Written by Jack Casey - http://jackcaseyrunner.blogspot.fr/
50 miles, 13500ft of ascent. A loop starting and finishing in Keswick, taking in Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and Skiddaw.
11:02, 9th place
As with any race, a huge thanks to the people that make it happen- High Terrain Events for organising a great event, and the marshals out on the route and at feed stations; it would be a lot harder and a lot less enjoyable without people giving up their Sunday mornings to watch you suffer!
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| Courtesy of High Terrain Events |
This was my 3rd ultra and first 50 miler, and the biggest elevation profile of any of the races I'd done, so it was always going to be tough and always going to take me a long time. Going in to the race and after a recce weekend, I'd estimated finishing in anything over 10 hours, knowing the winning time on a slightly altered course last year was 8:30. On the full course, Ricky Lightfoot won in just under 9 hours, with Sarah Morwood winning in 10:30 for 1st female and 5th overall: both very impressive athletes.
Training had featured one solid block of 5 weeks of high mileage, high amount of elevation and a good amount of specificity, with a couple of weeks at home in Yorkshire, a training weekend in the Lakes and a couple of weeks on placement in the hills of Abergavenny. Other than that, I'd spent a month in East Africa, getting some running in, ranging from a long run in the heights of Iten, to doing 6x3 minutes up and down the only car-free dirt track I could find in a Kenyan city, so it wasn't exactly consistent. And before that, exams had got in the way and I was confined to running on the flat roads and paths of Cardiff. Still, I felt pretty good going in to the race, especially on uphills.
One of the things that excited me about the race, aside from the stunning course, was that some pretty big names were entered into the race, including Ricky Lightfoot and Donnie Campbell, who have some incredible results internationally. It was exicting to be in the same race as these guys for a few seconds; About 30 seconds into the race and they were out of sight...nice whilst it lasted anyway!
I'd broken down the presumed 10 hours of running into chunks to mentally deal with the distance. Basically, it was a 2 hour run in the dark, a total of about 3 hours climbing, and the last two hours were always going to just be a suffer fest. By these calculations, it was therefore only a 3 hour run, which is less than my weekly long run, so it was pretty straightforward really!
The first couple of hours passed with the help of a couple of guys; one of them, Matt, had his dog with him- she ran the whole race and when I saw them at the finish line she looked like she'd barely done anything and was ready to go all over again. For comparison, my black labrador has inadvertently been conditioned to hide from me when she sees me in running shorts, such is her fear of hill repeats, so I'm a fair bit envious of this!
The section in the dark was one of my favourite parts of the race. I knew the section well so didn't have to worry about the terrain, and I think it being dark allowed the time to pass by and before I knew it, we were nearly 2 hours in. It also meant I didn't get sucked into looking at the mileage- I knew roughly the mileage of each point of the course, but I actually didn't look at the distance on my watch at all during the race. (If that makes you wonder why I even bothered using a watch, then you clearly don't have Strava- after all, if it ain't on Strava...). I turned my headtorch off on the climb towards Scafell Pike, and got into a decent rhythm climbing upwards. The gap to the guys ahead wasn't changing, and although a couple of runners behind me were getting a bit closer, I was in no rush. I had no idea what position I was even in, and deliberately didn't want to know- I found out shortly before the climb to High Raise that I was in 8th- I don't think my position altered by 3 places all race, so in general my pacing was fairly consistent- I've just got to get enough strength in the legs to actually attack in the last 10 miles of a race and try and move up the rankings. Small steps, though. (Or bigger steps in a quicker stride).
A couple of runners I spoke to after the race said they think the descent to Wythburn is one of their favourite bits of the route. I'm clearly not as sadistic as these guys, as I didn't enjoy any of it! On paper, it's a rolling 4 mile descent after the first major climb, so should be fun, but I think the bog makes it frustratingly slow, with every step forward also being a foot down into the soggy ground. Coming from Yorkshire and living in Wales I'm used to these conditions, but it doesn't mean I have to like them!
