Round Sheffield Run 2021

Race date: Saturday, 26 June 2021

I'd been after doing the Round Sheffield for a few years, but it always sells out quickly. When I finally did get a place, it was postponed twice because of COVID-19, but eventually it took place over two days in June 2021.

It's a confusingly named race, as it doesn't go round Sheffield. It follows the Sheffield Round Walk (https://www.theoutdoorcity.co.uk/blog/read/2019/01/sheffield-round-walk-b114), a 15-mile loop, mostly on trail, round the southern suburbs of the city. The race covers about 12 miles of that route, split into 11 stages with time-limited transitions of up to 2.8km where you can walk, refuel or just keep running. Because it's run with dibbers, you can also sensibly clock out for some of the mid-stage road crossings.

I was running on the Saturday, as half of a pair with Elin, in what was her first long run back since a serious injury in 2018. We rocked up at the start in Endcliffe Park in good time for our start in the 8:45 to 9:00 wave, marvelled at the huge number of people, said hello to some of them, collected our dibber and joined the queue. Pairs were launched at intervals of a few seconds, and off we went through the park and up the valley. 

There's detail of all the stages at https://www.roundsheffieldrun.com/thestages

Stage 1 - the park was quite crowded, which has always made me antsy until I can find space, but once we were out and over the road, Bingham Park and Whitely Woods were a gentle start before the long climb up to Ringinglow.

Stage 2 - a climb to Ringinglow through woods. It was tough to form any kind of rhythm as we slogged up a narrow path among slower runners, a problem which was made more annoying by the clouds of midges. At the top was a welcome table of banana pieces and jelly babies, staffed by DEET-covered mashals, before a nice stroll past the alpaca farm to the start of stage 3.

Stage 3 - fast! After the climb and the break, stage 3 was a fast downhill of the Limb Valley, which I've run more in the other direction. It's a smashing downhill and lovely fun.

Stage 4 - across the road from the bottom of stage three and into Ecclesall Woods for a steady descent to Abbeydale Road. The middle section was where I start to get things mixed up as the stages were fairly similar. Apart from the start of stage 5.

Stage 5 - there was a very steep climb to the start of stage 5, and then it carried on climbing, which at this point was pretty mean. The rest of the stage wasn't too bad, past the golf course and then on to stage 6

Stage 6 - don't remember stage 6. "Chancel Wood"

Stage 7 - a gentle climb through Graves Park, with a mean false finish that was actually just some people cheering. The real finish had more banana, and I learned you can get a whole pot of jelly babies in at once.

Stage 8 - Nope. Dunno.

Stage 9 - A really steep descent of Meersbrook Park. Wheeee! But also ouch. and then a walk down to the Broadfield.

Stage 10 - this was harsh. The last real stage is a beast of a climb up Brincliffe Edge, followed by a steep decline back to Hunter's Bar. We were tired.

Stage 11 - We crossed the road at Hunter's Bar roundabout, walked into the park and we were off! For about 400 yards, up the path, into the finish funnel and done. Hand back the dibber, swap it for a medal and relax...

The start/finish area featured a big beer garden with deckchairs, where we basked in our glory and had a couple of pints.

We were equal 1452nd out of 2161  (151st mixed pair), in 2:07:20. Andrew Heyes, running as an individual, won in 1:01:15.

Although our overall pace was just over 8 mins per km, the Strava trace suggests that the running was mostly between about 6 and 6:40 per km, which is very respectable.

Results: https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/Kandoo/2021/RSR/