The start of November means one thing for Team Accelerate, what’s become an annual team trip to a small race in the heart of the Northumberland National Park. Team Accelerate Scott runner Hugh Mackie summarises the trip below.

Following the success and enjoyment of last year’s trip to Wooler, I had been looking forward to this weekend for a while. This time the team consisted of the three newbies Eddie, Will and Jonah, Chef Chris, myself and of course, the self-proclaimed ‘King of Wooler’; Harvey ‘Prema donna’ Martin.

As if I didn’t need any more incentive and excitement, I arrived at work to find the holy grail of parcels; consisting of a new podium jacket, technical fleece and a pair of shiny new Scott Supertrac RC 2 (massive thanks to Scott UK and Accelerate Running Store). With my shiny new goods packed, I was picked up by my Chauffer for the weekend (Eddie), and the weekend began…

Eddie, Will and I all travelled up on Saturday morning and arrived to find Harvey waddling around the house like a toddler with a full nappy. Turns out the madman had decided to upgrade from the half to the full marathon, my personal idea of hell, so he’d already completed his race the day before. Chapeau Harvey and congrats on retaining your Wooler crown. The Saturday arrivals promptly went for a shakeout, following a long drive, and proceeded to try out our bright new shoes. Following an altercation with a postman and a puddle our bright new shoes and clothes were not so dry or clean anymore. A few choice words were uttered and we carried on our recce of the start of the course. Arriving at the final descent, a debate began; to jump the fence or not to jump the fence? A question which can only be answered on race day…

After the route check was complete the boys and I settled down with the fire on, watching football focus; a perfect pre-race afternoon. With Harvey wallowing on the sofa following his jog earlier in the day, it was down to chef Chris to cook up the evening meal; which consisted of Lasagne and some homemade bread. Stomachs full, an early night was in order to prepare for the big race.

Race day!

A nice early arrival gave us plenty of time to collect numbers, kit check and warm up. Looking up to the cloud filled sky we completed a quick prayer to the rain gods, which came to no avail. The team came back from their warmup looking like drowned rats, but the spirits were still high. Last preparations in place, a final team talk about tactics and soon we were off.

Straight from the gun, it was black and yellow at the front; with Chris leading the way and Jonah and Will following closely at his heels. Just in front of me I could see the familiar heels of Eddie, settling in nicely. With coach Stuart’s words circling round in my head, I stayed sensible and kept in zone 2- using this as a training run rather than a race. As we approached the first section of mud, I could see the 3 Team A runners leading the way out in the distance, with myself and Eddie sticking to our respective game plans. By the time I got to the midway turnaround point, Chris had opened up a sizeable gap, we gave each other some words of encouragement and carried on our own races. Next up the hill came Will, looking really strong, closely followed by young prodigy Jonah- who had to get special permission to be allowed to race due to his young age. At the aid station I grabbed a handful of sweets and got on my way, overtaking a couple of competitors in the process. Next up came the big climb, where I saw Eddie flying down the hill, fuelled by a sugar rush of sweets the hill passed by relatively easy; not as bad as I’d remembered! Once at the top of the climb I came into my own, with the flat speed coming into play. I passed one runner, then another, and could see another two way off in the distance. I thought to myself, “I can’t catch them. Or can I”… Before I knew it, I was at the top of the final descent, with the gap between me and the two in front cut down to only 30 seconds. Upon reaching the road, I knew that they were within my grasp. As soon as I got onto the road, I could hear the voices of Michelle and Chris cheering encouragement, and I knew that the people in front were catchable. I quickly caught up with the first person, but his friend proved more difficult. This is when I knew my track training would come into its own, and I flew down the last KM in just under 3 minutes; putting around 30 seconds into the two guys behind me. Not too shabby eh? By the time I reached the finish, Harvey, Chris, Jonah and Will were already changed and describing their own races. I soon learned that the podium was a Team A clean Sweep, with 4 runners in the top 6. Eddie was next across the line with a huge smile across his face (or grimace, I couldn’t tell!); top running from the self-confessed “lover of road running”.

Wow, can I just say, our team is absolutely amazing, and there’s so much potential ahead of us to achieve together!

