Durham City 5K – 18th July 2024

by Simon Pickering

This was this year’s “I’m really not looking forward to this race” event for me, probably down to the fact of last year’s organisational nightmares on just about every aspect of the race.

I knew they’d changed the route (again…), and thankfully I’d not looked at the route, and certainly the elevation, until a couple of days before. I don’t think I’d have bothered if I had!

The route now started outside the Radisson Blu, going down the waterside, then on to what felt like a mountain of a climb past the Fighting Cocks pub and on to the cobbled hills of Durham. Within the first Km, we’d done around 125ft of elevation according to my watch – not what you want for a good strong start! From there, we dropped down on to Pimlico, down towards the Whitechurch pub, down Church Street, on to new Elvet, then took a right on to old Elvet and down on to the racecourse for a lap.

Heading back up to town started us on the second climb of the run, leading us through a section of the Prince Bishops car park where Red Bull had a DJ. Bit of a weird one, as you could only hear them for the few seconds it took to pass them. The usual tour through Prince Bishops, before heading up Saddler Street towards the finish, was lined with a good crowd, giving you that much needed boost.

I thought that while the route could have been better (no doubt it’ll change again next year anyway!), it was organised much better. The splitting of the start for the 5k and 10k events meant for a much less chaotic start, and it felt much less cramped when you compare it to the starting pen of last year.

I managed to take advantage of a free massage, and can’t wait to use my wet suit cleaner that I got in the goody bag. Just need the wet suit now!

Simon