Hell Up North

Morning all,

Completed Hell Up North yesterday and am intrigued to know the actual distance of the course?

Thanks

My watch said 11.39.

Thanks Sally!  My legs feel like it was double that!!

wantefc..i didnt run hellrunner yesterday but i watch every year and chat to runners afterwards. many runners were saying that this year they made it too extreme. a second bog of doom was included and it was too deep and too long. this left runners feeling really cold for the bog of doom at the end and so the enjoyment was taken away.

you defo made the right decision not to run.

i'm sure the organisers will take runners comments on board for next year.

hell in the middle is not as extreme so dont worry and continue to look forward to it and enjoy.

It was definitely not "too extreme", the 2 bogs of doom were great fun, and it was actually quite a mild day so not too cold if you kept moving. I did Hell in the Middle earlier in the year as well; it was well below freezing that day so one of the water obstacles was sensibly cut out.

The Hellrunner series are all about the mud, bogs, hills and water - if you're not up for that then enter a road race!

It was great fun and would definitely recommend it!!

There were two bogs of doom which was fine but there was also a long stretch of cold cold water to wade through which was chest high in some places, it was very congested which meant it took about 15 mins to get through which meant lots of people were suffering with muscles were seizing up and cramps by the time you got through (myself and my partner included) Whilst I knew this event would be full of mud, bogs, hills and water I think this section needs reconsidering.

I think definitely if you had a chest infection you made the right decsion not to take part and you certainly would have struggled.

Has anyone done Hell in the middle, how does it compare?

Hell in the middle was at Cannock Chase this year, it had a lot less mud than Delamere due to the nature of the ground there, however it was all entirely iced over so instead of slipping in mud we were slipping on ice!

The next Hell in the Middle is at Trentham Gardens in 2013. As far as I'm aware it's the first time they've held it here. I assume the route will mostly be in the wooded area outised of the public gardens (as they're far too pretty for us to come clomping through!) If it is in that area then it is very muddy and about as hilly as Delamere. Great shops for pie and cake at the finish though!

Most of the run was great but the lake really spoiled it for me.  The water temperature wasn't the issue it was the length of time we were stood in it  Thirty minutes waist deep in freezing cold water not moving is not 'hardcore' it's dangerous and worryingly, not a marshal or safety aid in sight while we were in the middle of that lake.

Done it, ticked the box but won't be doing it again.  I'll stick to the fell runs in future.

The problem seemed to be that most people chose to just stand in it and move very slowly. I was going though with some of the back markers from the first group and people didn't seem to be moving so I, like others chose to go around the edge of the masses. I would say I spent around 5 mins in the water, and warmed up fairly quickly afterwards when jogging commenced. The water was quite unpleasant, but I wouldn't say too extreme or even anything close!

I agree with Dan  Its a race standing one after the other isnt racing.I thought it was the best Hell Up North yet (5th one for me).Keep up the good work and why not send us back up the hill at the end that should sort the men from the boys

my first hell run......it was tough and the water bit was not nice - i was so cold that i had no choice to wait as if i went in up to my neck i couldnt have taken it.......replace that with shallower water crossing next time and would be ok.

Apart from that really enjoyed it and totally shattered.................standing in the lake i said never again, now i am saying maybe just maybe!!!

I found the lake part a lot of fun, but suffered with cramp afterwards.  I was lucky enough to avoid the crowd at the start and got a free run at it, so can imagine it was a bit scarier in a crowd and being slowed right down.  It was the toughest Hell Run yet I think, hope next year isn't even harder :/

First time I've done it, so can't compare with previous years. Didn't think it was extreme at all, unpleasant in places yes but that's in the name of the event. I did hear that there were lots of queues with the 2nd wave so maybe harder to keep moving & stay warm. The muddy slippy singletrack was just lovely, plenty of steep ups & downs to sap the legs.

All in all what I was expecting really and amazing fun, I'll be back next year for sure with hopefully no taming of the course. Slight changes are always good.

11.63 on my garmin btw.