The world's best place to run

Running terrain in Lyme Park

It was easy for me to stray. I grew up in Poynton, Cheshire in the 70s and 80s. Poynton is a former coal mining village with miles of trails available for me to explore. There are the trails that were former colliery railways, the canal and the old public railway line. All of these run close to the perimeter of Lyme Park, a National Trust estate on the edge of the Peak District with hills, moorland, woodland, streams, deer park and historical structures. I would regularly pack a sandwich and a drink, put my dog on his lead and set off first thing in the morning on an adventure. When I realised time was pressing on and I needed to be home for tea or before dark in the winter I would up the pace and run for home. So when I joined the cross-country club I knew I could run for a few miles without stopping. I sometimes wonder whether I would have taken up running if I had grown up anywhere more restrictive or less inspirational. If I hadn't had the opportunity to run over long distances I may have believed that my asthma was a barrier to me taking part in sport.

When I was a child I thought that everyone lived in a place like Poynton and everyone would have miles and miles of trails to enjoy. It wasn't until I left home and experienced living in other locations that I realised how spoilt I'd been and I thought about how running may never have been my sport if I hadn't have grown up there.

I still believe that Poynton could compete for the title of The World's Best Place to Run and I've been wondering which other places would be in the running for this title. First of all let's look at Poynton's best assetts. Climate has to be one. It's rarely too hot and it's rarely too cold to run although it does get a tad damp at times! As already mentioned, the fact that you can run off-road for miles is another. You could run a loop and never cross the same place twice for at least four hours. Then when off-road isn't an option, because it's winter and dark, there is the benefit of it being a large village, or small town, as I believe it has now been given that status, and so there are plenty of well-lit roads to run on. Although it is in Cheshire, it is very close to the sprawling conurbation of Greater Manchester and the roads are lit that take you there. The other advantage is that, if you want hills you can have them - just head on up towards the Peak District - and if you want to stay on the flat you can stay on the Cheshire Plain.

So what other places would I put on my list of great places to run? Well, if I were to set up camp somewhere for a training holiday these are the places I would consider:

St. Moritz in Switzerland. I went there one summer and enjoyed the combination of hills and flat. You can head up the mountain trails or you can stick to the paths around the lake. It is at altitude so, as long as you can stay for three weeks you get the benefit of that too!

Bouder in Colorado, USA. Boulder is a running town and it's easy to see why runners flock there. It is primarily for the altitude effect but, again there is a great mix of hilly and flat trails to suit whatever training session you want to carry out.

Melbourne, Australia. We had a stop off in Melbourne on our way to New Zealand and made our way to the Tan Trail near to the Botanical Gardens and close to the city centre. When we arrived it seemed that the whole of Melbourne were out running there. It is another mecca for runners and we were soon chatting to others and getting ourselves invited to a Saturday morning hill session and breakfast at a bakery afterwards! I recently came across this article offering runners the opportunity to get themselves chip timed around the circuit.

There must be hundreds of others. Let us into your running secret and tell us where they are!