Kent Fitness League 2014/15: Minnis Bay

Match 6 of the 2014/15 Kent Fitness League (KFL) took place at Minnis Bay on the Isle of Thanet in the north-east corner of the county. The Isle of Thanet is predominantly a flat area of low lying land which was once separated from the rest of mainland England by a combination of waterways which formed the Wantsum Channel.

isle of thanet and wantsum channel

This channel had largely dried up by the 16th century and the remaining watercourse at the northern end is now known as the River Wantsum. Interestingly, assuming the image above is accurate and I've got my geography right, the area that is used for this fixture would have been completely underwater just a few hundred years ago - which explains a lot about this race (it's a wet one!). As a note of interest, Thanet was temporarily returned to an island for a few days following the North Sea Flood of 1953.

This was my fourth race wearing the alternating light and dark blue hoops of the 93-year-old Dartford Harriers AC and I'm very proud to be part of this historic club. It was also my first opportunity to try out my cross-country running spikes which I picked up in Decathlon for £35 a few weeks beforehand. I was going to use 12mm spikes but the ones I had didn't have the hex key nut which meant I couldn't tighten them properly with the supplied key, so I went with the 9mm spikes that came with the shoes and they seemed to do a decent job at keeping me upright and speedy.

welcome to minnis bay [photo: 7t]

The main pre-race items to attend to were;

Car parking: There is ample free parking along the seafront.
Toilets: In the car park near the start line (just toilets, no bespoke changing areas here)
Cafe: There is a cafe/restaurant just next to the toilets.

The race started and finished on the grass area adjacent to the beach – I've heard that when the tide is out the race starts down on the beach itself. This year the high tide was at 8.58am and the beach was still underwater as we reached the 11am start time. As this race has a number of water features I decided that it would be too risky to wear my phone or Garmin. So for the first time ever I ran naked.

trying to get the shoe laces just right [photo: dani]

At 11am we were sent on our way (video of the start - thanks, dani) and we headed westbound along the seafront with the Brooksend Stream to the left and the sea to the right. There was a section early on which featured a tarmac path, but there was enough grass on the right hand side for runners in spikes to run on. However I found that I had naturally drifted to the left where the grass verge was narrow and bumpy.

I eventually managed to get across to the right hand side but was disheartened as I felt like I had lost a number of places. Once we reached the end of the path, the terrain became better suited to the spikes and I began to get used to running in them. Being right next to the sea there was always the risk of getting a battering from the wind but apart from being quite cold, the wind didn't really cause me any problems.

and they're off [photo: dani]

The terrain here was very wet and featured a chain of large, cold muddy puddles every few metres. At around the 3 kilometre point, the course met with the River Wantsum and we continued to run along the seafront until we reached Knock Point (4km) where the course turned left to head south taking us away from the sea. The southbound route continued for another kilometre along the top of a berm, which was muddy but dryer than the first section had been, until we reached the train line which runs from east to west.

Now just over halfway into the race, it was time to head eastwards and head back in the general direction of the start/finish. From 5 kilometres to 8 kilometres, with the exception of a short twisty section at around 6.8km to visit the five water ditches (dykes), the race followed the straight-as-an-arrow path to the north of the railway line where a train, which sounded like a jet fighter, came thundering past from behind and scared the life out of me.

during the stampede at the start [photo: dani]

There had been a few days of heavy rain in the weeks leading up to the race so the five dykes were well stocked with plenty of muddy water. Before the race I had imagined them being extremely cold, but on the day the water didn't actually feel cold at all; if anything they were warmer than the air temperature and the five separate crossings were over within a minute or two. The worst thing was that my gloves got wet and that meant that my hands felt colder for the remainder of the race.

during the splashy 'out' section [photo: funk dooby]

At 8 kilometres the path took a slight left turn over the Brooksend Stream and headed back towards the seafront along a nice muddy single track path for part of the way where we re-joined the opening 1 kilometre section to head back to the start/finish area. This time the part along the tarmac path was slightly different as we were directed away from it to run over three lumps - I think they are usually referred to as sand dunes, but they were muddy, definitely not sandy. It was a fun and enjoyable section to throw in right at the end.

1 of the 5 dykes [photo: mick wraight]

After this we were back on the grass start/finish area for the final sprint. I headed into the finish funnel and worked myself around to pick up my finishing position raffle ticket, which I was pleased to see was number 36 - much better than my previous effort a few weeks beforehand. I was pretty cold so I headed off to get changed into my dry clothes (I am finally getting better at this cross country post-run stuff!).

