It’s just like any other race really. Except that you run it in the dark, over hilly terrain, with mud, bogs and slippery bridges to negotiate, with only a headtorch to light the way. The Maverick Exposure Lights Dark Castle event is staged from Corfe Castle on the Purbeck and the route heads through the village or Corfe, across Corfe Common and over to Church Knowle before going up onto the ridge at Knowle Hill.

The views at night are quite a sight to behold with the lights of Poole Harbour in the distance and the glow of Corfe Castle over to the right. After heading along the ridge to Stone Hill Down, the route then follows a track to Blue Poole where the trails are muddy and slippery. Herds of Sika deer will be watching on from the woodlands, making it an even more unique experience for the participants.

Hugo Richardson was competing in the ‘Long‘ distance race, which was 15km, and he was joined at the event by Kate Bowers who featured in the ‘Middle‘ distance race which was 11km. Hugo has had an excellent year, with many first place parkruns to his name and he also registered a 34:28 at the Lordshill 10k and did his first ever road half marathon in 1:18:02.

He’s also put in several high quality performances on the track and in cross country, finishing 7th in the Hampshire Schools’ Championships and 29th at the Southern Cross Country Champs.

Recently recording her first ever sub 20-minute parkrun, Kate Bowers finished as one of the top ten females in both the Purbeck 10k and the Round the Lakes 10k, proving what a great asset to the club she will be.

Running at night with a headtorch over that sort of terrain was a new experience for Hugo. But he took to it well, starting with a 6:22 for his first mile. Quite a lot of that was uphill as well. He then hit the one very long incline which took him up to 2.2 miles. The second mile took him eight minutes before he then began the long descent down. That lasted till 6.6 miles, enabling him to register a succession of quick miles, with a 6:37, followed by a 6:21, a 6:29, a 6:01 and then a 6:39.

Getting through the last couple of miles in 7:44 and 7:15, Hugo completed the race in 1 hour 2 minutes and 1 second which put him in second place. It was very tight though with only 10 seconds separating him and Hamish Reilly who got the win. They were quite a way ahead of anyone else in the race, with the third place man coming in two minutes behind Hugo. A total of 253 people successfully completed the 15km race.

The ‘Middle’ distance race contained that same long climb starting from just before the first mile and taking Kate all the way up to 2.5 miles. Then she picked up the pace well as she came back down the slope.

Getting through the 11km in 56:01, Kate finished 7th overall and second female. Again, it was a tight one though with only 20 seconds separating her and Melanie Phair who was first female. She was 6th, just one place ahead of Kate in the overall standings. John Smart got the win in 49:43 with Poole Runners man Steve Claxton taking second in 51:24. There were 162 athletes taking part in the 11km race.

It was good to see Hugo and Kate being prepared to try something different and the way they threw themselves into it was commendable, as were the results the came away with.