Ash Town Tree Trail Race

by Dave Carnell

This event had its first running on Thursday 30th June, starting out from Ash Primary School (near Martock) at a billed time of 7.00pm.  The route was described as being about 7 miles, covering country lanes and a few fields on its way out to (and back from) the beautiful, hidden "Town Tree Nature Garden."

It was a lovely summer evening, so the gathered throng of nearly 60 eager runners weren’t too perturbed by a bit of delay in getting the start organised.  The race finally got going at about 7:15, with the start being at the top of Whitcombe Lane and looking north to the Levels.  At the top being particularly key as we immediately set off on a gloriously long downhill stretch of about 1km (part of the Ash Excellent Eight route).

Unfortunately I’d been egged on by friendly banter from some Crewkerne runners and my addiction to gravitational assistance was just too much of a temptation.  It’s a very rare thing to lead a race but for a short and heady moment that’s what happened as I tore up the tarmac in a spectacular fit of downhill madness – and then it flattened out!  Having shot my bolt, the rest of the race (ie most of it) was then very hard work despite being mostly flat, but I didn’t mind as the hidden "Town Tree Nature Garden" was an absolute delight.

This unique garden is the creation of just one man, Chris Burnett.  Over many years he has built a non-formal landscaped water garden that now takes up 22 out of 100 acres of the owner’s farm.  The race route weaved it’s way for about a mile and a half through the gardens on the same path that visitors would take – brilliant!  These gardens are open to the public for a modest £2-50 entrance fee and are a must for anyone that wants to see something a little different (for info visit www.towntreenaturegarden.co.uk).

One slightly unusual feature of the race was where, for a short distance the outbound route met the homebound route and runners were going in both directions.  For a moment I thought I was going the wrong way, but happily all was well and I got back OK to finish 17th overall.

BBQ, cakes and refreshments were helpfully on hand to complete a very pleasant evening, with proceeds from the event going towards the upkeep of the Town Tree Trail and Ash Primary School.  A relaxed low key event made all the more memorable by its little foibles and is a ‘must do’ for next year.