Woodchester Park 8 mile multi-terrain race - 8 September 2013

“I decided to enter this as useful training for a half marathon in October, but soon realised that my half-marathon training had been good preparation for this race! Set in a picturesque valley near Nympsfield, south of Stroud, the 8 mile loop takes in most of the steep-sided wooded valley, on both the main path and several off-shoots.

After a downhill start there was the first of several short, and one not-so-short, sharp hills up the side of the valley, then a nice stretch through the woods with enough flat ground to get up a bit of speed. The half way point was reached at the bottom of the far lake, where there was a welcome drinks station, then it was a gradual climb most of the way back up to the start, with a particularly steep section about a mile from the end.

I enjoyed the friendly, low-key atmosphere of the race as well as the scenery, and was very pleased with my time of 1:09:47, finishing in 44th place out of 84 runners (6th female). Full results are at: https://stroudathleticclub.co.uk/Content/Results/woodchester_park/woodchester_park_2013.pdf“

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