When we arrived today I said to my mate that we're in for a good day. A telltale sign it's going to be 'interesting' is if the kids are looking none to happy after their leg....they looked slightly miffed to say the least.
My mate said "kids running cross country in these conditions is the 21st century form of making them chimney sweep". He has a point, but scurrying up a chimney would be cleaner!
To be fair, all the youngsters I saw having a hot drink in the clubhouse after were buzzing....proper character building.
It's a three lap undulating course ran over extremely wet and muddy playing fields which lead to the woods. The wooded section is great ( if you like knee deep mud and slippery climbs and descents ) and it's here where the fell runners feel at home. Unfortunately the best descent through the woods was slightly re-routed...understandable really, it would have been very tricky today.
There is also a brilliant muddy slope to slide,fall,skid,tumble down which separates the upper and lower playing fields. This descent attracts a large crowd of spectators awaiting some comedy bum-sliding....their patience is usually rewarded.
Marl Pits is a fantastic cross country course, my favourite by a ( muddy ) mile... thanks to all involved.