Unless it tips down torrentially between now and then But yes, most do it in road shoes and apart from a cheeky little incline with tree roots and last years foliage on it, its on hard packed trail and a surprising amount on tarmac.
Limper, OTD will be fine. And it would be great to see you again, it's been too long!
Yes, it's been far too long HC. I was thinking of doing Barns Green but the whole bank balance thing prevents it. I can't think of that event without a smile though - lordy that was some rain we had the the year I ran it with you! And the 'titanic portaloo' was priceless!! I'll be at NF Half this Sunday - you doing it?
Back to the thread now. Thank you for your patience.
hello everyone. I've just subscribed to the badger half. can't find the track map anywhere. Does it go up to boxhill? how hilly is? there's no rank of past years. is this first edition?
It didn't go up Boxhill last year, it's nearby though. Wasn't especially hilly, one long gradual climb but no others. It's all a bit hilly round there though.
So how much slower is it compared to a road half marathon ? and are road shoes really the right footwear ? (I've had this advice before on other races to find myself running through puddles and sliding down mudbanks !)
There is a lot of downhill in this David. Maybe expect to add 10% to your flat half time.
About half of it is on Tarmac or paved tracks. The rest are hard packed trails with occasional soft potentially muddy bits. Of course it depends on the weather in the run up but unless we have monsoons until Sunday, road shoes will be fine.
Ran it - first half marathon. Very glad of the trail shoes on some of the downhills; was also surprised by the hilliness, the Garmin reporting 768m of ascent (and a distance of 13.27mi!) - but other than that it was a fantastic experience, really encouraging volunteers all the way round, plenty of aid stations, and the early parts of the course were wide enough that even with 400 runners it was possible to start right at the back of the field and run a 9:00min first mile. I've done parkruns where you wouldn't manage that!
Many thanks to Alan and the ETL/RTL team who seem to be a real focal point for running in the area.
Happychap you were spot on with your advice about road shoes being fine and your estimate of 10% longer than road time. Thank you. Great course and well marshalled (although I nearly ran into the fly tipping). I really enjoyed it, but didn't see any badgers until the one on the bottle at the finish. The age grading presumably doesn't take into account hills and terrain so I'm not disappointed by my 64.87% 'performance'. I'll be back next year.
Comments
I've been thinking about this this week.
I'm ready for it training wise, but does anyone know what the terrain is like? Will I be OK in my road shoes as I don't have any trail shoes.
I'll be there HC but was hoping for o-t-d entry as the bank manager isn't my friend at the moment! Is that OK?
Dave - you'll be fine in your road shoes. It's firm tracks and trails up and down some hills and through some woods. It's lovely lovely lovely
Unless it tips down torrentially between now and then But yes, most do it in road shoes and apart from a cheeky little incline with tree roots and last years foliage on it, its on hard packed trail and a surprising amount on tarmac.
Limper, OTD will be fine. And it would be great to see you again, it's been too long!
At the risk of hijacking the thread....
Yes, it's been far too long HC. I was thinking of doing Barns Green but the whole bank balance thing prevents it. I can't think of that event without a smile though - lordy that was some rain we had the the year I ran it with you! And the 'titanic portaloo' was priceless!! I'll be at NF Half this Sunday - you doing it?
Back to the thread now. Thank you for your patience.
No NF for me this year it clashes with the Ashtead 10k of which we have been involved in for the last few years.
Everything's shifted around this year. We're missing Barnes Green because we're in Berlin.
Titanic Portaloo
What about Portsmouth Marathon on 23rd Dec???
Just think of all the mince pies!
Sorry. I really am being a blatant thread-jacker.
hello everyone. I've just subscribed to the badger half. can't find the track map anywhere. Does it go up to boxhill? how hilly is? there's no rank of past years. is this first edition?
many thanks in advance
I can't find the entry button!
It didn't go up Boxhill last year, it's nearby though. Wasn't especially hilly, one long gradual climb but no others. It's all a bit hilly round there though.
Definitely no Box Hill. There is a GPX file on the Facebook page here.
Not this year, but could be on the cards for next year!
See you there on the 7th
So how much slower is it compared to a road half marathon ? and are road shoes really the right footwear ? (I've had this advice before on other races to find myself running through puddles and sliding down mudbanks !)
About half of it is on Tarmac or paved tracks. The rest are hard packed trails with occasional soft potentially muddy bits. Of course it depends on the weather in the run up but unless we have monsoons until Sunday, road shoes will be fine.
Ran it - first half marathon. Very glad of the trail shoes on some of the downhills; was also surprised by the hilliness, the Garmin reporting 768m of ascent (and a distance of 13.27mi!) - but other than that it was a fantastic experience, really encouraging volunteers all the way round, plenty of aid stations, and the early parts of the course were wide enough that even with 400 runners it was possible to start right at the back of the field and run a 9:00min first mile. I've done parkruns where you wouldn't manage that!
Many thanks to Alan and the ETL/RTL team who seem to be a real focal point for running in the area.
Yes, was really well organised event and good challenging course - my garmin came in longer as well at 13.3 miles !
JCBL, are you sure that's not feet? It's definitely not metres unless you did venture over to Box HIll?
No it's not, but then I've had three different figures for the elevation shift from the Garmin software and two other websites, so who knows!
It was hilly, anyway. And I'm sure someone came out with a bulldozer and made one of the hills bigger between doing it at 5-6 miles and 11-12.
Sub 1:40 next year. Ha ha...
My garmin elevation was 950 feet - 768 metres would put the area up with some of englands highest peaks!
Couldn't make it today I'm afraid HC
You know how it is - life and all that cr@p. That's the first year I've missed it I think. Did Dr Rob sing?!!
Timothy, your elevation reading is about the same as the bikehike.co.uk figure so I guess that's about right.
No, the runners were spared my singing... they had rock'n'roll instead. Sounds like it was a great event.. well done Alan and 'Happychap'!
Happychap you were spot on with your advice about road shoes being fine and your estimate of 10% longer than road time. Thank you. Great course and well marshalled (although I nearly ran into the fly tipping). I really enjoyed it, but didn't see any badgers until the one on the bottle at the finish. The age grading presumably doesn't take into account hills and terrain so I'm not disappointed by my 64.87% 'performance'. I'll be back next year.
Susannah, if you click on the event at the top and scroll to the bottom of that page you can limk through there.