The Hatley Castle 8k is the next race part of the VIRA Island Race Series, which takes place on Sunday, February 24, 2019 at 11am.
If you’ve never been to Royal Roads, then your eyes are in for a treat!
The location is absolutely stunning and will be engraved in your memory for a long time. The Hatley Castle is also National Historic Site and is a tourist attraction in the Greater Victoria Area.
I’ve run the Hatley Castle 8k quite a number of times. The first time I ran it, I was definitely not expecting the hills nor the trail and gravel parts of the course.
When I ran this race for the first time, I made the mistake of starting at the front with all the fast folks and took off like a speeding bullet at around 3:25 pace for the first km. Of course, I regretted it for the last 7km. By the time I got to the hillier part, I was struggling.
This is a technical, a bit challenging, but at the same time very fun course. A small part of the race is run on a crushed gravel surface, so you should pay attention to your footing when you run.
I will not be running this one very fast, I can tell you that right now. I’m just going out there to have fun, socialize and test my hill skills (if that’s even a phrase)!
How to run the Hatley Castle 8k (and feel awesome at the finish):
First, don’t start too fast in the first km. Like I said before, I made that mistake once (or maybe even twice or three times) and almost had to WALK up the hill closer to the middle of the race.
I talk about starting too fast every time only because I keep seeing people doing it over and over again (and I often do it myself).
It’s always easier to speed up later than it is to maintain a pace that is too fast from the start.
As you get closer towards the middle part of the race, there will be hills. This is not a flat course but it’s still a fun race. The climbs will be challenging but rewarding. Generally, the best way to overcome the hills is to embrace them.
Worrying about the length and slope of the hill that you are approaching won’t make it go away.
However, changing your perspective about how you view hills will make the experience you get from running up them both rewarding and enjoyable.
When you are running up the hills, use your glutes, quads and hamstrings. You will need to push from the hip and use your entire leg to get up that hill.
As you go up the hills, imagine yourself reaching the top and the feelings of accomplishment that you will get as you conquer the climb. As you go up the hill, try to focus on 30-60m in front of you.
While you are ascending, try to keep a shorter, steady stride without overstriding. Keep your breathing even and deep, while at the same time resist the urge to hold tension in your upper body.
On the way down, you can relax and keep focusing on your form. Try not to land too hard on your feet. Use the downhills to your advantage. You can lengthen your stride a bit on the way down.
As you can see from the map below, the course is a bit turny. Therefore, you can only go so fast as you get through each turn.
A few final words:
Please also note that a very small part of the race is on a trail surface. To avoid potentially tripping, pay attention to the pine cones that may be on the ground as you go through the forested area of the course.
I often slow down on trails because I don’t want to trip on a pine cone or a small stone or a small piece of a branch.
The last part of the race is done on crushed gravel. Naturally, gravel is slower than track or road.
Above: what the finish area looks like. As you can see, it’s gravel.
Therefore, don’t be too upset if you don’t end up being able to sprint to the finish as fast as you would on the road.
Lastly, don’t beat yourself up if your time at Hatley Castle 8k is a little slower than the Harriers Pioneer 8k. I definitely expect my Hatley Castle 8k time to be slower.
The scenery and the race atmosphere will make up for any hills that you may encounter.
Hope to see you there!
If you haven’t registered yet, you can still do so on race day between 9am and 10:15am. Therefore, show up early if you still need to register!