When you tell people you’re off to do a race in Mauritius, you get the same raised eyebrow every time. ‘Oh really,’ they’re saying without actually saying it, ‘gosh that must be really tough. Poor you’.
I’m not surprised it elicits that response. This island slice of paradise conjures up images of luxury and stupendous extravagance. And, while I’m hoping that I some of this comes my way, my trip this week is not about lazing around on some tropical beach (although I’m hoping that this is a useful by-product). No, I’m off to do a hard-as-nails trail race, the appropriately-named Dodo Trail.
Anyone that’s followed my running exploits (surely, there must be someone other than my mother), will know I don’t like to do long distance. In fact, I’d be happier doing a series of sprints over 50m. Unfortunately, there aren’t many races over that distance, and so I’ll be tackling the 25K Ti Dodo Trail, the middleweight trail race of the three on offer.
Described as an “adventurous trail” with two major climbs and descents that are highly technical and remote, this race contains 1500m of climbing. I was hoping they meant vertical ascent, but, having been advised to take cycling gloves, I really do think it will be hands and knees stuff.
The winning time is expected to be somewhere around 2hrs 30mins; if I can finish within an hour of that I’ll be pretty happy. Having not run for longer than 45 minutes since Edinburgh at the back-end of May, I’m not massively optimistic. Still, it will be fun trying. Who knows I might even see one of the birds this race is named after? They’re still around, right?