As I didn't wear any GPS technology to track my run, I don't have any split times, strava segments or the course profile to analyse and you know what? It's actually really refreshing. So until the official results were published I had absolutely no idea of my finishing time. Looking at other runner's GPS data the course was 9.7 kilometres (6 miles) in length, and for the record it was pancake flat with the exception of the odd short, sharp incline to climb over a berm or something similar. I definitely felt much more confident on the slippery mud wearing the spikes and I'm looking forward to the last match of this season's league in a few weeks.

post-run - looking a lot cleaner than i actually was [photo: dani]

Results

Finishing position: 36 / 361
Finish time: 42.16
Team result: 3 / 18

(the full results can be found here)

Links to my other blog posts from KFL fixtures in the 2014/15 season:

Match 1: Knole Park (did not take part)
Match 2: Swanley (did not take part)
Match 3: Oxleas Wood
Match 4: Fowlmead
Match 5: Nurstead Court
Match 6: Minnis Bay
Match 7: Blean Woods (did not take part)

Kent Fitness League 2014/15: Nurstead Court

The Kent Fitness League cross-country race at Nurstead Court, in Meopham, was the fifth of the series and my third outing for my second claim running club, Dartford Harriers. My first two KFL races were at Oxleas Wood and at Fowlmead. When reading up on this race beforehand, a common theme kept coming up, and that was that this is proper cross-country running.

there's the countryside. now let's run across it. [photo:7t]

If I can rewind just a little, before heading over to Nurstead Court for the 11am start, I had picked up Richey and we had gone for a warmup run around the Cyclopark track just a mile or two north of the cross-country venue as part of the weekly 5k Cyclorun event.

Upon arriving at the cross-country venue, we were directed to park in a field and from here we walked about a kilometre over to the race HQ area, which had an indoor gazebo-type structure for runners to soak up a little warmth before getting stuck into the mud, hills and fields around Meopham. There were about 8 portaloos plus a portable gents urinal available for use.

some runners warming up [photo: 7t]

The temperature was hovering around 1 degree and there were still some patches of frost and ice from the previous night. Fortunately the wind that we had to deal with the previous day at Dartford parkrun had disappeared and all was calm. I had already decided to wear my running tights and base layer, but in retrospect would have been just about fine without either.

As I mentioned before, this race was described as true cross-country running. It included inclines, declines, grass, dirt, mud, farmers' fields, forest trails, logs and some bales of hay to jump over, branches to duck under, and last but certainly not least there was the much-talked-about water splash.

the start [photo: daniel groutage]

The 5 mile race took place over a two lap course, which had been very well marked out and was marshaled in all the right places. Of course, two laps meant that the runners tackle all of the above twice. I started the race, as always, at a strong but conservative effort level across the short but slippery grassy opening stretch, which soon turned to the right and headed downhill.

I had chosen to wear my old Adidas Kanadia TR3 trail shoes and while they were the right choice from my selection of running shoes, I can't help thinking that proper cross-country spikes would have served me very well here, as after not too long I was having serious trouble with traction on some of the slippery, muddy sections. The funny thing is that I was in a shop with a pair of spikes in my hand just a few days earlier but didn't buy them.

the water splash [photo: brian page]

The water splash featured quite early on in the lap, was about 8 metres wide and roughly a foot deep in the centre. On lap one, I breezed through and although it was really, really cold, I didn't suffer for too long afterwards. By the time I splashed through on lap two, it definitely took more of a toll on me and my feet felt icy cold for a good few minutes.

The forest trail section was muddy and had lots of twists, turns and all the usual forest obstacles to negotiate. Again, first time around wasn't too bad, but once the ground had been churned up by the 346 runners during the first lap, I found traction to be really difficult during the second. It's worth noting the mini-rollercoaster style sections where you head down into a wide ditch and then back up the other side - hopefully without slipping over on the slippery slope. Great fun.

[photo:7t]

Then I had a mini-disaster when my shoelace came undone with just over a kilometre left to go, I pulled over to the side to do it up, but in the 20 seconds or so that passed, I lost a number of hard-earned places and the remainder of the race became a fight to regain some of them. I clawed back three positions, but had already lost way too much time to regain any more.

