Route report - Oxford to Culham
I ran this part of the route in reverse order as the snow was starting to fall first thing this morning. The ground was semi-frozen, meaning that those places where it was reasonably dry to start with were generally easy to run on, although some sections with uneven ground were quite difficult. In a number of places there were still muddy patches, not all of them obvious as they were covered with a thin layer of ice and snow. This meant that I broke through the ice into a muddy muddle on a fairly frequent basis. This was only a problem on the odd occassion where there was a particularly large puddle and I suspect that these will become pretty obvious once the lead runners have gone through (assuming it is still snowy). However, I would stress that much of this part of the route is still very muddy, with no-where for the water currently falling as snow to go. Most of it will be OK to run if the weather stays freezing for the next couple of weeks. But if it warms up for a few days before the race, it will be very muddy and slippy. Either way, I would recommend off-road shoes with some grip. I fell over twice this morning: once on a muddy slope where I was trying to avoid a deep puddle; and a second time on some uneven frozen ground. I also ended up running a total of 13.4 miles at an average 10:15 min/mile pace, despite around 4 miles of this being on road or hard towpath (a bit each at the beginning and end, mostly off the course). My usual easy off-road running pace is around 8:45 min/mile so I'm going to revise my expectations for this race accordingly.
A few detailed points to note:
1) Iffley Lock (right at the start) is undergoing construction work and there's a narrow temporary bridge across it with no overtaking room. If you're planning to be one of the faster runners, you'll need to get yourself at the front from the start or expect a bit of a queue to get across.
2) Once off the cycle path (about 1.5 miles from the race start) is now easier to run than when I last tried in November (when it was flooded before the rest of the Thames Path). But there is still a lot of standing water and if heavy snow melts over it just before race day, you will get wet feet here.
3) The path from then on until about 1 mile after the Radley Boathouse is relatively OK (subject, as noted above, to muddy patches and some sections with uneven ground).
4) From that point up to Abingdon Lock, the path gradually gets muddier and wetter, even in these frozen conditions. There is a windy part just before the industrial estate comes into view which is still semi-flooded. You can get through and it is away from the main river a little so not dangerous, but it will slow you down (at best) and wet feet are likely. After this short section you go over a wooden bridge and then it is about half a mile to Abingdon Lock. Again this section is semi-flooded and passable but not runnable. There is an alternative route here along the cycle path which runs parallel to the Thames Path, but higher up the field next to the industrial estate. I might ask the organisers whether it would be permissible to take this alternative route (which is marginally further, but a lot drier).
5) Once over Abingdon Lock the route is basically OK again, though there is another field at one point which is still very wet and could get completely waterlogged if the weather gets wetter and warmer again.
In all, it was a long hard slog, and this was less than a quarter of the course. I was wearing Saloman shoes with climalite (ie basically waterproof) which kept my feet mostly warm and dry (though water got over the top on a couple of occassions). I'm planning to meet a friend with a change of shoes at Culham which I'm pretty sure I'll need. (I'll probably need them at every CP, but th