Now, let’s talk about The Wooler Trail Half Marathon – Trail Outlaws seriously nailed it with this race. The course is a bit of a challenge, but totally doable for runners of all levels. Plus, there are some seriously fast sections to mix it up.

Big shoutout to Scott Sports for being our awesome sponsors at Team Accelerate. I mean, I can’t help but feel super proud, and lucky to be rocking their gear during the race.  And of course, massive thanks to Stu and Debs for being our rock-solid support on and off the course.  And let’s not forget all the wonderful folks at the APC who helped us deal with those pesky little aches and pains, both in our bodies and our minds.

All in all, what an incredible experience, and here’s to many more awesome races and achievements together!

Team Accelerate Athlete Andy Shelton is back again with another review!! This time Andy is out on the roads testing out Saucony’s first every recycled shoe, the Saucony Triumph RFG (Run For Good). They are available Instore and Online now, you can find the Men’s Here>> and the Women’s Here>>

High Renewable content, more sustainable, no performance compromises…so what have we got then.

Corn and lots of it!!!

Here we have the Triumph RFG (Run For Good) it has a bio based midsole foam, and an outsole made from 80% natural rubber.

As we all hear more and more from the press and other outside agencies, the need to be more conscious about saving the planet, cutting down our single use plastics, and not creating to much consumer waste. We all try to our bit, but running companies have been a little bit behind its outdoor based equipment companies in terms of producing more environmentally friendly products. So the global running company Saucony took a huge step with the launch of the triumph RFG, and announcing the green goals for the next decade, that 100 % of a shoe that will contain organic, recycled or renewable materials by 2030 (7 years away)

So Saucony have brought us this little gem of a shoe to the market the Triumph RFG, what did I think?

First of all, lets look at the vitals of the shoe:

• Weight 279g
• Drop 10mm.
• Neutral shoe
• Upper is 78% cotton/22 %hot melt yarn with plant based dyes
• PWRRUN+ foam 55% corn based
• Outsole 80% natural rubber
• Roads and light trails
• Training

From the start, you are given with a very nice box, and when you have opened it all up your are presented with a very tasteful looking shoe, not bright and flashy, just nice and simple, for some, that will not cut it as they want colour everywhere, but for people that use the running shoes for the purpose they are designed for these are very subtle and very very nice…and it has more surprises than you think, so never judge it by its looks!

This model is a nice evolution from the last shoe as they have included PWRRUN+ tech for superior cushioning it is a touch firmer but you hardly notice, the upper is like a sock, very breathable and very malleable, great heel design giving you a great locked in feeling, and a nice wide toe box, this a neutral shoe with a slightly higher stack than normal daily runners which can make it slightly unstable, but on this occasion it has no detrimental effects so stability is very good, for me it’s one of the most versatile shoes on the market.

I have taken the shoes out on a variety of runs and even a walk or two and found them to be very competent on all occasions.

On my recovery runs which are nice and easy, the shoes are super lush, the soles cushioning is wonderful it absorbs the joyous and unsmooth tarmac of Britain’s wonderfully maintained roads, the shoes are not averse to going off road, and are not to shabby at all, put them through a faster session and I was extremely surprised (because they aren’t one of the lightest shoes) as they were responsive and snappy like a good top end racing shoe, and finally a long run 14miles which were lovely to run in and my legs didn’t suffer. The Triumph is most definitely a daily mile running shoe and pairs nicely with Saucony’s Endorphin collection.

I have been lucky enough to able to run in different brands ECO shoes but this by far has been the most comfortable to run in, a few other brands ECO friendly shoes are a bit more advanced in there promise of keeping things sustainable, but Saucony will have lots of runners backing this shoe in the long run.

So my overall opinion is that Saucony have made a great start with the RFG Eco shoe (shows what can be done and not having to pay a subscription like other manufacturers for the privilege of wearing something sustainable) for me a absolute no brainer to add this to your shoe rotation.

The shoe has a well cushioned ride, with plenty of responsiveness, ideally suited for long miles, easy runs not your tempo runs though. An attractive shoe with a great future, well done Saucony made a sustainable shoe without compromising performance.

If the Saucony Triumph RFG is a shoe you fancy adding into your shoe rotation, you can find the Men’s Here>> and the Women’s Here>>