Bolton Hill Marathon

brer rabbit, the profile (and loads of other info) is on the run's website: http://hillrunner.org.uk/info2.cfm?info_id=107164 

Hi Phil,

Not long now.... Any final hints and tips for this type of marathon?

Cheers

can i ask.....although its trail....would you say (whoever has done it before) that it is quite feasable to do in normal road shoes? like asics etc?
I only ask because i find after a while ..in my trail rocklites,,i get really tired feet...not use to the lack of support that much.

I've not covered the whole route but of the parts I have you would get away with road shoes, especially if this dry weather hold up. I'm planing to run in road shoes because of the same reason as and the you Wona and the comfort road shoes give.

RW4, relax and enjoy carb loading

Cheers MW, got it now..what a plonker..I knew I had seen the profile somewhere Too many marathons planned is fogging my brain.

Interested in shoe choice though, I too find Innov8s a bit brutal so if there is a chance that Asics trainers will suffice, I'll go with that. However, having glanced at weather for following few days, we may have quite a bit of rain. Local knowledge required nearer the day please

I ran the whole course last weekend. There were fantasic views for miles around...... save a bit of energy for the climb back up and up just after the school at about 21 miles. I loved the last three miles pretty much downhill. If you are a plodder like me, just enjoy the glorious views!

Thanks for reply on the shoe thing..really helpful answers thanks.
Hey theres going to be rain though they say..( just typical ).so get your packa macs out..hehe
I hope i can fair ok without too much pain, ive only just recovered from flu,,set me right back im afraid.

oops sorry , you already mentioned the rain bre rabbit.

As long as we don't get any snow we will all be fine! Looking forward to cheering you all on around the course, you will know its me i will be in a white car with flashing lights on and have bags under my eyes  Looking forward to marking the course out in the rain

As TWT says once you see the 21 mile marker dont look up!

I run the course in trail shoes.

I'm swinging between realy excited and downright terrified at the moment - I'm even dreaming about the marathon!! Wish it was Sunday already.

As for the trail v road shoe debate - there are one or two bits that will be muddy, depends on how much rain we actually get. Up to the Mast usually drains pretty well, it's the section after the Roman Road and the bridle path out to White Coppice which could be interesting.

I'm going with trail shoes  but not my Inov8 Orocs - they're great but just too heavy.

Good luck to everyone running & see you at the start .

Can't wait now....forecast now mentioning a dusting of the white stuff..better than wind and lashing rain

I was asked the shoe conundrum by a couple of folks in our club after we had a trot round a couple of weeks ago. For me personally it's trail shoe territory, depending what you wear and how comfy they are.

I find that my road shoes (Asics GT), although fine if it was bone dry, are basically a bit high and my feet roll around too much on rocky, divotty (is that a word?) ground.

I wear Wave Harriers, which have enough cushioning to be comfortable on hard stuff, but plenty of trail grip (unless it's wet limestone!), they've been mint on the 3 Peaks and Yorkshireman type events. So it'll be those for me.

The only problem with road shoes is that if it ain't bone dry, they can be horrible on muddy type ground, although granted there won't be loads of that......hopefully!

See you all on Sunday, looking forward to it!

I've run most of the course; it will have dries up since I ran but a few days of drizzle will muddy it up slightly. I'll be wearing trail shoes (Innov8 Roclite 315), that were fine on my training run.

I agree with Alfa_Scud regarding in the trail v road debate. Just for those not in the area, it has been raining gently on the course for a few hours now!

There was some light drizzle this side of Bolton this morning but it was milder and the wind should be helping to dry the ground a bit. The local forecast on BBC news is always for doom and gloom but it's rarely as bad as they say. Should be cool and cloudy but dry on Sunday.

Running for possibly 6 hours in the rain really doesn't appeal but the forecast today hasn't turned out to be correct yet and only had light drizzle.  I did the White Coppice loop and a bit yesterday and it was pleasantly dry under foot.  The notorious mud bath of the mile or so up to White Coppice was one hundred times better than the other week when we were there.  Looking at wind speeds for Sunday though I would say it will be bitter at the top of Winter Hill (always windy on a non windy day in civilisation), don't forget your gloves and hats.

Thanks for the latest local knowledge update, think I'll stick with the Roclites