We had Hilary and Lizzie attending The Swainby Sweep Trail Race at the weekend, with some amazing views to boot by the looks of it.
Both Lizzie and Hilary finished the course together in just over 3 hours, for a course measure around 13.4 miles. Well done ladies, looks awesome.
Hilary passed along the following
An absolutely wonderful way to return to racing. The snow on the hills meant the 16 mile route had to be abandoned and we got to do 2 laps of the 7 mile route instead. Kudos to the organisers for re-arranging it last minute so we could still run.
First official race for most of us since lockdown and whilst we were understandably nervous it was superbly well organised with really clear instructions and videos so we knew exactly what we needed to do. Runners were split into groups of six and set off at 1 minute intervals.
The route is essentially 1 mile flat to lull you into a false sense of security and then pretty much 3 miles straight up hill. This is definitely not a race for people who don’t like hills but the views you get for the pay off are absolutely spectacular and the generous 20 minute mile cut off time means it is achievable for most runners.
What goes up must come down though and the lap ends with 3 miles of rapid descent.
The photographs don’t do it justice. This is one of the most spectacularly beautiful runs I’ve ever done. A perfect (but tough!) start to the racing year.