The first race I ever entered was the Sunderland 10k in May 2017 and I returned the following year to have a go at the Sunderland Half so this year, after feeling very disappointed with my effort at the half, I was looking for a different event. My brother had spoken highly of the Raby 10k so I thought I’d give it a go.
Once a month, as a family we try to make sure we all get together and go somewhere. We call it Rudd’s Rambles. And when Marie saw there was a 5k race on, which she entered, a 1.2k fun run for the kids and free entry for participants and their families to the Raby gardens, Rudd’s Rambles became Rudd’s Runs for May with my brother and sister-in-law also entering the 10k, their kids entering the 3k and the old people coming along for a picnic after.
We arrived in a bit of a hurry, as we do everywhere we go with the 2 small people, fearing we’d be late for the fun run registration for Isaac, but made it in plenty of time. The sun was shining in a cloudless blue sky and it was hot, even at 9:30 in the morning. Isaac’s 1.2k fun run was the 1st race of the day. There was a warm up for the kids, which he enjoyed, then we moved across to the start. The horn sounded and there was flurry of toddlers zig zagging all over the place, dragging their parents across the start line and around the course. Isaac smiled the whole way around, liked his finisher medal but was more eager to show his mam the jelly sweet he got at the finish line.
The 3k run was next to start followed by the 5k then it was my turn with the 10k. The only advice my brother gave me was to go steady on the 1st lap of the 2 lap course to save some energy for the hill at the start of the lap.
I lined up with Matthew and the race began. The start funnel was just to the side of the road on bumpy long grass so I was eager to get on the tarmac for fear of turning my ankle on the uneven surface. But I quickly found that I’d started further back than I should have as I was soon clipping the heels of the runners in front. It was a trip back on to the grass to clear those in front. After a few hundred metres we passed a gate then ‘the hill’ came in to clearer view. Some runners were already rounding a bend and disappearing behind the trees as I started the climb. At 4.3% gradient it isn’t massively steep but it drags on for a kilometre so it’s still punishing. I tried to keep my form and pace consistent and peaked the hill feeling relatively fit. The road then dipped down before raising back up again and around some farm buildings before a lovely long, straight and gradual downhill part of the course sandwiched between fragrant rape seed fields and leading to the off road part of the lap, along a track through some woods.
This is where my personal duel with a lady from Darlington Harriers began. I crept past her on the climb through the woods and as the track turned back to tarmac and levelled, with Raby Castle to our right hand side, she crept back past me.
At the start of the second lap and at the bottom of the hill I overtook her again and this time my legs were telling me that I had ran up a hill as I reached the top. On the long straight to the woods the Darlington Harrier lady re-passed me and on the climb back through the woods I re-passed her. This time it was a race to the finish line so I pushed hard and stayed ahead over the line, passing a few more along the way. I also claimed a 10k race PB, 47:38 on a hot and hilly course, which I was extremely pleased with.
It was a well run event by Teesdale AC with a good medal at the finish, cake, a welcome bottle of water after running in the heat and an even more welcome can of McColl’s brewery (brewed in Evenwood) IPA. A day out that the whole family enjoyed.
Link to the results:
https://racebest.com/results/vrt7r
by Sam Rudd
