Maverick Original Kent Review

A long term admirer of this race series – I finally found a window to run my first Maverick Race. And it was awesome. The elite men’s AR team (loose term!) travelled down in the Brojan mobile to battle it out over the long course at the Maverick Kent.

Maverick hold their races in some stunning locations and the options are a Short (8km), Middle (15km) or Long (21km) route. We all put our name in the hat for the 21km option and the course was awesome. From the gun Team AR Trail Team took to the front and set the early running. Ben Rajan held onto the lead group for the longest, I personally slipping off the pace after a week in the Greek Islands supping Ouzo and eating too much Fava!

After an early climb and a dash through the woods, a couple of turnstiles split our group up and soon Ben was running strong in 5th, me in 6th and Brewdog in 7th. The temperature was perfect, the trails were technical – lots of roots, brambles, loose rocks etc – and the views across the countryside were amazing, what fantastic running! I tried to catch my breath and maintain form over the trails. Having run solo for 5 miles or so, I was soon joined by James who was running a very sensible and consistent race! We would run together for the remainder, taking it in turns to surge to try to bring in the lead group,

“We’re like Tollefson and Lainey at UTMB Brewdog! Let’s go get the leaders!” – me at about mile 9 (we didn’t quite catch them)

James and I worked hard for the second half of the race. So hard that James decided to take a tumble #trailrash. Kudos for the effort young padawan! Soon we smelt blood and up ahead we could see Ben weaving through the short and middle course runners. We chased him down and a mad dash for what we thought was 5-6 and 7 ensued. We actually came 6-7 and 8 after a dive and a bonk and a sprint finish. Super fun! Massive shout out to AR dark horse John O’Mahoney who deftly made his way through the pack early on and ran hard for the win!

Great fun for all the family at Maverick. The course was impeccable, the atmosphere great. Oh and STANCE and CIELE at the finish line! We’ll definitely be back, next up Berkshire.