Bewl 15

Hi Keef

It's a truly fantastic event - so many great touches (free transfers from the local train station, cakes at end, family entertainment & bbq laid on at the local pub etc).  Re the course, first 2/3 offroad around the water flat & picturesque after downhill stetch from the start and then the last 1/3 is (mainly) on road (I think due to a wildlife reserve) and it's fair to say a good challenge as hilly to very hilly, overall a great mix of scenery & challenge.   Weather - yes, was hot last year but there was plenty of (bottled) water stations on course and from memory was even a sports drink station too.......  One thing that I'm not sure is common knowledge is that (at least for last year anyway) the medals are different depending on which range you finish in - think top 100 get gold, next x get silver and then the remainder bronze........  I hope that they keep this as will be back aiming to add a gold to my silver from last year!  Not sure if organisers will confirm in due course?!?

thoroughly enjoyed this race last year , was glorious day , nice course reasonbly flat apart from small hill  near end which is no prob and great people marshalling it and yes cakes at end , have entered this years again and looking forward to it lots

Keef55.  I did this race in 2010 and thought it was great.  I missed it last year due to injury but hope to run it again this year.  There is an initial steep hill down to reservoir.  After that it's pretty flat for 10 miles, then three hills which <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">were hard work.  After that it was I think OK until the final climb back to the start/ finish. Where I was (just below half-way) nearly everyone walked up part of the second hill and most walked up the final hill from the reservoir to the finish line.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My Garmin did not do a good job of recording the elevation that day, so I can't be more definitive about the hills.  I've noticed one of the course maps says the gross climb is 340m, which is a bit higher than I would have guessed.

Thanks SGB. I was starting to worry about this one a bit when the warmer weather arrived last week as I am not the best warm weather runner (am assuming that the sun will be shining in July but it may not be of course!). However, I am just back from a 12-miler this morning in the sunshine and I seem to have survived that ok so am now really looking forward to Bewl again.

Did anyone do the marathon/half marathon at Bewl the other week? Unfortunately I was already entered in Leeds so I couldn't do it but am curious as to how it went and whether people think it will be held again next year.

was cup final weekend so i did the 3 forts half in the wet and horrible sticky mud !!!! but looking forward to bewl again , did it last year in the hot sun , but we do lot hill running and found bewl hills unnoticeable as nothing to what we do every week , but the thought of them cakes and free beer will get me round im sure so cheers all , see you at the finishing line

Has anyone done this with a Garmin and can confirm how close to 15 miles it actually is?  I've only trained up to a half marathon distance recently and concerned about those final few miles up to and beyond 15.

Mine read 14.85 last year..........................

Anyone know whether the medal awards will be the same as last year (i.e. top 100 for gold etc)? Not that I am obsessed or anything.........

yes still doing gold silver and bronze this time cant find how many of them

but typical trained for brighton marathon all through our winter and every day we said we would go we went as never cancelled any days because of snow ice wind or rain , now come to training during summer and cancelled loads , so annoying and more rain to come , just hope not like the 3 forts cant be doin with another day like that

AA - typical indeed!!

I would imagine that Bewl will get very sticky underfoot with the rain - only been the once last year when it was hard n fast (if hot!)..........

Does anyone know if you def. get a medal for this one - i.e. is there a limited number of bronzes or do you still get a medal for finishing wherever you come?

?  yes all finishers get a medal that what the site says !!!

 and if you are a sprinter as name suggests you will be well up the order

First time for me this year and reading the comments - looking forward to it even more now.  Did South Downs h/m last week and got Dartford h/m the end of next month so will be nice to fit this in the middle...cant wait!

JB - enjoy Dartford - did it last year and thought it was very tough!

Hoping this one will be a bit less arduous (am fitter as well now which will help of course).

Long-range forecast (for what it's worth) suggests weather will still be unsettled at the end of the month. Personally I prefer rain to heat although that is on the roads usually - heat might be better on this course.

No, you don't want heat on this course, not next to the water, to much extra protein. Also runners kick up a hell of a lot of dust on the track at the start.

Albert Kemp is pretty serious about making this an enjoyable and great event for runners and their families and spectators.

The medals are well worth having, they have the course route on them. The cakes are very yum, there's a brass band and plenty of room to crash and chill after the race. There is a clown with lots of activities for children, I think a bouncy castle. The pub serves Harvey's.

The race is great and very cheap, the route is fun, it's challenging being 15 miles of mixed terrain and undulating. it's def not a PB course as some of the paths\are a bit narrow and there are styles though the big one at the start has been replaced by a gate.

Water and jelly babies are plentiful, as are spnges if you need them.

Hi Jojo. In his recent (17th June) e-mail update, the organiser said:

"Weather: the Waddies ran Bewl this morning to check on conditions. There are muddy sections but most are avoidable unless you decide to keep to the racing line. Much of the paths and trails are now baked hard already. I wore off roaders today but most of us wore trainers without mishap. The long range weather looks like warming up with some odd showers, so Bewl ought to dry but if we have a down pour a day or two immediately before 1^st July then off roaders are recommended, but not essential."

As things stand there is little or no rain forecast between now and race day. For the day itself the forecast for 10:00-13:00 is:

14-16 degrees C (nice running temperature)

Humidity 71% - 66% (phew, can't stand running in high humidity)

Wind speed 18mph (this is quite high - presume we get a fair amount of shelter though???)