Race Review - Demon Run, Bracknell



So this was the Demon Run, a 10 mile run (there was a 5 mile option) through Swindley Forest, Bracknell. I guess you would class it as a cross county or adventure race as it had various obstacles and challenges along the way.

First obstacle ... finding the bloody thing

Now I hold my hands up I took the directions from the address on the website unfortunately there was an email sent out stating that we should be using another entrance.

You’ve probably worked out by now we went to the wrong entrance however we weren’t alone, there was quite a few people waiting at the wrong place.

I have to say though you’re given the impression from the email it’s just round the corner but it’s not and when you finally get to the entrance, whah we see our first sign. However be careful not to blink you may miss the A4 sign stuck to a post.

We managed to register with about 5 minutes to spare but soon realised that it was going to be a late starter which was just as well for us.

So we waited, then we waited, then we waited a bit more and finally ....we can line up, 10 minutes to go. I think it was more like 20 minutes when we got going and I don’t know what time we set off but it must have been pretty close to 11am which is an hour after the scheduled start. Now things go wrong and problems do happen but there was a distinct lack of communication as to why & how long.

To the run itself

It started in the usually fashion some trying to get ahead early doors but through the woods and few ponds it was tricky.

Wait...We’ve gone the wrong way!!!

We were lost after just a mile or so, unbelievable so we in the front runners had to turn around and go back the way we came.

I myself was just following the pack but the problem occurred because you hit a T junction and there was no sign to point us in any direction.

Once back on track we started to hit the obstacles but the problem now was there’s a whole bunch of runners in a group because we had to loop back on ourselves.

To make matters worse all the obstacles were single file so we were all grid locked through the net, all the waist high watery bogs and under a tunnel.

Eventually though we did get clear and had some clear running space in fact we had quite a bit.

The route its self was very scenic and popular, you had a lot off family’s walking dogs along with other runners and cyclists.

There were a couple of obstacles along the long running stretch but we started to get back to the bulk of them about 2.5 miles out.

On a personal level I was flagging and have to admit for the first time ever I think I hit the wall 2 miles out. It took me by surprise as I did a half marathon only last month and my last run on Monday night was a hilly 11 miles. I must confess football on the Saturday afternoon and few bevys that night probably wasn’t the best preparation.

However I think the killer was the lack of food in my system, I was starving therefore my body had no fuel and I was running / plodding on empty.

To compound this I took a wrong turning and then a group of us got lost again. I eventually made my way through the woods and ended up in the car park.

To say I was relieved when I finished was an understatement. I was light headed and had spots before my eyes but I’ll tell you what, a banana never tasted soooo good.

Conclusion

At the end of the race I was pretty p’d off and in the cold light of day I’ve calmed down.

It still doesn’t really change the facts though that there were quite a few problems but for me these were all avoidable.

Despite being emailed directions they should have been prepared for people going to the venue published on the website. There was a lack of directionally markings to the race. If you’re going to have a delayed start we should have been informed. The route was not clearly marked out and too many bottlenecks occurred plus there were and no distance markers. It felt like it was designed by someone who hasn’t run a race of this nature.

On a personal level I would have preferred the obstacles more spaced out say one ever mile and for them to be tougher.

The positives were I really appreciate other well organised events and bananas. Oh and seeing a mate fall on his arse in to ditch before the race had even started. It was then topped off with a young lady telling us how fun it was to see it.

Ratings out of 5 for the Demon Run

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