I wanted to take part in the "Kyiv Trail" as soon as I heard about it last year. But then it was held in quarantine, namely, the participants started in several waves, which did not particularly please me (so the start of my wave was scheduled for 12 o'clock in the afternoon), so then decided to postpone his conquest of the route "Kyiv Trail" for better times.
This year, "Kyiv Trail" was looking forward to the announcement, so as soon as the information about its holding appeared, it immediately decided to register for it. And the photos from last year's trail promised a very interesting running adventure.
Registration
It was possible to register for the Kyiv Trail trail race through the official trail website kyivtrail.com.ua, where participants could choose one of three distances, namely 27, 12, and 6 kilometers. The cost of the starter pack started from UAH 350.
As for the route of the trail race "Kyiv Trail", for the main distance, namely for 27 kilometers, it consisted of one circle and passed through the territory of Zhukov Island and had one hydration point for distances of 14 kilometers. Trail participants could receive their starter packs both on the eve of the trail and on the day of the trail on the territory of the starting town.
Run
Saturday morning for me began with a trip to Zhukov Island, where I was waiting for my starter pack and trail "Kyiv Trail". The starting town was located on one of the meadows of the island and was gradually filled with trail participants. Therefore, as soon as I got to it, I immediately went in the direction of issuing starter packs to get my number. After that, little by little, he began to prepare to participate in the trail, namely packed in a running backpack is for, water (1 liter), whistle, mug and buff.
The main Saturday running fun called "Kyiv Trail" started at 9 o'clock in the morning, namely with the start of participants who ran a distance of 27 and 12 kilometers (joint start), and after them, there was a start of participants for a distance of 6 kilometers.
After the introductory words from the organizers and the starting countdown, the participants of the trail "Kyiv Trail" went to meet their running adventures as on the route they were waiting for a lot of interesting locations.
The route of the trail "Kyiv Trail" mainly passed through the forest and field trails of Zhukov Island. In addition, several interesting sections were waiting for the participants, namely a small section that passed over the unfinished, so-called “Object № 1”, a small section of sand in front of the checkpoint, and a ford that was waiting for the participants 3 kilometers before the finish.
The trail started quite slowly, as the first few kilometers had to run along narrow paths, on which it was difficult to overtake someone. Which did not particularly surprise me, because such a situation can often be found in various races in the first kilometers. But what awaited me, to be honest surprised and made me laugh, because about somewhere between the second and third kilometer the main obstacle of the trail was waiting for the participants, namely a small riverbed about half a meter wide and 20 meters deep. But some participants were afraid to get their feet wet, so I overcame it with the help of a deck, and as it happened quite slowly, a traffic jam formed from the participants, some of whom did not quite understand what the problem was and was among them. Since I had no particular desire to walk on the deck that day, I decided to overcome it by the standard method in such cases, namely to run sideways. In addition, the temperature outside was more than 20 degrees Celsius and everything dried up quickly enough, still summer, not winter or autumn.
The first really interesting location for the participants was waiting for about 4 miles of trail, namely the unfinished "Object № 1". And then again I had to run along field and forest paths to 9 miles, where another interesting section was located, namely the sandy section of the trail behind which the KP was waiting for the participants. At first, the sandy area was overcome slowly, but over time, the sneakers were completely filled with sand, so at the end of it we had to take a step, as it was difficult to run at all.
Well, after 1 hour and 39 minutes of running, I still managed to get to the CP, where you could breathe a little and regain your strength with the help of water, water, and various fruits, and most importantly by shaking the sand from your sneakers. then went to conquer the second part of the trail.
The second part of the trail was not as interesting as the first, but in it, we can single out the "Object № 1", which had to be run, and the ford, where you could just freshen up before the finish line. And so, mostly again, I had to run on forest and field paths, where in addition to the scorching sun, the company consisted of wasps and hornets, which wound circles around and supported the participants in their own way.
The interesting adventures prepared by the organizers of "Kyiv Trail" for me ended 3 hours and 43 minutes after its start, which meant that I could finally hide a little from the sun and the main trail support group in the form of wasps and hornets.
Impression
"Kyiv Trail" turned out to be quite a cool running event with good organization and quite an interesting route, in which the organizers combined both forest and field trails and a little sand. The route itself was quite well marked, which made it quite easy to navigate. In addition, there was good support from the volunteers, both on the route and at the food station. Well, of course, how can you forget the support provided to the participants of the wasp, because without them the race was not so exciting.
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