Trentham 10k

After Friday’s 10k we do another race on Sunday. This is the Trentham 10k which starts in Tittensor and is part of the lesser known (e.g. we’ve never heard of it) Trentham Triple series which also includes the Dave Clarke 5 and the Werrington 10k.

We have missed the deadline for online entry because we were waiting to see it either\both of us (but mainly L) could still walk after Friday’s run. So we have to get out skates on to arrive there nice and early, way before the 10:30am start, to grab what are described as ‘very limited on the day places’ which are being issued on a first come, first served basis as they have apparently had a huge amount of enquiries.

We are there before the registration desk is even officially open and still we aren’t either first come or first served but we do get in.

Once the race starts I begin to wonder why there was an apparent huge demand as the course is evil.

After starting on the main road we take an immediate left turn into a housing estate, which was quite hilly itself, before re-joining the main road to make our way to the bottom of a climb up something they call Beech Caves. This was simply sadistic, we didn’t need to go that way at all because once up it we U-turned to come straight back down again. They took us up it purely for the hell of it and the ‘fun’ of it.

Apparently the race was formerly known as the John Oultram 10 which was a 10 miles long and consisted of two laps of a 5 mile course including two trips up Beech Caves. Sadly a few years ago it was re-jigged into single lap 10k race. It’s a shame because there simply aren’t enough 10 milers around. I imagine it wasn’t as popular as the 10ks are but perhaps they could have run both side by side.

My time of 49:57 is not great but in the hilly circumstances probably not too bad either.