Man vs Trinity
I’m sure I’m not the only one that went down some rabbit holes on the internet during lockdown. One such rabbit hole led me to Rat Race’s Man vs Trinity series.
This series consists of three different races. Man vs Coast, Man vs Lakes and Man vs Mountain. As the Man vs Lakes race is based in the Lake District (my favourite place on earth) and in 2021 being the last time they were putting on this event, I felt compelled to sign up.
The first in the series was Man vs Coast. This event takes place in Cornwall and is a 25 mile race starting in Marazion and goes around the Cornish peninsula to Lands End. The day started off very overcast and wet but the sun would soon come. Running along the coastal path was beautiful and brutal in equal measure. I made the stupid error of admiring the views and took a nasty fall which left me with one smashed up hand. I finished the race in just over 5 hours then had to drive straight home. Rat Race still do this event and I’d highly recommend it.
Two weeks after the trip to Cornwall I was up in The Lake District to take on Man vs Lakes. This race starts with a crossing of Morecombe Bay (on foot!!) then making your way through the southern Lake District to Coniston. Apart from the typical Lake District terrain (hills, hills and more hills), what made this hard was the heatwave we were experiencing at the time. The race started at midday with the crossing of Morecombe Bay to coincide with the tide. This was a very strange experience as you could feel the ground moving under your feet. Through the Lake District we went, with some water challenges thrown in for good measure. These were a great way to cool down in the heat. After nearly 7 hours and 29 miles, I crossed the finish line in Coniston for the last ever Man vs Lakes.
September of 2021 was supposed to be the month to complete the Trinity. Unfortunately, the race got called off due to the local council refusing to grant permits due to COVID. With that, the race was pushed back to September 2022. The week before this race I had been extremely unwell. Despite knowing running up Snowdon wasn’t the best idea I was determined to finish this challenge. The race starts at Caernarfon Castle and takes you to Snowdon Summit. Amazingly, once I started running, I felt good. Despite thinking I would end up hiking the majority of this race, I was running well. The route up Snowdon was hard, but the views were amazing. Snowdonia really is a beautiful place. After summiting Snowdon, we made our way back down to Llanberis but the race had one last gift to give. The vertical kilometer. One kilometer of constant uphill. After tackling this, all that was left was a fun run downhill to the finish. 22 miles with 1600 metres of vert in 5 hours and 1 min. That 1 minute really annoys me!!
Man vs Trinity completed.