Race report by Ryan Tolley

Race date: Sunday, 24 February 2019

Thetford Trails 10k is a chip-timed race on hard-packed track through the beautiful and flat Thetford forest. It is one of a series of three winter 10k runs and they have just announced a summer series. I chose this race as it coincided with my return journey from my parents in Suffolk. I’m pretty sure I was the lone Strider on this outing, a far cry from last week’s jolly boys (and girls) outing to Leicestershire. The weather was perfect, 12 degrees and sunny without even the slightest breeze. All the ingredients for a perfect race, well nearly.

I arrived a bit early but as I needed to register and there was no bag drop so I wanted time to be able to get back to the car to leave everything there. Check in was slick so I bought a coffee and had a look around. The place was buzzing with families who had arrived to cycle or walk round the forest or try out GoApe, a tree top adventure course. It’s all centred around High Lodge which has cafes and toilets.

The race had a maximum of 500 entries but only 440 showed. The atmosphere was fun and friendly with music that could be heard from the car park. A warm up was organised and led by one of the runners. They had a guest appearance from Miss Drag UK, she started the race and was doing a roaring trade in selfies.

I was chasing a sub 50 minute pb and set off really well. I settled into what felt like a comfortable pace and was making good progress. There was a timing mat at 5k which I hit at around 24 minutes so I thought I had a great chance of hitting my pb. Unfortunately for whatever reason I ran out of steam, the last 3k felt like a slog and I crossed the line at 52.17. A disappointing end to a really nice race.

The first male across the line was Przemyslaw Dolinski at 35.01; the first female was Nicky Davies at 39.42 both unattached.

Striders result: