Race Report: Tittesworth Water RunThrough Trails Series

It’s been ten years since running mates Matt Wood and Ben Green founded the RunThrough Running Club, kicking off in the green and leafy acres of London’s parkland.

Today, RunThrough stages scores of events each year across England and Wales in association with SportsShoes, from Battersea to Birmingham; the Surrey Hills to Snowdonia.

But what most captures LFTO’s imagination is the RunThrough Trails Series: a landmark set of trail running events ranging from 5k to Ultra, hosted in some of the UK’s most spectacular locations.

With that in mind, and eager to get back into race events following a prolonged lay-off (a big thank-you to two of my pesky middle-aged menisci for staging an angry protest over the past two years), I’ve come to try out the 10k trail race at Tittesworth Water in Staffordshire.

The name, of course, raises an eyebrow (and quite possibly a titter), but adolescent inclinations aside, this is a really special place to be. This serene reservoir sits at the far south-western edge of the Peak District – and all three races staged today will swiftly head into the wilds of the national park for an appointment with a couple of icons. Rising dramatically a mile from the Tittesworth shoreline are the dual peaks of Hen Cloud and The Roaches: two dramatic sandstone outcrops, one a peak, the other an escarpment, which crown the fringe of the Staffordshire Moorlands.

(In fact you could make a case for calling this event Run the Roaches, although I suspect that given the kind participation of Severn Trent Water who manage Tittesworth, it was only polite to name the event after the reservoir rather than the rocks.)

As with most RunThrough Trails Series events, three races are being staged on the day: a 50k epic launching at 8am, a 22k at 10am, and the 10k at 10.30.

I’m hopeful the 10k is exactly what I need: challenging terrain, a fair bit of up and down, and a mix of landscapes taking in exposed summits, broadleaf woodland, field paths and farm tracks. Strenuous, but not insane. And a bit of drizzle about, to make it interesting.

For me this is the culmination of months of gently escalating training, including physio and massage therapy. I’m also testing out a pair of the brand-new Brooks Cascadia 18 trail shoes, courtesy of SportsShoes who are proud partners with both RunThrough and Live for the Outdoors. More on those later.

But the first thing that makes me feel right back at home is the atmosphere. The event is beautifully slick, with clear and simple information delivered prior to the event (including video run-throughs), easy access from Leek and Stoke, well-marshalled parking and a neatly laid-out event village right by the water’s edge. There’s plenty of room for all the eager beavers milling about before their races, and the atmosphere is fantastic. I remember this, and it’s lovely.

Equally lovely is what happens moments before the start. Over the PA, race director Jamie Tilley points out that this is the first RunThrough event where the women entrants outnumber the men, so he asks all the blokes to take a knee while the lasses throw hands in the air. It’s a really nice touch and a testament to the inclusivity of running in general, and this brand’s approach in particular.

The race itself is every bit as challenging and thrilling as I’d hoped it would be. It helps that the objectives – those two pointy mini-mountains – are on the horizon right from the start. (I say ‘helps’, it’s also kind of daunting, but in the best way.)

The routes are clearly marked with red (50k), blue (22k) and yellow (10k) flags – which niftily correspond to the colours on entrants’ bibs.

The early stages are on farm tracks and field paths (one of them cheekily steep). The map geek in me notes that some of the fields are normally private with no public access; it’s great that the organisers have brought local landowners on side to a) provide the best route and b) make it something special, ie, not a route you can run any old time.

But then we’re into the national park and onto the Access Land at the foot of Hen Cloud, where things get magnificently tilted. Mud, tree roots, awkward boulders and (early on) a soil bank that’s damn near vertical. But then things even out a bit, and the ascent to the pinnacle of Hen Cloud is short, sharp and bouldery.

(Heading for the summit I remember it being said of the late and legendary Joss Naylor that his secret was to accelerate to descent pace shortly before reaching the summit, pushing through the pain barrier to switch modes while any competitor was still behind him. I try this, for about 7 seconds. There’s a reason the guy was a legend.)

The descent from Hen Coud to the col connecting to the Roaches is marked as a Strava Descent segment and it’s perfect for that: a quarter-mile of sandy soil, bouldery down-ramps and damp but not saturated mud. As they sort of say in Toy Story: that wasn’t running, that was falling with style.

