Introduction: Shadowlands Winter Trail Series

With so much activity going on at Cold Brew Events at the moment we haven’t had time to really tell you about the recently released Shadowlands Winter Trail Series.  This is an idea we came up with alongside Running Circles/ Pedalling Squares cafe.  It a series of 6 trail races set over the winter starting just after Christmas and ending in early Feb.  It gives runners a shot at gathering points at each race in order to go for an overall position in the series.  There are still prizes at each race for results on the day/night.  Then there are the overall prizes.  The points system, more of which can be found at the bottom of the Shadowlands page, gives a wide spread of points to make sure that anyone in the top 100 spots will get something out of it.  On top of that the points system is designed by category so if you’re a V60 and you finished dead last overall but first in your category you’ll get maximum points in your category.

The races with dates are as follows:

• Race 1 – Deadwater Run – 27th Dec – 15km
• Race 2 – Osprey Run – 3rd Jan – 22km
• Race 3 – Winter Wipeout – 10th Jan – 17km
• Race 4 – Lewis Burn Run – 24th Jan – 10km
• Race 5 – Lonesome Pine Run – 31st Jan – 17km
• Race 6 – Duergar Run – 7th Feb – 14km

All races apart from the Winter Wipeout are held at night.  There is a good reason for this.  Races 1, 2, 4 and 5 are all held on mountain bike trails and by holding them at night in the winter we can close the trails to give you runners special access to these exciting areas.  Do not recce these particular races.  You’ll feel the closed in atmosphere of the forests whilst tackling undulating trails that shift left, right, up and down.  Features such as big berms, rock gardens and drop-offs are all to be contended with when running with headtorch vision.  Any one of these runs is a challenge in their own right, ticking them all off is a real feather in your cap.

The one run in the daylight is the Winter Wipeout, long established as a hardcore winter undertaking.  This takes you to the summit of Hedgehope and back and if conditions allow you might have to get your feet wet at the finish.  This along with all the others will have category prizes to aim for on the day.  These are in both male and female – 1st, 2nd, 3rd:

• Overall
• V40
• V50
• V60
• V70

You don’t need any special kit for these races except the common sense of being able to run in the winter and the dark.  So for running at this time of year we just ask you to make sure you have some kind of waterproof in case you get stuck.  For all night races you need to have a headtroch – probably a good idea as the skies at Kielder have been known to get particularly dark.  The snaking line of runners descending from up high will look truly special from afar.

Any kind of runner can enter.  The distances vary but as long as you are prepared for trail running then you are welcome to have a social jog around with your pals or you are equally welcome to go hard at it for the racing side of things.  We’re happy for you to do either and will support you all the way with marshals lining the course, medical cover and comms to react quickly should anything happen.  So why not come and join in the trail running fun of the Shadowlands Winter Trail Series?