Dewsbury 10k, 6 February
Report by Sarah Woffinden
I’ve read a lot of run reports recently about far-flung locations, beautiful scenery, and incredible distances. The following has none of those.
Two years ago, just before the pandemic, Paul Ackerley and I did the Dewsbury 10k. I got a good time, and a long sleeved Hi Vis top that I wore loads when out running down country lanes in lockdown. It’s probably helped me not be run over. Due to other priorities I’d done very little running in preparation, and at daft o’clock on Sunday morning when I picked Paul up in really rubbish weather, we both were lacking enthusiasm for the whole venture.
Just like two years ago, the road closures for the race meant we ended up in a different car park to where we had planned. The weather was still cold wet and windy, and Paul produced two rather fetching yellow ponchos for us. This was a great move, as there was a bit of a walk to the start and a very long loo queue and no bag drop. There were a lot of very cold people at the start.
Anyway, Dewsbury is a relatively straight, flattish, out and back, along a road from Dewsbury up to Batley. It is through an industrial area at first, which was a great place for the very loud Bangra drummers at 9 am on a Sunday morning. The scenic highlight of the entire route was Big Tesco petrol being advertised at £1 40.9 a litre. Once through the warehouses, you pass lots of takeaways that still smell from the night before. Nice.
Then you see lots of terraced housing. I was hating the first 2 miles of this run. Cold, wet, slightly uphill, nothing nice to look at, not fit and a bit grumpy to be honest. Then it all changed, as we passed the houses I saw lots of children out banging pots and pans, people leaning out of windows shouting encouragement, a few revellers making their way home from Saturday night giving a wave, more marshals than most races, all of them cheerful, and best of all for someone like me who is a born spectator, the fast runners coming back.
I soon cheered up, and had a really nice run back, downhill, the sun came out, wind was behind, and I remembered why I really enjoy running! Talking to a colleague the next day, a friend of hers had needed the loo a couple of miles in, had knocked on a random door and been welcomed into their home. There is a lot of things Dewsbury doesn’t have, but if you want a well organised, very friendly race where if you do a bit of training it might be PB territory, this is a good one. Not to mention a rather fetching T-shirt.
Results
Jamie Baker 35:56
Sarah Woffinden 54:14
Richard Ackerley 57:43