2009 PUMA HellRunner: Hell Down South Here's how RW members rated this race in the past (468 votes). 2010 race reviewed by: Rich Clark
 | | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 20% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Thermometer needs to read 0C or less to get this at it's brutal best. Great race, good laugh, brutal test. If it's chilly then wetsuit gloves or ensuring your gloved hands don't get wet is crucial. A supoprt team is handy to avoid hypothermia.
Date of review: November 30, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Jwheezy
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Loved it!!!!!!!!!
In full: I thought this race was great, just about what I expected on entering and seeing the video. (although I didn't think the bog would be so deep or long and the lake came as a very nasty surprise, it the descent & ascent more then the water that got to me, but I guess these are the thing's that make Hellrunner unique.
Anyway I had fun, my friends nots so much but in hindsight and viewing the pictures I think we all had fun, would do it again although I think it must be even harder in the wet so that would be even more of a challenge.
Looking forward to next year!!!!
Date of review: November 30, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Rich Smith 3
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: |
In short: a fantastix race and day out!
In full: A great race even with the temperature at -3 on the start line!!! Brilliant atmosphere from the crowd and other runners trying to work out why they were doing it.
Oh and I proposed to my girlfriend at the finish line and she said yes! I was however too cold to get the rig out and put it on her finger!
A massive thank you to the organisers for helping me.
Date of review: November 30, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: gjranit
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 60% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: not one for PB's if you're a road runner - just a fun day out
In full: Freezing temperatures and consequent pain in mine and fellow runner's hands after the BoD overshadowed this event for me. Running along debating as to whether wet gloves are better than none....In milder weather I could have really enjoyed the course. Easy parking, coffee stalls, very civilised. Yes the marshalls were few and are between and miserable - I guess they were cold too. Sadly in order to avoid frostbite couldn't hang around to enjoy the cameraderie at the end of the race. Not often I come position 1337 but 24th FV - says alot about the teststerone fuelled field! Maybe most women my age have more sense.....
Date of review: November 30, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Dez666
| | Overall score | | 100% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 20% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 80% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: An awesomely fun & exhilarating race... especially if you're a bit of a sadist ;-)
In full: Mud, Hills, Watery Bogs & Frozen Ice! What more could you want for a good days running ;-)
This is not a place to set any normal kind of P.B. But the organisation is excellent and the participants & crowd absolutely fantastic! Get stuck in and have a blast and you will love this event. :-D
Date of review: November 30, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Derah
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 100% | | PB potential | | 20% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 40% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Lacked the atmosphere of last year, directions to race were appalling
In full: I did this last year, and maybe because last year was my first time it made more of an impression on me. But this year seemed mediocre. Did the Turbo X the week before which was over a much more interesting course - more variety and more mud.
Maybe the cold brought down the atmosphere this year - not nearly as much chatting and comraderie as last year.
Directions to the race were so poor that despite turning off the A3 at 9:30, we didn't find the event until 10:45. There were no signposts, even at the gate, just a grumpy marshal who we drove straight past the first time and had to go around on the A3 again.
Turbo X is extreme trail running the whole way. This one was just another trail race with two wet bits. A disappointment....
Date of review: November 29, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Plissken
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 80% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 80% |
In short: Good fun despite the cold
In full: First time I have done this race. For me, top marks go to the runners, who all seemed to be out for a good time despite the cold. Lots of fancy dress and smiles on faces, even when wading through the freezing stink of the Bog of Doom.
Date of review: November 29, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Slayer
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Yes | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 20% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 60% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Fantastic fun - hills, mud, sand, ice, water - an off-road event with a difference!
Date of review: November 29, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: stunnerfield
| | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 20% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Ok, nut not as good as I thought it'd be......
In full: Starting with the positives:
We were pleased to find that runners are of all levels of fitness and were all very friendly, charming and great fun. The course wasn't as harsh as I thought it would be (although some of the hills were pretty nasty) so if your running to try something new or just to have a laugh and push yourself a bit this trail is an ideal place to start.
