on I adjusted my expectations to under an hour and comfortably managed that. We were treated to a burger and beer at the end, a nice throwback to Chopwell Woods a few weeks back.
Overall I’d recommend this course and the Stately Trials series it was part of, organised by Dale Runners. Tyneside and surroundings are not, of course lacking in challenging runs, but this was picturesque and relaxed, with relatively small numbers, so this was worth the trip down. And definitely worth breaking our journey for!”
Well done to Cate for finishing 3rd in her age category, in a time of 57:59!
