Aviemore Half and 10k

[davetrave]

Anybody done the Aviemore Half or 10k? The missus wants a challenge to aim for, we live just up the road in Elgin and know the area well so this seems like a good event for her to have a crack at - generally downhill, 7 or so miles off road, around Loch Morlich and Rothiemurchus, and the last 6 on road (running alongside the 10k route).

She's just getting in to running, coming from a (sometime) cycling background so has relatively good fitness and is running about 4-5 miles a day, 2-3 days a week, and cycling 16-17 miles a day, 3-4 days a week, at the moment so has a reasonable platform to start training from.

Cheers folks.

[Yaks]

Yep, did the Half last year. Sounds like you know the route well already, what else do you want to know ?

[davetrave]

Only really the know the general area from walking/MTB/climbing, rather than the specifics of the route, and detail gleaned from the website. I'm happy running a half no problems but interested in thoughts of suitability for a relative running noob, with appropriate training under the belt, and what the event itself is like, eg. well organised/run, atmosphere, etc?

Ta.

[Yaks]

As you know quite a few miles on trail - has she done any trail running, or all road ? Some people find the uneven surface of running on trails is more "awkward" if they've only ever run on smooth tarmac. Also, if there's rain about ( more than possible in Aviemore in October ! ) then trails can get a bit muddy, again a bit different if only run on roads.

It's a downhill start from Badaguish until you reach Loch Morlich and cross the road, then the only uphill of the course, quite a bit of a drag for a few hundred meters, levels out then nice downhill back down to Loch Morlich. Once on the road then a bit undulating for first couple of miles, but last two miles downhill, ie a fast finish.

Organisation - you can resister afternoon/evening before if you're staying over and they have a bit of a pasta party, but didn't use it.

They run buses from Aviemore out to Badaguish on the morning, so was a bit of hanging about in cold waiting on bus in just race gear. Once at Badaguish they have a huge marquee thing you can shelter in, but no heaters, you can put a bag in a bus here that is taken back to the finish.

They walk you to the start from the marquee, but you get to the start line first and have to walk past it, this results in lots of slower people not going as far back as they should ( they do have boards up for anticipated finishing times ) and with the narrow trail then first mile or so I spent having to squeeze/barge past people who had started too far forward.

All in all a good race, and possible PB course ( measured slightly short, and overall downhill )

[davetrave]

Thanks for that very useful summary!

Think I can probably work out the rough line of the course from that and think we've walked parts of it with Junior by the sounds of things. She's running on a mix of tarmac and forest fire road so should be OK with the surface. The RAF (who she works for) have a small lodge in Feshiebridge so we'd stay there. For the start, and the whole of the race, I'm going to be obliged to stay with her "for encouragement" so no PB for me (last half was the Kolossi in Cyprus - flat and fast but bloody hot...).

The thing that attracted me (her) was the fact it's somewhere we know anyway, accommodation's easy and, most importantly, what we roughly thought (confirmed by you!) would be the route and the fact it's largely downhill/50% away from the black stuff.

[Yaks]

Sounds like she'll be fine, hope you both have a great run !

[Yaks]

You can see the course here http://connect.garmin.com/course/3408245

[davetrave]

Double thanks!