Race report by Jo W:
Matt and I spent a few days in the Forest of Dean so decided to sign up for the Wye Valley Tunnel run. There was a marathon, half (which Matt did) and I did the 10k. They get the rare permission to run through an abandoned railway tunnel! There were staggered starts so that most people finished at a similar time. The race was an out and back course on a field, a short bit of country lane, and the majority on the old railway line with 2 runs through the tunnel on the 10k route and 4 on the half (I can’t believe that the marathon route went through it 8 times so I suspect they had a different route!) The tunnel was an odd experience, dimly lit but lovely and cool in the blazing heat and it was nearly 2k each way! It felt like a gradual incline on the way out, but bizarrely also felt like a gradual incline coming back! Both Matt and I found that we ran our best on those sections! At one of the water stations Matt was asked if he knew Rachel and Markus! Apparently one of the marshals met them last week on a race! It was all remarkably well organised with parking on a school playing field, loads of toilets, free sun cream, a lovely medal and a chocolate bar at the end. I did it in about 1 hour 9, and Matt did around 2 hours 2, which we were both happy with considering the high temperatures.
