{"id":5723,"date":"2025-11-17T22:46:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T22:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/?p=5723"},"modified":"2026-03-14T21:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T21:20:17","slug":"maverick-dark-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/?p=5723","title":{"rendered":"Maverick Dark Castle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>On Saturday, I ran the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maverick-race.com\/products\/the-maverick-dark-castle-2025\">Maverick Dark Castle<\/a>: an 11km night time trail run around <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Corfe_Castle\">Corfe Castle<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>I&#8217;d not done a night run before, and had never run a trail run (needing to buy my first pair of trail shoes for this event!) so take my uninformed opinions here with a pinch of salt.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Running in the dark<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The run started a little after 8pm. It is November, so that means it was dark. Very dark. The route isn&#8217;t lit, so head torches were essential to see where you&#8217;re going.<\/p>\n<p>An uprooted tree was the biggest obstacle. Most of what we had to navigate were branches and tree roots&#8230; oh, and mud. So much mud.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-7.jpg?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small>Photo of me (I&#8217;m underneath the &#8220;ic&#8221; in &#8220;Maverick&#8221;) close to the start of the run. I think I love this photo not just because of the arty light from the flare but because you can&#8217;t see whatever stupid face I&#8217;m probably pulling&#8230; <\/small><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><strong>Running in the mud<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There were two races on the day: 5pm and 8pm. I assume the route was in a better state for the 5pm runners. By the time we got to it &#8211; there were bits that were more swamp than path.<\/p>\n<p>After the end, I <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/dalelane.co.uk\/post\/3m5p5ymbpos2z\">tried to sum up the range of mud<\/a> on the 7 mile course.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-3.jpg?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small>The view of the castle on the run up the hill to the finish was an incentive to keep my head up!<\/small><\/p>\n<p>Some stretches were sticky like clay. A lot of stretches were slippy and slimy. Some were wet and boggy mini-lakes. (To be fair, I tried to find routes around the deepest sections, so generally most of what I ran through was only about ankle-deep.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Laughing (and screaming) in the dark<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You could tell when a very muddy section was coming up from the sound of laughs (and screams) of runners who reached it ahead of you.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-6.jpg?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small>Fun and friendly vibe before the start &#8211; somewhere between a festival and a Christmas market.<\/small><\/p>\n<p>Overall, the vibe was fun and friendly. Even the grumbling about the hills was good-natured.<\/p>\n<p>It was lovely how everyone encouraged each other. Runners who reached a gate ahead of you would wait for you to reach it to hold it open for you. (And there were a lot of gates&#8230; it was a run through the countryside!) <\/p>\n<div class=\"strava-embed-placeholder\" data-embed-type=\"activity\" data-embed-id=\"16469141220\" data-style=\"standard\" data-from-embed=\"false\"><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/strava-embeds.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<small><a href=\"https:\/\/www.strava.com\/activities\/16469141220\">strava.com\/activities\/16469141220<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n<p><strong>Times aren&#8217;t important<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve done a few road races before, and the main thing about road running is your finishing time and your pace. The main thing anyone asks after a road race is what your time was.<\/p>\n<p>This didn&#8217;t feel like that. I&#8217;m not sure it&#8217;s a run for people who are super competitive about their time. (Maybe that&#8217;s a trail run thing?)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-4.jpg?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small>My number and timing chip<\/small><\/p>\n<p>For one thing&#8230; there was a lot of mud to slow you down. While I saw a few brave souls go full pelt through the muddy slip-and-slide sections, most of us slowed down for the deepest and steepest bits!<\/p>\n<p>But more than that, there are several single-track sections where you have to go at the speed of the person in front of you. No-one seemed to mind.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"450\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/v5Z4v9vO9mY?si=fXeibqxEwYWowauN\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Plus, there are several <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kissing_gate\">kissing-gates<\/a> on the route where runners would all come to a stop while we waited to go through one at a time.<\/p>\n<p>It felt like the night wasn&#8217;t about being uber-competitive, but just enjoying the ridiculousness of being out in the dark and the wet together.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-2.jpg?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small>Waiting for the start &#8211; it was cold until we got started, so I stayed close to the fire!<\/small><\/p>\n<p><strong>Evil, evil hills<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a hilly route.