Race report Paul Tranter

I entered this Grim Up North race as I was looking for a long run as part of my training for the Leeds Marathon and I much prefer to take part in a race than slog around the streets of Otley on my own. So this looked perfect. Three laps of Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs and on a Thursday too, leaving the Easter weekend free for other stuff.
Anyway, about a week before the race the venue was switched to Knaresborough due to last minute footpath works announced by Yorkshire Water. Still, no big deal. Knaresborough is quite close by and the route looked OK, though an out and back rather than a loop.
Race start and finish were next to the river Nidd, across the river from the Conyngham Hall car park (complete with OK public toilets). The route followed the Beryl Burton Cycleway and then picked up the Nidderdale Greenway heading over the Nidd Valley viaduct. I’ve run and cycled on parts of the Nidderdale Greenway before, so was expecting flat. What I hadn’t counted on was the climb up from the river to the old railway line. So flat became over 1000 feet of climbing over 20 miles. Underfoot it was tarmac all the way, so basically a road race, and largely traffic free.

As ever Its Grim Up North Running’s organisation was very smooth. Plenty of water and snacks at the aid stations and friendly marshals on route. It was another low key event, with runners taking on distances from 6.7 miles to half marathon, 20 miles and full marathon. The marathon runners had set off earlier, the rest of us went off at 9.30. Before the start I was looking around to see how many runners had the same colour number, indicating 20 mile runners. It turned out just three of us. So, guaranteed podium places all round as long as we made it to the end. It was a lovely sunny day. Still a chill in the air but lovely views of the river, hedgerows full of blackthorn blossom and bluebells adorning the woods along the Greenway.

The run itself went well. Pretty even paced for the first two out and backs, but the legs started to tire on the last loop. Still, I keep plodding on and was quite happy with my time of 3:09:54. I also managed to beat the otters two runners to take first place. Quite a bonus. Angela Wright and Louise Taylor of Rotherham Running Club ran and finished together, so claimed joint first female in 4:56:45.
I got a very welcome cup of Yorkshire tea at the end and walked away with a Smarties Chocolate Easter egg. Yum!
Full result there: https://my.raceresult.com/336298/