Offa'a Orror, 29/04/07

Phillip Howells reports on the 'Offa's 'Orror', a 20km off-road event along part of Offa's Dyke in the lovely Wye Valley starting and finishing by the ancient ruin of Tintern Abbey.

Three club members took part: Angie Sadler recorded 1.39.29 for 41st place, 5th lady and first lady vet O45, Mich Laws was 79th in 1.47.34 and Phillip Howells 105th in 1.51.14, from a field of about 250.

It was the first time running of this great event for the 3 of us (although a target for some time!), but all would recommend it to anyone liking to run in beautiful scenery with the odd hill thrown in! It is actually something of a fell-type race with several very steep ascents and descents, which were tricky enough to get down safely in the beautiful sunny and dry conditions, but obviously an interesting challenge when wet (studs are normally de rigeur!).

Hard to imagine why King Offa decided that a dyke made sense along some of this terrain (and indeed, history is also unsure of its purpose?), but it provides an ideal opportunity for both a clever play on words and some excellent 'toughening-up' running (maybe the famous king had a Nostradamus type premonition that it would eventually be properly appreciated by us 21st century adventurers?). The run-in is along the river, but at some 4 miles was a deceptively hard sting-in-the-tail that caught a few unawares and left all us runners grateful to at long last see the ruins re-appearing around yet another river bend. A free drink and handsome goody bag were adequate rewards for a tough, but extremely satisfying and enjoyable event.