Boxted is a village spread out over a large area, with housing and farmland...a lot of it is 'undulating' - in other words hilly terrain! In my experience, 10k races tend to have one, two or three big hills - this one has 5 (and a half) steep inclines on the 10k and I am guessing half that on the 5k race. Tough!

Aside from the fitness challenge , the run is picturesque in places, with trails and roads that form a loop and go past some very fancy houses and estates!!

The final hill leads to about 1.5km of flat paths and roads to finish...phew!!

Bravo Louise and good cheering from family and friends!

A nice Monday evening task to recover...

Great fitness on the hills of Colchester Castle Park.

Bravo Louise!

Depsite a forecast for heavy rain all morning, 8 GoodGymers (plus 4 young runners/assistants; thanks Bonnie, Ada, Ada and Leo) turned up smiling to support the Junior Park Run. The main team were extra grateful for our support today as at one point they were concerned they would have to cancel it due to many of their regular volunteers being involved in the Colchester Half Marathon. We successfully kept the 44 runners safe as they ran around the course, and I like to think we contributed significantly to their enjoyment of the event as we encouraged them on their way. 12 runners even beat their personal best today.