Race simulations

The race is a strange thing to do for the first time: run, stop, do something hard, run again with legs that no longer feel like yours. The only way to know what that feels like is to do it.

Sims run on the first and third Saturday of every month at 8am. Twenty-four places, set off in waves of six four minutes apart, so nobody waits for a station. The run is a measured 1km loop of the estate road, out of the shutter and back; the stations are inside, at full race distance and at your division's weights.

A coach writes down every split: each run, each station, each transition. You get them by email the same afternoon, against your plan if you have one, with one sentence on where the time went.

You can do half a sim, four runs and four stations, if a full one is too much yet. Plenty of people do their first that way.

What is included

• All eight stations at full race distance and weight
• Eight measured 1km laps of the estate loop
• Every split recorded and emailed the same day
• Waves of six, so no queues at the stations
• Half-sim option: four runs and four stations

What it costs

£20 a simulation, £10 for members. Every price is on the services page; the pace calculator splits any target time.