Larmer Tree Trail Marathon
13th March 2016

Whilst most Harriers were in Devon battling against the Grizzly and the Cub, I decided to try an alternative trail race through the 'rolling' hills of Wiltshire at White Star Running's Larmer Tree Marathon.

The course started at the aforementioned Larmer Tree Gardens and utilised the paths in and around the wonderfully picturesque Rushmore Estate near Tollard Royal (South West of Salisbury). Known for being the self proclaimed 'purveyors of quality races' they didn't disappoint with this slickly organised and well run but challenging event.

Starting at 08:30 the Marathon Runners lined up to listen to a rather laid back race briefing, whilst peacocks were cleared off the drive, sheep fields were evacuated and some traffic was halted on seemingly the one busy road in Wiltshire. Once all these boxes were ticked the hooter sounded and we were off and running on a beautiful morning.

The course comprised of an initial 6 mile loop on a mixture of trail and minor roads before joining up with the 20 mile race route. The 20 milers were due to start at 09:00, and a half marathon race was also due to be held at 10:00am, meaning that you had to follow the signage quite carefully to ensure you didn't end up on the wrong path and also for us slightly swifter folk there was the likelihood of catching the runners up which meant a nice change from lone running.

During that first six miles I settled into the leading group of 4 runners, myself and 3 from Bournemouth AC including two chaps who it turned out were going to represent England at the Anglo-Celtic Plate 100k race in Perth, Scotland in two weeks time. So I was in quite some illustrious company, however I made the conscious decision to go with them and see if my legs would co-operate.

We were running strongly as a quartet and churning through the miles and after that initial 6 mile section we were into the nitty gritty of the event, which included hills to rival the grizzly, some tricky trails through woodland, sodden fields, and paths churned up by tractors. The footing at times was testing and fallen trees were thrown in to provide an element of steeplechasing. The first of the giant hills arrived a 8-9 miles for us marathoners and 2-3 miles for the 20 milers... surprisingly our little quartet of runners caught a majority of the 20 mile field before this hill and it was great to give them encouragement and receive some in return. I particularly loved the lady who was being pulled along by her two dogs as Cani-X was allowed at this event. Everyone walked up part of this hill as it was so steep and shrouded in fog, which unfortunately obscured the views but I'm sure the scenery was breath taking... I know the hill was. However a big up hill meant a big downhill and we picked our way through the 20 mile field as we descended until we had clear path in front again.

By halfway our group had become 3, myself and the two England runners and whilst they had the speed over me on the flat, my hill training was paying off and I repeatedly closed any gap that appeared as soon as we hit a hill. Like one of them said in Bournemouth they train on the sea front!!.

The fog/mist had now cleared and the views across the countryside were amazing, this really was high quality trail running. A long climb awaited us at 17 miles, but unfortunately for me the path was very narrow and I couldn't pick my way past the leader as he cleverly weaved about picking his route carefully to ensure minimal chance I could overtake him and open a gap. We were also catching the lead 20 mile runners which made it more tricky. At the top of the hill, 3 had now become 2 as we began to pull away from the last of our trio. At 19 miles the course flattened out and the leader took his chance to open up a gap, pulling away from me and trying to establish a safe buffer. Unfortunately I just didn't have his flat speed but managed to keep the gap to about 200-300m, hoping for some more hills to appear so I could reel him in. The last 6-7 miles though were to favour the chap from Bournemouth as although there were three hills, they were all relatively short yet very steep which limited my opportunity to catch him.

With 6km to go the leader of the Half Marathon race finally caught up to us and sailed past although even he was finding the hills tough. After the last real climb, there was a steep downhill path along a hillside to negotiate and then it was flat running for the last 3km with a slight incline back up to the Larmer Tree Gardens. At the top of the hill I'd narrowed the gap to about 75 metres, but it was just too much to close and the eventual winner (Jon) pulled away from me on the last flat 400m.

I did however catch the leader of the 20 mile race in the home straight who worringly checked with me that I was in the marathon as 'he didn't fancy a sprint finish' to seal his glory. I reassured him I was in a different race and then left him to it as I headed for the line to cross in a time or 3:06:49, beaten by a mere 23 seconds. On a very tough challenging course I never thought I would say ' I needed it to be hillier' but that was my statement to Andy the organiser of the race as he congratulated Jon and I on our running.

Whilst it was disappointing to not win, I had somehow managed to split the two chaps selected to represent the country in two weeks time which was certainly some consolation and shows my training is on the right track.

If you have never done a White Star Running event then I couldn't recommend them highly enough and rest assured I will be back for more later in the year!!  As the company say themselves 'Keep running rural'... happy trails everybody.