The final straight was back along the opening section, which was still slippery - I somehow fumbled my way along it and into the finish funnel where I was given the raffle ticket showing that I had finished in 58th position (later updated to 57 - not sure what happened there). Slightly disappointed, I headed off and congratulated my teammates and some of my other buddies on their runs. My GPS data of the course, splits etc can be found on Strava.

race hq [photo:7t]

The race HQ provided some warmth and also had a bar which was selling warm drinks, so in my usual post-race style, I stood outside getting colder and colder before finally realising that inside was definitely the place to be. I really need someone who can make decisions for me post-race because I clearly can't do it alone!

About an hour later, after the post-race raffle had been drawn, I headed over to the car with Richey where I finally took off my muddy, dripping wet trail shoes and got some warm air circulating before heading off in the direction of home.

The official results were published online a few hours later.

Position: 57 / 346
Time: 35:20

Dartford Harriers were the top scoring team and retain the top spot in the league. There are just two more matches left - the next one is on 18 Jan 2015 at Minnis Bay.

Kent Fitness League 2014/15: Fowlmead

After my disappointing debut in the Kent Fitness League cross-country at Oxleas Wood just one week earlier, I arrived at Fowlmead Country Park, in Deal, feeling hopeful that I could find some kind of improvement in my second race in my Dartford Harriers vest. This race was hosted by Deal Tri Club.

fowlmead country park [photo:7t]

Fowlmead is a 200 acre country park on the site of a spoil tip from the Betteshanger Colliery which was the largest of Kent's four successful coal mines and closed in 1989. For 11 years the site was unused until the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) acquired the freehold and the land started to be developed, which included the planting of 130,000 trees and shrubs, as part of the National Coalfields Programme.

The park was opened in 2007 by Sir David Bellamy and is now primarily a place of leisure with the park being very popular with runners and walkers, but even more so with cyclists due to the mountain bike paths and the 2 mile long tarmac cycling track. The area also boasts many acres of established woodland where bushcraft and fossil collecting are popular activities.

i think at around the 4km point

There is an onsite car park for which there is a £2 charge via a barrier system at the entrance which does not give change, so bring the correct money with you. Toilet and shower facilities are available free of charge in the visitor centre (funded by SEEDA and Sport England) and the onsite cafe is open from 9.30am.

I met up with the rest of the Dartford Harriers team in the cafe where there was plenty of discussion about which shoes would be the best for the course. I had the choice of my old Adidas TR3 trail shoes or my brand new New Balance MT610 trail shoes. The TR3s have a more aggressive tread but are much heavier than the NB, so without really knowing exactly what to expect underfoot, I went for the New Balance because they have a much racier feel to them.

approaching the finish

The 2 lap race was started at 11am sharp and off we all went. It had a nice wide start line which extended from the gravelly path across onto the adjacent grass, which was handy as it gave the runners plenty of space to jostle for position along the opening stretch. The majority of the race took place on these gravelly paths, with only a few short sections on some trails - there was one twisty trail section that was a lot of fun and really stands out as a highlight of this race.

I am happy to say that despite being overtaken by a large amount of runners during the opening stretch, I managed to have a much better race than at the previous week's KFL fixture. I started the 8.5km race at a decent-but-not-reckless pace, and once all of the eager beavers had got about 500 metres down the path and settled down into a more appropriate pace, I started to work my way through the field.

screenshot from my gps readings [strava]

Although the course was generally flat, there were a few extremely gentle inclines that had the potential to slowly wear the runners down without them realising. Then there were also a couple of short, but steeper inclines. However it wasn't the uphill bits that were the tricky part, it was the downhills. There were only one or two, but they were steep and slippery, plus it would have been easy to misplace a foot so required a certain amount of caution.

There were a few wooden bridges to cross en route and they were a bit slippery. I almost lost my footing on one of them and after the race I heard reports that some runners had actually slipped over. By the end of the first lap I was feeling pretty exhausted, but as the second lap progressed I continued to catch and pass people and I felt like I must have had a second wind. So the last few kilometres turned out to be very enjoyable as I caught and passed a few more runners.

post race

One of my Hoops team mates was once again was the race winner, so that was brilliant! I finished in 35th position out of the day's 343 runners and was the fifth Dartford Harrier to cross the line, which meant that my efforts contributed the team's overall score (wohoo!). This was partly due to less Dartford Harriers runners being present and partly due to me putting in a much better race performance this week. After getting changed into some warmer clothes, it was on to the cafe to have a cup of tea and watch the post-race presentations and raffle. The full results were published later that day.