It’s at this point I should tell you a bit about the performance of the Brooks Cascadia 18s.

Short version: quite brilliant. For a longer version I need to start with the unbelievably good traction. The sticky outsoles are giving me absolute confidence down those slanted boulder steps, and I can feel the lugs anchoring doggedly on the muddy climbs.

The divided outsole uses an intriguing cloven-hoof design which is common across both the Cascadia and its longer-distance cousin the Caldera (because as Brooks put it, ‘mountain goats know a thing or two about traction’; fair point). The central channel splits the sole into two separate pods, which can move independently (and very subtly) to respond to the terrain.

At 322g (men’s 8.5) they’re chunkier than my go-to Nike Kiger 9s (283g) and their aesthetic is bulky rather than sleek, so I am definitely conscious of the extra weight through the chunky midsole and around the heel. But it’s so worth that trade-off to feel so comfy, stable, cushioned and protected on terrain that is changing with every step. That’s why the short review just says, quite brilliant trail running shoes.

But for my thoughts in full, click here.

Onwards, though. The Roaches are the highlight of the day, and naturally they’re a feature of all three races: a mile and a half of jagged sandstone crest, fringed with beetling drops that are fractured by well-concealed ascent and descent paths. (The clue is in the name: Roaches descends from the French roches, meaning rocks.)

The 10k turns around at Doxey’s Pool, a mournful pond which is said to be the haunt of a folkloric river-hag called Jenny Greenteeth, famed for reaching out to grab passers-by and drown them in the water. She’s out of luck today; obviously we’re too quick for her.

There’s a varied descent off the Roaches through the woodland that lines the lower skirt of the scarp. I give a nod to Rockhall, the crenelated cottage hewn into the bottom edge of the Roaches; it’s owned by the BMC and serves as a climbers’ hut. It’s probably the most magnificently odd sight of the day.

Scratch that – I’ve just clocked two guys running the race in full cosplay as Deadpool and Wolverine for Cancer Research. Well played, chaps. I’d like to see Jenny Greenteeth pick a fight with them.

The rest of the route is a straight reverse of the outbound – which means it’s pretty much entirely downhill, with the reservoir in view all the way.

And just like that, we’re back. Jamie called it fast and furious in his build-up and he’s not wrong. But it was also a ton of fun. And just what I needed.

The 10k winner is Chris Weeks, back by the lake in an astonishing 53:21. First lady is Ruth Nichols in 1 hour 6 seconds. I’m back in 1 hour 4 minutes, and a 16th position that I’m absolutely overjoyed by. The full field of the 10k is 184 entrants, and over the next hour it’s a joy to watch the others return, representing every age, ability and aspiration and enjoying their finish-line moment with varying levels of undisguised glee.

Seismic things happen in the 50k, meanwhile, as last year’s winner Carl Everall comes back in 4:10:14, smashing the record he set in 2023 by some 20 minutes. Let me say that again: twenty minutes. I’m tempted to ask if he just went the wrong way last year.

I grab my free jerk chicken flatbread and electrolytes, chat to some of the happy customers soaking up the village atmos, and smile at my wet, mulchy Cascadias. This has been a good day.

The best news? RunThrough have 15 more Trail races between here and New Year’s Day, and plenty more into 2025, in smashing destinations like Delamere Forest, Ladybower, Cannock Chase, Box Hill and Henley. To say nothing of a Snowdonia Sea2Sky Race from the coast at Barmouth to the summit of Cadair Idris (August 3rd), including 25k and 53k options.

And next year they’re going global: the brand new Morzine-Avoriaz event will offer up a Vertical km, 23km, 50km and 100km races in the reasonably sensational French Alps.

(You can find a full list of all RunThrough events here.)

For now I’m just ecstatic that my knees have survived the Peak District. But I keep thinking I should brush up on my French. It might come in handy.

About the author

Nick Hallissey is the Deputy Editor of Country Walking Magazine and a regular member of the Live for the Outdoors testing team. He goes running a lot – at least, he did up until tearing his left lateral meniscus in 2021 and his right medial one in 2023. After two loads of surgery he has been carefully building up his running. This is his first race event since February 2020 (apart from Parkruns, which never use the R-word) and he has told his physio he will take it carefully. He’s aware he has two more menisci to worry about.

For all the latest news, tips and gear reviews, sign up to the Trail Running Newsletter.