I honestly don’t think I’ve looked forward to an event as much as I did ‘Uventure, it was going to be my longest obstacle course run and it was near where I grew up. When you live in Northamptonshire, it’s very rare that obstacle course races come up around here.
Lorraine and I whizzed across to Cranford on a very drizzly Saturday morning, our plan was to Marshall in the morning and join the last race wave of the day. We’d never marshaled at a race before and had no idea what to expect, plus the weather was due to be very wet.
Fortunately, we were placed on ‘bag drop’ with a lovely young lady called Kate (I honestly wish I was that confident as her 18) and then the fun began. Before we knew it, we were rushing backward and forwards labeling up bags and keys, chatting to fellow race entrants and laughing at the fact Kate was drawing on peoples foreheads. I really enjoyed being on the ‘other side‘ of a race and it’s great to help out, also they kindly provided us with free entry in exchange for working.
The morning whizzed by in a flash, we bid Kate goodbye and joined our start wave ready to take on ‘The Iron Run’. The route is a trail run along the old mines of Cranford St Andrews, I love trail running and it was great to use the natural features of the area. Before I knew it, we were knee deep in mud, running through puddles and jumping over mini bonfires.
A regular feature of this event is pulling yourself up steep hilly sections via ropes. This occurred many times and if you were looking at attending I would consider gloves and upper-body training (if you don’t already). There’s one point when you need to battle with 3 consecutive up’s and downs, the downhill sections were ‘interesting‘ because the bad weather made the mud seriously slippy (How extraordinary?). The only way was to slide down on your bottom unless you were feeling very bold. I’m sure in dry weather, this wouldn’t be an issue and we were on the last wave of the day.
So, in a nutshell, you should expect: Lots of rope work, a 150ft waterslide, running over mini bonfires, uphill crawls under netting, lot’s of A-Frame and passing under a bridge. All in the stunning Northamptonshire countryside, with friendly marshal’s, easy parking and an lot of food/drink options at the end.
I genuinely think this has been one of my favourite events so far!
If you fancy joining myself and Lorraine on our adventures, feel free to tweet me. Lorraine’s charity is taking on ‘King Of The Hill’ in November 2016, we’d love you to join us, there are a cracking goody bag and prize for whoever comes first.
Have you ever taken part in ‘Uventure’ before? Any more races for you this year?
Katie
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