Sponsored Team - Round Sheffield Run - Matt Hamer

The Round Sheffield Run is a timed stage event that takes place on the trails of the Round Sheffield Walk. The concept means that you dib in and out at various points with rests in between and creates for a relaxed and fun race.

I find that the winter and summer versions are well placed in January and June to have a good solid run at before typically starting a block of Marathon training. With the course being technical and challenging  in parts (It is mainly all steep accents and rapid descents!) my goal is to always just go out there and have a hard effort around the course.

Last Saturday I entered my 7th event (now held over 2 days) and the event village is situated in Endcliffe Park with plenty of space to host the start line along with a busy beer tent thats become a firm favourite for after the race.

We once again had good weather this year, but being mostly on trails the sun was not too much of an issue in amongst the shade of the woodlands.

I set off at 8:30am, and the first part of the course is probably the hardest, climbing 339m of elevation to the edge of the Peak District. With the timed stage element of the race, my goal was to take the rests (ie walk recovery) when they were there, and make sure to finish the race parts and not stop on the climbs! You can of course continue to run during the rest periods, but often you would catch runners up on the climbs as they had not fully recovered.

The race is well marshalled and sign posted, and its popularity means there is virtually no chance of getting lost on the trails.

Unlikely a normal race, it is sometimes tricky to gauge where you are in the pack as everyone sets off at different times, and during the rest periods there’s a lot of bunching and passing off people that you then catch up. My tactic was that anyone that I picked off during the race portion, I then would make sure to not pass me during the rest period so I knew roughly where I was.

The whole thing is about a half marathon in distance, but with the added rest periods it’s closer to 25K. As long as you don’t mind hills, it’s a great event to take part in, with some fast technical downhills too which are always fun.

This year I clocked 01:37:30 and finished 351st out of 2844 entrants. Which when looking back was my 2nd fastest time on the course which I was very happy with.