Race report by Sam Harper
The Muddy Woody race has been a popular event on the running calendar in Herefordshire for many years. It was held at Queenswood last year after many years at Haugh but due to reasons unknown to me, this year the location was changed to Aconbury Hill Woods, South of Hereford. Traditionally a 6 mile race, with the new route it was closer to 7 miles at 11.11km with 336m elevation.
Fears that a new venue may not compare to previous routes were unfounded. Thanks to the weather it was very muddy, even before reaching the start of the race! The walk from the registration/presentation at the farm where there was ample parking and plenty of portaloos was a great warm up – lots of thick mud churned up along a steep field margin. Runners were given a very good idea if their footwear was going to live up to the task of keeping them upright on the race!
There was time for a team photo before the start, but we perhaps cut it a bit fine, as organiser Dan promptly started his pre-race briefing before I was at the start line, so rather than battle my way to the middle of the pack to my usual starting spot, I found myself a lot closer to the start line than I usually am for races.
This start line position proved to be very much in my favour – I got off to a good start and seemed to hold my place in the race pretty well throughout. It was a gentle slighlty downhill start along a gravelled fire track, but only for about 500m when a right hand turn went into a steep, muddy bank – many runners were forced early into a walk but my goal, as always, is to try to keep running and that is what I did!
There was lots of mud, lots of ups and lots of downs, and I don’t recall there being any memorable stretches of level running – later confirmed when checking the profile after the race! But this suited me just fine – I loved every part of this race – the mud was perfect – not too deep that there was any risk of losing a trainer and with my mudclaws on I felt confident I wasn’t going to slip. Lots of hills and twists and turns to keep it interesting. The course was excellently marked and there were plenty of really friendly and encouraging marshals meaning there was no chance of taking a wrong turn.
Until taking the right hand turn at the 10k to be told it was downhill to the finish, I had no idea where the paths were taking me as we crossed other runners going in other directions – looking at the route map I don’t know how anyone decided on that route but huge praise to the organisers – it was a fantastic and I for one am hoping that this is a route they stick to for next year as I will definitely be there again.
All the Croft runners I have spoke to after the race agreed with me about what a great run it was. Gareth was the first Croft runner home in third place in a time of 50.03. He led the Croft prize winners – FV50 was awarded to myself (although I didn’t realise at the lady who was in second place overall was in my age group), FV40 Jo Tilby and FV60 Steph King – we were also the first lady’s team so were awarded that prize too!. Gary won the MV80 prize.
Full Croft results:
| Runner | time | Position | Age Cat position | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gareth Leek (SM) | 50.03 | 3rd | 3 | |
| Miles Davies (MV55) | 59.38 | 21 | 3 | |
| Samantha Harper (FV50) | 1:05.00 | 39 (4) | 2 | FV50 (team) |
| Richard Coltart (MV45) | 1.07.33 | 54 | 3 | |
| Joanne Tilby (FV40) | 1.08.1 | 56 (9) | 1 | FV40 (team) |
| Mike Bending (MV60) | 1.11.09 | 74 | 7 | |
| Paul Lewis (MV40) | 1.12.00 | 80 | 20 | |
| Rob Wood (MV70) | 1.15.10 | 105 | 2 | |
| Steph King (FV60) | 1.16.49 | 117 (18) | 1 | FV60 (team) |
| Amy Purvin (SF) | 1.31.35 | 185 (58) | 6 | |
| Gary Gunner (MV80) | 1.32.15 | 190 | 1 | MV80 |
| Angus Kirby (MV60) | 1.33.11 | 195 | 14 | |
| Huw Williams (MV65) | 1.36.58 | 207 | 6 | |
| Sue Purvin (FV60) | 1.47.54 | 227 (84) | 11 | |
| Max Harper (MU20) | 1.29.20 | 166 | 4 | |
| Owen Harper (MU20) | 1.55.18 | 232 | 7 |
I have included at the bottom of the results the results of my twins – a first race for both, one who did a bit of training and the other who was out the night before and skipped breakfast! I’ll let you work out which was which. They both enjoyed it and have vowed to be back next year to see if they can improve on their times!
