Amanda Bruneau and Michael Kennard headed to Ranscombe, near Rochester for the SVN Winter Ranscombe Challenge on Sat 20th January.
I think in hindsight it could be said that neither of us really thought through what this race might be like. Given the amount of rain we’ve had, that this was a trail marathon and that the forecast for the day was heavy rain – it really was only going to
go one way.
MUDDY, HILLY, WET
It was a 6 lap course so once you’d experienced the mud and hills you knew what to expect, I don’t feel I’m exaggerating if I say the conditions were atrocious, the rain came down during the day, the mud just got more and more churned up, what was just about
run-able the first 2 laps but as the day went on it was more a slip, slide, glide….. even when you could attempt a run the mud was sticking to your trainers and it was like running through treacle.
However, the scenery was lovely and as was a Saxons, Vikings and Normans event the race had a lovely supportive feel to it. Probably goes up there as the most challenging and muddiest marathon I’ve ever done.
We went round in 06:21:26 – a reflection of how challenging the course was.
Amanda Bruneau (nee Paver)