Sunday February 24th, 2019

Debbie Montague

 

Naseby 1645 is a race over 16.45 miles based in the village of Naseby where the Battle of Naseby took place in, funnily enough, 1645. The battle itself was part of the First English civil war fought between the royalist army of King Charles I and the Parliamentarian New Model Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.

 

The race starts and finishes at the Naseby village hall. I and other Werrington Joggers have been there previously for the Battlefield half and 10k races. Unlike the other races, they had opened the field adjacent to the village hall for parking. Race number could be collected from 7.30am onwards on the day at the village hall along with a paper chip which was threaded through the laces. The race itself started at 9am. The only thing really that let the event down was the lack of toilets. I know it’s always a bit of a sore point no matter what event you go to. But they hadn’t got any additional ones and were reliant on the 1 mens and 2 ladies in the village hall for the entire 500 entrants. Typically most people were disappearing off into the bushes on their warm up as the queues were just far too long and you were in danger of missing the start of the race.

 

 

It was a very popular race with the entire 500 spaces being sold out. I guess it is perfect training for spring marathons. The route itself is quite challenging and rather undulating with a total course ascent of 289m. One particular ascent is known locally as ‘Dicks Hill’. It’s run on roads and most of which are closed for the race. Those that aren’t, cones were placed along them for the runners to stay behind keeping out of the way of the traffic.

 

Having done Stamford 30k the week before my legs were not happy about doing more hills even though the race was slightly shorter. Whereas Stamford had quite a few ups and downs most weren’t too bad. Naseby on the other from about 9-10 miles onwards was all uphill and the hills (in my opinion) were worse but then again that could have been as my legs were still tired from the previous week.

 

The weather was perfect, sunny with a slight breeze to keep it cooler and the scenery was stunning. The route was not the same as the half and 10k routes or not the one I did. It took you out of the village over the A14 towards Kelmarsh and then a loop through the villages of; Clipston, East Farndon, Marston Trussell and Sibertoft then back through to Naseby.

 

Along the route were water and food stations. The event was supported by both nuunlife and cliffe and they provided isotonic drinks, gels and energy bars; mile 3 water and Nuun, mile 6 water and gels, mile 10 water, mile 13 water and gels and at the finish energy bars and water.

 

At the finish you were given your medal and a long sleeve technical t-shirt. There were some food outlets and a coffee bar. Plus, inside the hall they were doing free massages but there was quite a queue for it as you can imagine. I’d taken food and drink with me and as the weather was so nice, I sat next to my car in the field and made the most of the sun for a while before travelling back home.

 

Results were up on the website later that day and free photos available after a couple of days.

 

Course Route

Course Elevation

 

Good Points

• Not too far to travel (about 50 minutes)
• Well Marshalled
• Closed roads
• Chip timed
• Plenty of water stops
• Medal
• Results available quickly
• Free photos
• Friendly and relaxed event
• Open to all types of runners

 

Not so good Points

• Lack of toilets
• Challenging with lots of hills to cope with (especially the week after Stamford!)
• No changing facilities

 

If you like a challenge like Stamford 30k, then you’ll love this race. I think we were particularly lucky with the weather and that made it more enjoyable. But the amount of people I heard at the finish saying ‘Never again!’ just showed how much of a challenge it was. Me I’m in two minds. I think it was great as part of my marathon training plan and am really glad that I took part. But, I have to admit that am not sure I’d do it again.