The Run Rabbit Trail Festival is one of my favourite events in the race calendar.
With 5x 5k races, a 10k and a half marathon across the weekend, and an extra mile at the end for the six runners of each gender who have the lowest cumulative time (The Carrot Dash), it’s a unique event and there isn’t really anything else out there quite like it!
This year we had moved the event to Deene Park, just outside Corby, and we were looking forward to sharing the stunning grounds of the estate with our runners and their supporters.
Runners began to arrive from 9am on the Saturday morning ready to set up camp and prepare themselves for the weekend ahead (although many had stopped off to complete Corby parkrun first! – as if they weren’t going to be doing enough running over the weekend!).
A whopping 49% of our runners across the weekend were female! I think that’s the closest gender split we’ve ever had at a Race Harborough event!
We’ve been working hard to ensure that our events offer a level playing field, so I’m super happy that our approach appears to be paying off.
A new venue meant more work behind the scenes, and with eight new routes to plan, marshal, and sign, we were kept very busy in the lead up to race weekend! We had a phenomenal volunteer team across the weekend though, who, to quote a runner, ‘kept popping up like rabbits all over the course!’
166 runners set off on the favourite Trail Mix Challenge, our first event of the weekend; aiming to complete each of the five 5k courses within an hour. This year, we had themed our 5k courses for the first time, with a Woods 5k, a Boundary 5k, the Green Lane 5k, the Obelisk 5k and the Lakes 5k to finish.
Podium finishers for the Trail Mix Challenge were as follows:
1st Male: Matthew Hathrell (1:38:29)
2nd Male: Sam Kenmore (1:38:48)
3rd Male: Will Harding (1:41:55)
It was an exciting final race for the males, as just one second stood between Matthew and Sam following completion of the Obelisk course (the 4th of the 5ks), although Matthew came storming over the line on the last route, leaving a big gap between himself and Sam at the finish.
1st Female: Elizabeth Mckinlay (1:57:42)
2nd Female: Kath Hardwick (1:59:16)
3rd Female: Kairit Fitzgerald (2:02:03)
Following the Trail Mix Challenge we had a break, where runners were invited to join Lily Canter for a talk based on the topic ‘Do women hold an advantage in ultra endurance sport?’
Runners also used this opportunity to be seen by one of our on-site physios from Junction Jigsaw, grab a pizza from MYO Street Food, or enjoy an ice cream from Quirky Events. The temperature had started to increase and so it was very much ice cream weather by the end of the Trail Mix Challenge!
6:25pm arrived and runners congregated on the start line for a short briefing before setting off on the Headlight Hop 10k. 138 runners took on the 10k challenge, many of whom had already completed 25k earlier that day!
Standing at the start line it was brilliant being able to see runners racing off into the distance around the estate. The spectators waiting at our Chill Out Zone could see everybody for miles. So, those that walked the hills, we know who you are!
The finish of the 10k came back through our Chill Out Zone, and runners were met by supportive cheers from their friends and family on their way to the finish.
The podium finishers for the Headlight Hop were:
1st Male: Will Harding (41:25)
2nd Male: Dan Widdowson (41:34)
3rd Male: Sam Kenmore (41:55)
1st Female: Isla Widdowson (44:37)
2nd Female: Kairit Fitzgerald (49:58)
3rd Female: Elizabeth Mckinlay (50:41)
Dan and Isla both joined us with fresh legs, having not run the Trail Mix Challenge earlier that day. At 15, Isla was our youngest runner in the Headlight Hop, and it was fantastic to see her emerge from the woods at the 2k point into the race as the lead runner, along with her Dad, Dan, at that point! She later lost her lead, but held on to 5th position overall.
JayRar joined us in the evening, to provide the live music, and plenty of runners were snuggled under blankets, or tucked in on camping chairs in Dibbins Wood with a pizza in hand to enjoy his tunes and finish off the evening!
One of the things I love about the Run Rabbit Trail Festival is the evening atmosphere.
Once everybody has showered, had some food and got a beer in their hand ready for the evening entertainment, it’s so lovely to relax and just chat about running with other like minded individuals after a busy day on the trails.
It was a lovely evening to be out camping under the stars, if not a little chilly. But when isn’t it chilly under canvas in the UK?!
Victoria from MYO was back and ready to serve breakfast early in the morning on Sunday. Who can resist the smell of bacon cooking first thing?!
99 runners lined up at the start of the half marathon, with a number of fresh legs on the start line this time.
I added to the whiteboard a list of the current Top 6 Quest runners in each gender at the start of day two and it was really interesting listening in to the tactics of those who were current qualifiers for the Carrot Dash. Several of the ‘Questers’ chose to run an easier half marathon to try and save something back for their mad mile in the Carrot Dash!
The podium finishers in the half, therefore, shaped up like this:
1st Male: Graeme Ostah (1:35:42)
2nd Male: Allan Howling (1:41:14)
3rd Male: Tom Brennan (1:42:43)
1st Female: Eleanor Davies (1:50:59)
2nd Female: Elizabeth Mckinlay (1:51:18)
3rd Female: Kairit Fitzgerald (1:57:53)
Both of our first finishers in the half had joined us on the Sunday. Graeme, who had also run the event at our previous venue, found himself well in the lead from early on, finishing more than five minutes ahead of Allan in second place! While Ellie and Liz had spent most of the half together, before Ellie pushed on to beat Liz to the finish.
Two of the Top 6 female Quest leaders following Saturday’s event had planned to run their half marathon race with club mates, so there was still all to play for in terms of qualifying for the Carrot Dash!
Our final qualifiers for the 2025 Carrot Dash in the ‘Quest for the Golden Carrot’ were eventually announced as Allan Howling, Sam Kenmore, Tom Brennan, Will Harding, Matthew Hathrell and Andrew Bunker for the men, with Elizabeth Mckinlay, Kairit Fitzgerald, Sarah Pryce, Kath Hardwick, Annie Thorpe and Priya Agheda for the ladies.
A big shout out to Annie who hadn’t realised that she had qualified for the Carrot Dash and, having already changed to go home, was persuaded at the last minute to run a final mile!
The qualifying twelve runners were escorted to the start, at the entrance to Dibbins Wood, where they were set off to a countdown of 3, 2, 1, GO! And off they shot! It was a tense time for everyone at the finish waiting to see who would emerge from the track out of the woods in the lead!
However, it was Sam Kenmore who came into view first, several seconds ahead of Matthew, to complete the Dash in 6:10. Liz then pipped Kairit to the finish in the ladies race, by just three seconds, to finish in a super speedy 7:52.
Over 56k in and still finding the energy to run a speedy final mile really takes determination, but this was the vibe of the whole weekend. We saw so many superb displays of runners pushing themselves further than they’d ever run, faster than they’d ever run, or across terrain they weren’t used to running on.
From the racing snakes at the front of the pack, to those at the back of the field, the 2025 Run Rabbit Trail Festival really was a fantastic weekend and showed us all what it really means to be a trail runner.
