The Cobble Hill 10k is the second race in the VIRA Island Race Series. It will be taking place on January 26, 2020 at 11:00am.
Regardless of your pace or fitness level, you are welcome to come out and enjoy the run. It’s very beginner-friendly. If you are planning to take longer than 70 minutes to finish the race, the early start option (10:30am) is available.
Cobble Hill is located in the beautiful Cowichan Valley. It starts at George Bonner Elementary School, which is also where the package pick up, as well as race day registration take place.
The course is scenic and relatively flat, run on country roads around Cobble Hill. Many runners have been able to get personal bests on this course.
While I didn’t get a personal best here, I ran a 41:05 on this course back in 2016, which was only 9 seconds slower than my personal best for the 10k.
Above: On route to my 41:05 at the Cobble Hill 10k 2016. I hope to get back to that level again. Photo by Lois DeEll
I had a bit of a rough start at the Harriers Pioneer 8k this year but I also recognize it’s still early in the year and I have done very little weekly mileage since the Berlin Marathon in September.
As we can see from the map below, there are a quite a few turns in the Cobble Hill 10k.
You will also notice that the start and finish are slightly different from where they used to be before.
Previously, the start and finish was about a 700m jog or walk from the school. Now, the race starts and finishes right at the school.
Above: Cobble Hill 10k 2020 map.
Some Cobble Hill 10k insights:
The first 2km make it very tempting to start too fast, as I often do (and most likely will do again).
Then, there is a sharp turnaround before the 2km mark. Therefore, if you run the first km too fast, you will need to really slow down to take this turn.
There is a very small incline just before you turn left onto Cobble Hill Road after the 2km marker, where I often regretted running the first km too fast. If you don’t run the first km too fast, you will hardly even notice this incline.
Then, after the 3rd km, it’s usually a fairly smooth sailing where you can pick up the pace a bit. Just after the 4km mark is where you will be able to witness the fastest runners passing the 6k mark.
There was another very small incline in the later part of the Cobble Hill 10k. From what I remember, it was somewhere between 6-8k. However, it was a very short uphill and if you didn’t bust out of the gate in the first 2k, you should hardly notice it.
The last 1.5km of the Cobble Hill 10k is super fun and very fast. Whenever I pace this race properly, I have no issues with holding a sub-4 minute km for the last km. This is typically where I try to give it my all or whatever is left of it at the end.
Final thoughts
For this race, I’m planning to start slow and see what happens. I am not setting my expectations very high at this stage in the game and I know I have a lot of work to do to get a sub 40 minute 10k. It won’t happen right away but with some tweaks to my form and an increase in mileage, I should be able to pull it off within the year.
I recommend you use the VIRA Island Race Series for the purpose of staying in shape during the winter so that you can hopefully crush some PBs when you run your spring races.
I’m excited to see everyone again and I hope that the weather will be good. I look forward to seeing you there!