Surrey Badger Half-Marathon

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!

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 !)

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...