Run For the Diamond Half Marathon (Uxbridge)
Saturday, April 23, 2011 @9:15am
Overcast & drizzle 9 degrees celcius
The Run For the Diamond presumably gets its namesake from the post-race random draw, where a lucky participant can win an actual diamond. However, it could also be an indirect reference to the race route as well. For diamonds are as tough as they come in the world of rocks and jewels, and a fittingly tough race route is what greeted the participants on this day.
There is much to like about the Run for the Diamond as an event. It is a community run that hosted 600+ finishers over three distance options: 5km, 10km and half marathon. Diamond draw aside, there was a post-race buffet (sliced meat, salad and veggies for adults, chicken fingers and fries for children), nice facilities courtesy of the Wooden Sticks golf course, and a post-race treatment area that featured several forms of treatment including shiatsu and Swedish massage. There were ample port-o-potties and parking space, with the parking situated across the street on the grasses and gravel of a local park. Uniformed police were present to escort participants safely across Elgin Park Drive.
So not surprisingly, the Run for the Diamond proudly announced that they had sold out all their events. What was a bit of a surprise was the difficulty level of the route. I had registered for the half marathon as it was perfectly-positioned on the race calendar to act as a tune-up for the spring marathons. It is a good marathon tune-up in the sense that it is a complete week’s workout in one package. The route throws a little of everything at you — hills, trails, road, gravel, and the odd tree branch and mud puddle. However, rookies beware! You would be best advised to make your half-marathon debut on a less challenging route, particularly if you lacked hill training in your training regimen.
The route takes you through trails, golf cart paths and local roads in the quiet town of Uxbridge. The first 10km of the route was mostly on road, with a small portion covered in gravel. Sprinkled in between were short stretches of narrow and tight dirt/grass trails with steep inclines and declines — the kind you had to walk single file and/or hold onto the tree branches to navigate. Couple that with the fact that rain had fallen all night and a drizzle was still falling for the first 30 mins of the race, and that made for wet and soggy conditions.
Things picked up between km’s 10 and 15, when the rain had finally stopped and the route wandered into a wooded area with mostly level and spacious grass trails. It was an instant flashback to the days of high school cross country as participants navigated the trails to the edge of the Wooden Sticks golf course. Then it was mostly paved golf cart paths for the rest of the way as the final 6.1km took us on a twisty and brutally difficult tour of the fairways. This is not an exageration, as the cart paths often had several inclines in succession, with the declines being too sharp and steep to run down (thus negating any chance to gain momentum before the next hill). There were also small sections that were not on an even plane, giving the ankle joints an extra workout. Everyone around me walked much of the last two km as it was mostly uphill to the finish line. Those who have run the Angus Glen Spring Ten Miler can probably relate to the challenges of running along golf cart paths. Based on my experiences in both events, I have to believe that golf cart paths were not designed to accommodate distance runners!
Although it is not the most difficult course I have encountered (a certain 5 Peaks Race at Dagmar comes to mind), I would still rank it among the top 5 most challenging routes I have run. So to reiterate, I recommend this half marathon for more experienced participants only. Those who want a decent preview of the course should register for the 10km, which uses part of the half marathon route. And be sure to take advantage of the post-race meal and massage — I found both to be quite useful after daring to challenge the rolling trails of Uxbridge.
