Cheshire races

Flat by the standards of anywhere else on this site, and useful for exactly that reason. Canal towpath, forest track through Delamere, sandstone ridge and estuary path around the Wirral: consistent surfaces, few surprises, and a place to run a long first ultra without the ground itself being the problem.

The sandstone ridge is the exception and provides most of what climbing there is. Otherwise ascent is measured in hundreds of metres rather than thousands, and the challenge in a hundred-mile race here is monotony and pacing rather than terrain.

Towpath is firm and fast but unforgiving on the legs over distance, and it holds water in winter without ever quite becoming mud. Races start from Chester, Ellesmere Port, Delamere and Tatton Park, almost all marked, almost none needing navigation. If you want to find out whether you can run fifty miles before finding out whether you can navigate fifty miles, this is a sensible place to do it.