Calderglen 10km Trail Race 28-6-13

On Friday night, 28th June, Calderglen Harriers held their annual 10Km trail race at Calderglen Country Park. Probably my favourite race, this had a field of just under 200 runners completing the race. On the same night the club hold a 1km for under 9’s, 3km, and a 5Km which also fields a good number of runners before the 10Km at 7:30.

Working in East Kilbride during the day, I thought that the course would be wet and muddy after a wettish morning. However the evening was completely different and the conditions were good. So much so that the midges were out in force before the race started.

The race started promptly. The course starts around a small loop (0.6 miles approx) where you go out a trail at the side of the woods, before entering the woods with a sharp turn left down a hill. You then go back uphill before the trail goes to the opposite of the woods before a turn left onto the road in and another left turn back to the start line. The trail this time follows the same route but continues on rather than turning back and in a short time you head down to cross the water on a wooden bridge (the 1st bridge of many). As soon as crossing you go up a climb to a flat trail which runs for between 0.25-0.5 miles before a drop to another bridge back across the river. There is then a climb before leaving tree cover and a long flight of steps downhill (this isn’t the last time you see them).

The next bit you run on a trail at side of the woods until entering them for a 0.65 miles of rolling/undulating steps, wooden bridges where the downhills carry you over the uphills (if you’re lucky). You then go under two bridges, the first one with low branches and subsidance before it and the second with two barriers that you have to negotiate through. At this point you are back out in the country side and you run widely around a windmill over slightly muddier terrain (depending on the weather).

The next part of the race you cross a road onto a path that is the boring part of the race before returning back onto the trail. At this point there is a possibility of meeting runners going out as you are on the return road home. You then return back under 2 bridges, over steps/bridges and back out the woods where the large steps you went down earlier have now to be climbed back up. The next part is back in the woods but this time, it doesn’t cross the river but continues on the start/finish side with a lot more rises/drops and turns. When you get to the point of a fairly sharp rise (still easily runable) you leave the wood for the last time and towards the finish line.

The course isn’t fast and measures short in the Garmin because of the tree coverage. The course though is said to be long though so can’t be compared to a road 10K. However the course is fun and more enjoyable, in my opinion, than most road races. My time was slower than I’d texted my friends (27th – 40:47) but trail race virgin, Tony Rodden had a great outing nipping into top 50 with a great time of 44:31. Andy Taylor also ran this for 1st time and completed it in 58:44. To give a comparison, Stuart Gibson (Cambuslang) won Troon 10K this year in 31:36. Last night, he won Calderglen with a time of 34:49. 2nd was fellow Cambuslang runner, Robert Gilroy followed by a Jog! Scotland runner, Colin Thomas.