Race date: 30.5.2010
Official Finishing Time: 43:05
Official Position: 21/55

Yesterday I ran the Watergate 10k Trail Race organised by the Low Fell Running club, near Newcastle.

I’ve been keen to do a 10k race for a while, but there seem to be very few near me. I found this one though and it was quite appropriate since I could just take the bus there. The downside was that it’s a trail race, and a fairly tough and hilly one at that, so I couldn’t really go looking for a fast 10k time. Also, it wasn’t actually quite 10k, as my Garmin, rather disappointingly, reported only 9.77k.

The weather was a bit chilly and rainy to begin with, but the race conditions weren’t too bad actually. The trail itself was ok, although there were some slow bits with bridges, a ford, and some root-infested forest bits, not to mention the hills. There’s a slideshow of the route here.

Running felt ok, although I had some trouble with my knees after Friday’s LSR. No real problems here though. I took this as more of a training run rather than an all-out effort, and felt that I could’ve done a bit better, but the hills towards the end of the trail were pretty tough. I held my position and overtook three or four people as well. Anyway, without further ado, here are my splits (which may look awful, but my effort was actually quite steady — the hills caused the deviation):

1 4:26
2 4:17
3 4:08
4 4:55
5 4:25
6 3:56
7 4:48
8 4:19
9 4:30
10 3:15 (0.77k)
Total: 9.77k in 43:04 @ 4:24/k pace

I’m pretty happy with that. Based on my 5k PB (currently 20:25), the McMillan Running Calculator predicts a 42:25 10k for me, but if I can manage this sort of pace on trail, I can probably get close to sub 42min on road.

The official results are now in as well. My official time was just one second more, 43:05, and my position was 21st of 55 runners. The winner ran the course in 33:42, rather insane!

Garmin data here. I decided not to wear my HRM for this race.

I’ve been tipped off that the Darlington Pit Stop 10k on 7th July is a fast race, and I’m actually around then, so I’m considering that one. I can easily get to Darlington by train, but the race is actually at the Croft Circuit in Dalton and I’m not sure how to get there, but we’ll see… I’m keen to see how close to the elusive sub 40min 10k I might get. But I suppose that the first goal should be to break the 20min barrier for 5k. I think I’ll have a crack at that at the Newcastle Parkrun soon — probably not this Saturday, as there’s a hill walk in the Lakes that I might do, but at least the one after that.