The Main Event
The Dirt Half Challenge
LIKE ME, you probably carry in your head a ragbag of training routes that get dragged out each week, the choice depending on what races (if any) are looming on the horizon. In my case, the majority of these regular plods are best described as ‘functional’. Do I fancy a seven-miler with some hills chucked in? Tick, got one of those. And how about something faster and, ideally, a loop? Yup, I’ve several of those to pick from, too. And on it goes.
But if you’re lucky, you’ll have a different kind of route up your sleeve, one that’s more than just a dull default run that simply allows you to get in the miles. Andy Hully spent a decade running the same trails most weekends to set him up for his races, before realising his favourite route might have wider appeal. He turned it into an official half-marathon trail race in 2010 – the Dirt Half Challenge was born.
Beginning modestly, it now sells out long before race day. More than 800 runners joined me in Leighton Buzzard on a course that flits across the lovely countryside bordering Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Online forums are full of praise for this race, but what’s the appeal? Intrepid sports journalist that I am, I resolved to discover its allure.
Race HQ is a sixth-form college and the event has an old-school vibe, so it was appropriate that after lining up on the playing fields, we did a lap of the rugby pitch.
As we snaked away from the college grounds, we came to the Grand Union Canal, which would be our companion for much of this run. Be warned – its towpath is rutted and narrow, meaning the bunchingup was akin to rush hour on the M25.
But I was content to treat this Saturday-morning run as a Sundayafternoon drive, drifting along these flat, easy miles. With dozens of narrowboats tethered to the bank and the smell of the wispy smoke puffing from their tiny chimneys, it was a rather whimsical scene. There was even a scruffy sheepdog barking from the roof of the ‘Lady Jane’, while canal folk raised mugs of tea to acknowledge our efforts.
After completing five miles alongside the waterway, it was time to temporarily wave au revoir to this convivial canal scene and tackle something much tougher.
The runners I’d chatted to before the start had warned me it was the climb up to Great Brickhill village that justifies the ‘challenge’ in this race’s title. And as we turned onto a tree-lined section, this slippery beast reared up before us. Locals call it ‘Heart Attack Hill’ and you can see why. For a gruelling mile, and an ascent of 70m, we slipped and slid, our feet growing heavier with the clingy mud, until the village came into view around a final bend.
After such exertion, it was time to enjoy the prettiest section of the course: an undulating woodland stretch. On tracks carpeted with fallen leaves (and with paint daubed on protruding roots to prevent runners taking a tumble), it was a quintessential autumn scene, with the route through the forest opening out into the adjoining country park.
Our penance for this glorious section was a boggy stretch. But it would seem it wasn’t gooey enough for some runners. Andy tells me that one of the few grumbles about his race is that the course isn’t muddy enough. It seems that because the word ‘dirt’ is in the name, some runners assume they’ll end up caked in gloopy mud (this is deemed a good thing). But that ‘dirt’ refers to Dirt Running, the name of the company that stages the race, and is a nod to the fact the event takes place on dirt trails rather than roads. I guess it makes a change for a race director to be berated for low-grade mud rather than too-few loos.
From the farmland we returned to the canal towpath. If I’m honest, I’d become a tad weary of life beside the water’s edge, so I employed some mind games to ease me along the final three miles. Marathon great Paula Radcliffe says she counts to 100 over and over again to keep focused when the going gets tough; for me, it was guessing if the next canal boat I passed had either a girl’s or boy’s name. I don’t think my distraction tactic will go viral anytime soon, but it worked for me.
Once I was up and over the final bridge spanning the canal, the finishing arch came into view.
Later, with a chunky medal around my neck and a cuppa in my hand, I pondered the popularity of the race. It’s clearly more than the sum of its major parts: a canal, a hill and a forest. Mixed with a generous helping of trails, it made for a hugely satisfyingly course. It’s a no-frills event and I mean that in the most positive sense.
If you yearn for a race that will test you on a late-autumn day, this offroader will not let you down.
The Dirt Half Challenge is on Nov 17. dirtrunning.org.uk