The negatives;
The organisation of the event I thought was pretty poor.
The sat nav directions given for the VIP parking took you through a nice single track country drive to a dead end by the a3, old fashioned map reading got us there in the end!
We arrived in plenty of time at 9:15, parking was well organsied and simple but the queue for the three remaining poratloos was already ridiculously long, apparently the rest of them were all full to the brim as the flush handles had frozen the day before, so a lot of us were surprised that that hadn't been sorted after the Saturday event.
The start of the race just kind of happened, we weren’t far from the red gate at the start but still couldn't hear any tannoy announcements and had no idea if we were in wave one or two.
I was surprised how few marshals were scattered around the course, all that we saw were sat alone in quite a random place and sadly the majority were miserable and clearly didn't want to be there.
Lots of bottlenecks on the hills and some trails which is ok, but we had quite a bit of standing around and had to walk for quite a lot of the woodland section of the course.
The bog of dooooom! This was what I expected which was great, a lot deeper than I'd anticipated as i'm 5'9" and it was up to my chest, so maybe they should mention this on the website! However there were only 3 spectators when about 30 of us went through it, when we found our supporters near the finish line they told us that they (and other people they had asked) couldn't find it and when they asked the marshals for directions they had a look at their map and said that they couldn't get to it! Pretty random! As someone else has already reviewed, the Hills of Hell at the end were nothing compared to some of the hills you go up and down during the majority of the race.
The cadets at the end were rude and clearly needed some guidance as how to talk and deal with people, just got some attitude back when tried to gauge in some light heated friendly chit chat while waiting for my goodie bag... which was ok, just lots of free samples that could come out of a magazine, t-shirt ok but quite low quality & small in fit.
There's nothing for spectators to do, sit down or have a place to take shelter which, ok maybe that's expected but there were no signs telling people where key viewing points could be found, just a sign pointing them in a general direction.
If it weren't for the upbeat character of the participants of the race this would have been an epic fail but had a great time running with some lovely fun people, the organisers really need to listen to the repeated complaints on this forum and sort this out or they'll be losing a lot of repeat runners.
Date of review: November 29, 2010
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2010 race reviewed by: Tom Jeffery
| | Overall score | | 80% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 80% | | PB potential | | 40% | | Atmosphere | | 60% | | Organisation | | 60% | | Value | | 40% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 60% |
In short: Fun, despite the cold, but a race of two parts
In full: I'd signed up for this with a mate from work. He chickened out (apparently a 3 line whip from his wife to attend the school christmas bazaar took precedence) so I was there on my own in the car park, with the dashboard showing -2...
Cheerful atmosphere in the pre-race area, mostly seemed to be people doing it for fun - and first timers. Maybe this is one of those runs that you do once for the hell of it (sorry)? A fair number of people in fancy dress, again just for fun rather than obviously as a charity fundraiser.
Totally horrendous situation with the portaloos - not enough (as usual) but the flush system appeared to have frozen solid!
Bag check in was swift - a good thing as everyone left their warm gear on right until the last minute.
Then we were off - trecking through woods and heath land on decent tracks. Every now and then the route would veer off up or down a steep, sandy incline - causing inevitable bunching up and the pace slowed to a walk. Fine for getting your breath back, but I imagine that serious runners would be irritated. The route wound around the common for about 8 miles of this - all very pleasant but nothing unusual.
Then came the 'Bog of Doom' - and everything that we'd suspected was true! A trench, about 20m long, filled chest deep with freezing water. This just seemed to bring out the good cheer in everybody - lots of arms around shoulders, cheering from the crowd and smiles all round. Then a succession of steep scrambles, another couple of pools to wade across, and half a mile or so of soft sand to really test your strength. Nice run in to the finish, down a well made track, left us all on a high.
I'd happily do it again, but it did seem slightly lower key than I'd been lead to expect. Not sure what to make of it as a race though - the bunching up around the various scrambles meant that it was difficult to maintain a steady pace.
Date of review: November 29, 2010
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