The Dark Horse

Described as a ‘fun spooky night race’, taking in the views over the Bristol skyline, it only took the mention of a post-race hog roast and a pint by a bonfire to convince Caroline and I that this was a race for us!  

We (with our running widow other halves in tow) arrived at Lansdown park and ride, Bath, and caught the shuttle bus (£2.50 return) as instructed as there is no parking on site.  We made our way through the woods to race HQ and collected our race numbers (slight hitch as Caroline’s number was missing but all was soon resolved).  

We were rather early so stood by the bonfire to keep warm. The race start is in waves and we’d opted for wave 1 – earlier we finished, earlier we’d get back to the hog roast! 

There was a 5k and 10k event, we were doing the 10k. The race started in the woods, then into fields with a stretch through the race course. Though storm Ciara had yet to fully hit and we were thankfully spared the rain, it was pretty windy by the time we started (6.30pm) and that stretch was pretty exposed.  

The route was well marked but there were also plenty of encouraging marshals, a couple playing music. The two lap run continued through stretches of field and trail and fairly close to the end you run through the ghostly sculpture garden – see photos.  Lap one takes you back through the woods to do the second lap, lap two takes you blissfully to the very welcome bonfire and hog roast. There were also lots of Jaffa cakes and bars of chocolate as well as fruit and water at the finish.  Oh, and a nice wooden medal! 

Would we do this one again?  We would, we really enjoyed it!  Tips would be:

• This isn’t really one for spectators – no refreshments until the finishers start to come in
• You need a really good head torch
• Wear lots of layers beforehand and for after

Looking forward to next year’s event already. 

Find out more at http://www.relishrunningraces.com/dark-horse-running-race.php

Jenny Vallely & Caroline Cratchley