Lindfield Village annual 10km run

BANK HOLIDAY Monday saw the annual Lindfield Village run.   It offers a family 5km and 10km run.   All profits from the run goes to the King Alfred Hall keeping it a local charity for the village.

When I started running I was using the C25K app.   I then moved onto Park Run and was doing this for a while before signing up for this run.   That was three years ago and this was my third 10km run with Lindfield which means it has a special place in my heart and was a big part of my development as a runner.

The run is a real "undulating" cross country run with real hills. It's a traditional style run, multi-terrained with some slippery surfaces and the odd cow.   The event is fully marshalled and well marked out.  It starts and finishes at Hickmans Lane Recreation Ground.   Stretching out to Ardingly Reservoir, it has some beautiful scenery.

You don't go into this run looking for a PB.   There are three reasons for this. 1.  It is very hilly with some climbs that are steep and long   2.There are a number of places where the footpaths are single track and you cannot overtake.   3.There are a number of stiles and bridges that really slow you down.   All of these things make Lindfield Village run what it is and give it character and make it a challenge.

With a number of races taking place on the Bank Holiday including the Rye 10 miles in East Sussex and the Vitality 10km in London we still managed to get a good team together.   It really was a case of Beetroots Assemble!   We all met up at the Recreation Ground and got ready for 10km run with the sun coming out and the heat beginning to build up.   For the second year running they were using timing chips on trainers to get the finish times.   This is something that is becoming really popular as it records the timings quickly and accurately and works really well.

I walked away from the event with a PB, so I was very happy with the final result.   We then held a debrief over a "compulsory" pint at The Bent Arms public house.

To get an idea of the run see the link below for a video from 2015.

Lindfield Village Run 2015

I also managed to cover the event in the local paper, The Mid Sussex Times aka The Middy.   Amazingly I even managed to get the byline of "Athletics by Michael Parish".