Dudmaston Dirtrun

Dudmaston 10K Dirtrun

Sunday 8th January 2022 with Run Catshill Team

Dudmaston Hall is a museum and estate just south of Bridgnorth in Shropshire. The run takes place in Comer Woods which is just past and opposite the estate, this caused us a little confusion on the way as when we reached the sign for Dudmaston Hall we came across locked gates! Once we continued on and found the right place we were directed into the spacious carpark and paid £4.50 to park for the day. (National Trust members can park for free). It was a very chilled out event, plenty of space for parking, no queue for the very efficient registration and unusually no queue for the toilets too!

At about 3 minutes before the start time of 9:30 there was a very relaxed call for everyone to make their way to the start. There was a brief description of the route and a warning that the second half was harder, apart from the last km all downhill. Then we were off up that first kilometre which we’d be running down at the end!

I’d decided to try my best and was hoping for a sub 60 minute. It was an ambitious target but I love a challenge! I decided that my strategy was going to be a faster first half to give me some leeway for the harder second part. Then a fast final km down the hill!

I kept to this and completed the first 5km in about 30 mins. I was feeling pretty good but I wasn’t really prepared for just how tough the second half would be and I ended up having to walk up more hills than I would have liked.

The route was well marshalled and signposted. It was advertised as a dirtrun- despite the recent rain it was disappointingly unmuddy. In fact I think my shoes were cleaner at the end! Apparently the course had more gravel paths this year which made it much less of a mud bath. There were some really tough steep hills up narrow paths around 7km which was brutal. Most people that were running around my pace walked up at least 2 of these. I spent the time between 6-9 km looking forward to the nice downhill at the end. I love running downhill and had saved a bit for a fast final kilometre, which I enjoyed immensely.

I finished in 1:02:49, I was a bit disappointed with not getting sub 60 but I made that goal having not checked the elevation profile for the route, rookie error! Also as I couldn't get off the sofa for the rest of day I know I couldn’t have gone any faster than that! It means I know where I’m at training wise and have a benchmark to chip away at.

I would definitely recommend this run to anyone that enjoys a trail and a challenge. Our club member Jo got 3rd Female and won a bottle of beer, special kudos to her!!