After Egyptian adventure and returning to Ukraine, an equally interesting trail race awaited me under the name "Shkarivski Hills". It was scheduled for Sunday, so rest after marathon in Cairo I happened to be at Istanbul airport. Trail race "Shkarivski Hills" became for me the third competition held in the vicinity of the town of Bila Tserkva.
As you know, last year I couldn't get to the spring option "Village Trail“, because he was just beginning his acquaintance with Egyptian half marathons. Therefore, this year I was impatiently waiting for the announcement of the spring "Village Trail", the organizers of which prepared a wonderful surprise for all participants. Namely, they rebranded it, changing the name to "Shkariv Hills" and developed a rather interesting running route.
Registration
To register in a trail race "Shkarivski Hills" each athlete had to fill out a special google form and pay the starting fee in the amount of 450 hryvnias. Then, upon arrival at the competition, he had to receive his own starting package with a number and a branded T-shirt.
The route of the trail race "Shkarivski Hills" consisted of one circuit with a length of 24 kilometers. It passed mainly through the surrounding snow-covered fields and forest plantations. The organizers provided two food stations, which were located at the 15 and 17 kilometer mark, respectively. Here the participants could have a little rest and regain their strength.
Run
So, on Sunday morning, another running trip awaited me again, although not as long as the previous one, but it promised to be quite interesting. Therefore, waking up in the morning and collecting almost everything necessary for the trail race equipment, I went in the direction of the Teremka metro station, where a transfer was waiting for the participants of this trail. He was supposed to deliver all those willing to run in the snow to the starting town. The latter was located on the territory of the "Shkarivski Vary" recreation center, where the participants could receive their starting packages, change clothes, and hand in their belongings to the storage room. The start of the "Shkariv Hills" race took place at 11 o'clock, and before that, the organizers held a short briefing.
As for me, I would describe my Sunday running adventures with the following expression: "From the fire, yes to the flame", or rather "From the sun, yes to the snow". So when the starting buzzer sounded, I began my next running adventure. I had no desire to rush anywhere, I decided to cover the distance at a rather slow pace. Even when I wanted to run faster, my legs refused to obey, thereby reminding me of “Cairo Marathon”. I managed to cover the first 7 miles of the trail in 1 hour and 24 minutes.
The second half of the trail race "Shkarivski Hills", namely 8 miles, obeyed me in about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Of course, what's a trail without a little wandering. Despite the good marking of the route, there were still "good" assistants who helped all participants of the trail by removing the marking in one place, probably to add excitement to the athletes.
After three and a half hours of running adventures through snowy fields, forests and streets of Shkarivka, I am completely exhausted, but with a lot of positive emotions and impressions, I finally finished. Thus, my acquaintance with the trail race "Shkarivski Hills" and the trails of Bila Tserkva in general ended.
Impression
The winter trail race "Shkarivski Hills" became a good addition to the collection trail competitions "Trail over Rossyu" and “Village Trail”, which also took place in Bila Tserkva. They had a fairly good organization, high-quality marking of the route (not counting the turn, where it was removed by "good" assistants). The race took place mainly on the snowy territory of the surrounding fields, woods, and partly on the territory of the village of Shkarivka. Of course, it is worth mentioning the huge number of ascents and descents that were encountered on the route, and from which wonderful views of the surrounding areas opened.
