Saturday 12th May saw the annual Chieveley Chase event, which forms part of the Run West Berkshire run series.

The event starts and finishes at the village hall in Chieveley, just off the M4, junction 13. Carparking is free and is at the village hall itself so very easy. All race numbers were collected on the day so i arrived just before 10am to pick my number up and do a gentle warmup for the 1030am start.

The run itself starts with a lap around the village playing field before heading out towards the countryside. At times it was just a single track so overtaking was hard but after a short track the route opens up and becomes easier to pass. Their are plenty of marshalls around the route and a water station at around the 3mile mark which was well received on a warm day.

The route is not flat but not the biggest hills in the world and as the run goes on you pass through beautiful West Berkshire Countryside so its a peaceful run although challenging underfoot at times as its natural ground and not compressed in any way which is nice, as its in the countryside after all.

The run weaves its way back into the village after 5miles and your left with a few hundred metres to go to the village hall, where you complete a final lap of the field before getting your medal and matshalls note your number and take a time reading off a stopwatch.

The run is not chip timed so unless you have a garmin watch or phone you have to wait for the marshalls to upload your time onto the  website database.

All pictures of the event are free and done by a local photographer which was nice and certaintly saves money as ither larger events charge for photography.

I'll be back as this event is on my doorstep but if your after a nice trial route this is one to look at next year.