Hooded Horse 10k, 10 April
Report by Anita Oldham
The Hooded Horse 10k is a charity event, running from the White Horse carpark at Kilburn in memory of Ben Campbell, who died at the age of 36 of pneumococcal pneumonia. It is a challenging route through beautiful woodland, organised by a very friendly and welcoming JDW Fitness. There are at least two recces held in advance, so you could run the route 3 times, should you want.
This year, it was held on Sunday 10th April and was attended by a brave 6 Ripon Runners, and well supported by Thirsk and Sowerby who clearly run up and down Sutton Bank three times each day before breakfast. The weather was warm and sunny, the atmosphere was lively and the race itself is quite low key – that is, everyone to the start, then 3, 2, 1 and go! And let’s see what time you get over the finish line. None of this chip timing malarky.
The route itself compromises of some narrow paths, some wider gravel lanes, across a field somewhere, lots of mud and lots of tree roots. Essentially, it does the following:
down,
up, through the mud,
down,
up, up, more mud,
down,
then up, up, up, steep up this time,
steep down,
before, finally,
up,
then another up,
and just one more up
before the finish line appears on a very gentle down.
RR finishing times – Lee-Anne Swires – 1:05
Graham Tinsley -1:10
Angi Benson – 1:14
Anita Oldham -1:15
Sarah Jones -1:22
Nicola Shillam -1:38
Definitely one of the toughest 10k’s out there. Also one of the prettiest.