Frieth Hilly 10K

Frieth is a village about 5 miles west of Marlow. This was the third time this 10K had taken place. As in 2009, this year's race was held on a bright but chilly day. And when we weren't looking at the ruts and roots underneath, we had wonderful scenery to admire: the beautiful Chilterns in their Autumn colours.

The race involves sections on road, trails and footpaths through woods and fields, including challenging off-road descents and ascents. There's one point where the route that comes out of a wood to go along the side of a field throws you down from 160m to 90m during the course of 0.5K.

Then, after a flat section along lanes through Fingest and Skirmett, there is the inevitable long hard climb. Although, unlike the descent, the ascent doesn't all come at once, it's hard work. In about 0.3K you go from 80m to 110m. A part of this path is shown in the photo.

The path then flattens out for a bit (in Hatchet Wood) before there is another push. In all, you go from 80m to 160m in about 2K. Although the rest of the route is mainly undulating, there is the final sting: the last 0.5K is a climb from 140m to 175m to get back up to Frieth.

The race was well marshalled and enthusiastically supported: in almost every K we met people clapping, shouting and cheering. The goody bag included a technical T shirt.

The above photo was taken by Shaun Ferguson. It is copyright Shaun Ferguson and released with a Creative Commons licence.