Usually, the races I take part in have a certain distance. But in 2019, in the city of Poltava, during the race “Ltava Running Race” I had to get acquainted with a new competition format. Features race at the Poltava karting track was that the participants had to run for one hour, not cover a specific distance. After this meeting, I decided to repeat my experience and take part in the same competition format. So, Kharkiv and its 6-hour race.
Athletes could register for the 6-hour race on the main website of the running event races.org.ua. Here, participants were offered to choose one of three distances, running for 6, 3 or 1 hour. The participants could receive their starter packs both the day before the race and on the day of the race at the local cycling centre.
Route
The route of the race was circular, meaning that all participants had to run in a circle for a certain amount of time. The course was partly within the territory of Lesopark and along the bicycle path near it.
On the race route, the organisers provided 2 food stations (one at the beginning and one in the middle), where you could refuel with water, rehydration, fruit, soup and borscht if you wanted.
Run
The 6-hour race in Kharkiv took place at a location I am already familiar with, called Lesopark. I first came here when I took part in the easter race 2019 “Easter Run” (at that time it was a 30-kilometre race) and a running series “Kharkiv Grand Prix” (“Kharkiv Night Half Marathon” and “Kharkiv Trail Half Marathon”). At the time, I thought that “Kharkiv Trail Half Marathon” will be my last start at this location, because after participating in three races in the territory of Lesopark, I started to get the impression that local officials only give permission to hold races in the territory of Lesopark and there are no other locations for running in Kharkiv.
And this feeling did not disappoint me. Since the race was originally planned to be held in Mashinostroitelnykiv Park, which made me a little happy because of the new location, but later it was announced that the location would be changed to the already familiar Forest Park. Having packed my running gear on Saturday evening, I went to Kharkiv to get my starter pack and run again on the trails I was already familiar with. Since I got to the city quite late, I decided to get the starter pack on the day of the competition.
Sunday morning began with a trip to the start line and a small surprise prepared by local officials. They decided to bring together a kind of jackpot of competitions in one place and hold a triathlon (cycling stage) and a running event at the same location. This made it very difficult to get to the race start point. Moreover, I found out about the triathlon competition and the closure of the route only half an hour before the start.
After jogging along the Belgorod highway, I managed to get to the starting town, got my race bib number and set off at 6 o'clock running trip in the forest park. During the first hour of the race, the kilometres were quite easy to cover, so I was able to run 6 miles. But the further I ran, the more tired I got. The competition began to turn into a regular routine for me, where one lap was followed by a new lap and visits to food stations in between. At the end of 6 hours, I managed to cover 43 kilometres, which meant that the main goal for which I chose this race was still achieved and I managed to run a distance longer than the marathon.
Impression
Kharkiv 6-hour race had a good route that ran partly through the park, where there was shade, and partly along a sunny cycle path, although the sun did not cause any particular discomfort. Volunteers were stationed at the main turns to point out the correct direction of the run. In addition, there was good support from volunteers at the food stations, where participants could recuperate. In general, the race was quite well organised, despite its specific format and, accordingly, the small number of participants.