<\/p>\n<p>The first mile was a bit of an uphill, but the adrenaline from the cheers, bell-ringing (?), and flares at the start line meant I didn&#8217;t really notice.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-9.png?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small>The climb for the first few miles felt harder than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.strava.com\/activities\/16469141220\">my phone&#8217;s GPS record<\/a> suggests!<\/small><\/p>\n<p>The second mile was like climbing a mountain. Seeing the head torches from the elite runners who had already made it to the top and were running along the ridge a <em>long<\/em> way above us was&#8230; dispiriting!<\/p>\n<p>The third mile was a long gradual incline that felt like it would never end.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not a fan of hills. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-5.jpg?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small>Waiting for the start&#8230;<\/small><\/p>\n<p><strong>A choice of routes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There were three routes to choose from: 5km, 11km, 15km.<\/p>\n<p>I went for the middle option, as I wasn&#8217;t sure what to expect. I wish I&#8217;d gone for the 15km&#8230; maybe next time!<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of routes, the organisers did an amazing job with the sign-posting. The signs were super clear. We were in countryside in the dark with just head-torches to light our way, but there was never a point where I wasn&#8217;t sure where I was going.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-1.png?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small><a href=\"https:\/\/resultsbase.net\/event\/7322\/results?round=21036\">results<\/a>&#8230; &#8220;Veteran&#8221;? \ud83d\ude09 <\/small><\/p>\n<p><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The approach to photos was simpler than the bigger events.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatrun.org\/photos\/\">Great South Run<\/a> last month had loads of photographers at multiple points around the course. I paid \u00a320 on an impressively high-tech website that used a combination of face recognition and chip tracking to automatically search for photos amongst the thousands of photos taken on the day.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday wasn&#8217;t that. It&#8217;s the other end of the spectrum. A photographer at the start and end of the race, with photos on <a href=\"https:\/\/gallery.maverick-race.com\/themaverickdarkcastle2025\/\">a simple free gallery<\/a> where you can easily scroll through.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-8.jpg?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small>Another photo of me from the start of the run &#8211; I&#8217;m under the &#8220;i&#8221; in &#8220;Maverick&#8221;.<\/small><\/p>\n<p>(<em>By the looks of <a href=\"https:\/\/gallery.maverick-race.com\/themaverickdarkcastle2025\/\">the gallery<\/a>, it looks like the 5pm run had people taking photos at some other points on the route as well &#8211; maybe the 8pm was supposed to as well? I don&#8217;t know. Ultimately, the world doesn&#8217;t need more photos of me in pain, so I don&#8217;t mind either way.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>While they don&#8217;t have as many photos as the bigger events, I think their photos are a lot more cool &#8211; you can&#8217;t beat the backdrop of a castle at night&#8230; especially with the flare light at the start!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.dalelane.co.uk\/2025-11-17-maverick\/maverick-9.jpg?raw=true\" style=\"border: thin black solid; width: 100%; max-width: 650px;\"\/><br \/>\n<small>And this is what happens when you can see my face&#8230; in my defense, this was in the last 50 metres before the finish line &#8211; I was tired!<\/small><\/p>\n<p><strong>Overall&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I loved it. One of the best things I&#8217;ve done this year.<\/p>\n<p>I can&#8217;t recommend it highly enough. Do it &#8211; even if you&#8217;re not into running, just do the 5km. It&#8217;s really a lot of fun.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:mecl54mdisxz3xv5da7yxr53\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3m5p5ymbpos2z\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreicfuh7pekglwwhpbuwfydrhdwkfwx4ybaxndnxxjws2hjdrmrsxlm\" data-bluesky-embed-color-mode=\"system\">\n<p lang=\"en\">parts of it were sticky and boggy, like running through clay<\/p>\n<p>parts of it were wading through ankle deep lakes<\/p>\n<p>parts of it were deep slimy mud, like running on a slip and slide<\/p>\n<p>parts of it were so hilly it felt like scaling a mountain<\/p>\n<p>All of it was the most fun I&#x27;ve had in ages. ?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:mecl54mdisxz3xv5da7yxr53\/post\/3m5p5ymbpos2z?ref_src=embed\">[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dale Lane (<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:mecl54mdisxz3xv5da7yxr53?ref_src=embed\">@dalelane.co.uk<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:mecl54mdisxz3xv5da7yxr53\/post\/3m5p5ymbpos2z?ref_src=embed\">15 November 2025 at 21:42<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/static\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday, I ran the Maverick Dark Castle: an 11km night time trail run around Corfe Castle. I&#8217;d not done a night run before, and had never run a trail run (needing to buy my first pair of trail shoes for this event!) so take my uninformed opinions here with a pinch of salt. Running [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[528],"class_list":["post-5723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc","tag-running"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5884,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions\/5884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}