The Turks Head 10K…
This weekend saw something of a unique situation, after many dual bookings and injury-forced DNSs where I gave bibs away, this weekend I was actually the recipient of one. Thanks to @Al_is_grumpy I was up early to head out to St Margaret’s near Twickenham for the Turks Head 10K, run by the Bearcat Running Club.
It is quite rightly described as “THIS IS NOT JUST A RACE IT IS A ONE DAY PARTY STARTING WITH A FANTASTIC COMMUNITY RACE, ENDING UP WITH A DAY OF MUSIC, BBQ AND FUN AT THE TURKS HEAD BRINGING EVERYONE TOGETHER.”
And to be honest that is pretty much right. There were families at the start and along the route cheering us along and there was no timer chip, the cost of hiring Sportsystems or the like donated instead to charity. We all had Garmins and Nike+ GPS watches, so really it was a good thing.
I was glad of the baggage drop but wore my smaller INOV-8 backpack as I had not heard back from BearCat Running Club on twitter if there was a manned bag drop. I was glad because it was hot hot hot. Scorchio!
It was so hot I took on water at the 6K mark, although that wasn’t planned and the cool river Thames was very enticing. And it was on the towpath of pebbles and divots and puddles that I hate, especially since I moved onto more minimal running footwear.
How did I do?
I really didn’t enjoy the run. I slowed in places, especially the choke points on the bridges, and the unsure footing really monkeyed with my mind. In the end though I finished in 58:33 with plenty in the tank although, as you can see, it was measured 140m short.
The Bling
Was bespoke and cute, including the Follow The Bear gag from the old Hofmeister advert.
And the swag includes two bags, nuts, banana, non tech tee, lots of vouchers that won’t do me any good in NW3, and, of all things, a can of London Pride.
In Summary
It was exactly as marketed, a fun run with BBQ and family entertainment, a good, full goody bag and a run along the river.
Would I do it again? No, there are so many races in that neck of the woods (Kingston, Twickenham, Richmond, Teddington) but I am trying to stay more central for the smaller races.
Would I recommend it? Sure, if you live in that area. And Bearcat Running Club were certainly well represented.
This was a cheeky inclusion, like Pride, and the RAF Commemoration of the Battle of Britain run in my otherwise light marathon year race calendar. I am glad I did it. EOM.
Next up: The ROCK and ROLL HALF MARATHON LIVERPOOL
Runners Knees 