Chepstow Night Run
- Trail Blaizer
- Feb 18, 2017
- 2 min read
Chepstow night Run is organised by Rogue Runs and is number 2 in a series of 3. The event hub is in one of the bars at Chepstow racecourse. It’s buzzing with activity by the time I get there. It’s one of our club championship runs and there are plenty of maroon and white vests about the place. Neon face paints are doing the rounds and I think there’s a competition going on for the most artistic/outrageous design.
It’s a chilly night as we make our way down to the start line behind the racecourse. After a legendary safety briefing form race director Paul and a check of our head torches (a serious heavy duty head torch is essential for this run) and we’re off.
We set off up the hill on gravel track before it opens up onto Piercefield Park. It’s a funny sight to see the head torches bobbing along in the pitch dark. We hang a right down towards the River Wye. Here it’s gets technical. The path narrows, it’s stony and rocky with tree roots to negotiate below and overhanging branches above, there’s also a danger of taking an elbow to the face by the odd runner overtaking. I can’t decide whether the pitch black and limited headlight is a blessing in disguise….you can’t see the sharp drop to the right into the river below. We are now on part of the of the Wye valley walk as we head into Giants cave and start a muddy climb up that seems to go on forever.
We follow the well placed reflective markers (over 500 on the course) up the twisting turning trail, where we once again reach the top and are met with a friendlier path, I feel I can now at last catch my breath and start to warm up. Back onto open fields and we finally start to descend…for the time being anyway. It’s a clear and starry night and I remember to look up – the sights of a night run. This is more cross country territory as we skirt around the edge of Chepstow race course, passing jumps and fences set up for the horses, we can just make out the lights of HQ. The complementary shoe wash was bracing, freezing cold and deep for us shorties, we’ve got just over a mile to go still and now with cold wet feet. I guess it makes you want to run faster!
We finish the run with a final climb, crossing the line at the back at HQ. We collect our medals as we head into the warmth of the bar for Coffee and cakes – the selection on offer is pretty impressive. There’s a lot of banter and club chat as people hang around for the prize giving. The watch measures the run as 5.2 miles with total elevation gain of 668ft.
Photo’s courtesy of Tosh.
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