I knew from running parts of the course previously that this was the hardest bit underfoot, and that it marked the half way point of the course, so I felt after a beast of a climb up High Raise and then a boggy descent that it was all downhill from there to the finish, psychologically anyway. In reality, what that part actually marked was the start of a very very big uphill- switchbacks lead you all the way up to Helvellyn in just a couple of kilometres. Still, ultra running is all in the mind!
Since Scafell Pike I'd been running in 8th or 9th, in the middle of a group of 6. For a good 20 miles or so, I was continually within eyesight of 4th place, a few minutes ahead, and no more than a few minutes ahead of 10th place. It stayed this way for most of the ridge running along the Dodds, though maybe 4th and 5th had pulled away by the time we got to Clough Head. The gradient of the descent off Clough Head is ridiculous at nearly 50% in places, so you've just got to let gravity do the work for you and hope you make it down with your quads intact.
From there, there's a few miles of flat running before the climb up to the checkpoint at Latrigg at mile 38. I'd agreed to meet Chloe, my mum and my dogs here, just in case I needed some moral support at this point. I'd roughly worked out I would be passing through this point at 8 hours, and ended up passing through in 8.15- not bad estimations on my part! Obviously, British politeness made sure that the first thing I did was apologise for being late! At this point, if we turned left and down the hill into Keswick, we'd be done and finished in 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the reality was that we had to complete a 12 mile loop of Skiddaw beforehand.
The first few miles of this loop were horrible, all ran at a gradual incline- Chloe said she could see it in my face when I looked at the path that I really didn't look like I wanted to go that way. On fresh legs it would have felt like a nice easy jog on smooth easy terrain. On tired and battered legs, it's a completely different story. The final steep slog up to Skiddaw was slower than I would have liked, but I still felt like I had a good rhythm going up. By this point I'd been running in 9th place for nearly half the race, and was still running with an equal gap to the runner ahead and behind. I was almost convinced it would stay like this, so it was actually a surprise when I caught the guy ahead of me, who had a low spot just after the top of Skiddaw and stopped. I stopped to check he was OK and if there was anything he needed (he said he'd run out of water but unfortunately so had I as I'd accidentally left a bottle at the last aid station, so couldn't help) and I was surprised to find myself suddenly in 8th. That position lasted about 5 minutes, however, as the runner who had previously been in 10th finished impressively on the final descent and overtook me just before Latrigg. I felt reasonable coming off Skiddaw, but a fairly innocuous collision with a stone on Scafell Pike was finally taking its toll on my big toe nail and I could feel it separating from the nail bed, which made for a fairly painful last few miles on the downhills.
The final mile into town from Latrigg was straightforward. I passed Sarah Morwood walking the other way having finished, and appreciated her cheer of support as I rounded the last corner and in to the finish line at Moot Hall. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how the race went, as it isn't the easiest race to make your first 50 miler. I'd quietly hoped for a finish in and around the top 10, and I never had any real dark moments during the race, so I definitely think I am managing the mental side of ultras better with every race- there was no point during the race where I felt like I wouldn't get across the finish line, and I think each race I finish breeds confidence going into the next one.
Next for me now is a short break, then a winter of hard training in the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons, with a few shorter races thrown in, then my next ultra should be the Kathmandu 50km next spring, during an 8 week stay in Nepal...if that doesn't make me better at going up and down mountains, then nothing will!
Written by Rich Stewart - http://richardultra.blogspot.co.uk
Wow it's been a long time since I last blogged. I seem to go through phases of this have not really identified a root cause for the lack of writing. Never the less I think it's time to write up about a few things that have been happening over the summer and the upcoming final race of the season. Over the summer I have battled with injury since the Thames Path 100 (different calf problem) and with a marathon PB attempt lined up in October this didn't bode well. I started to rebuild the body and mind to see what I had in the tank after a whirlwind first half of the year.
So what did I do about it? Well I went and entered my second 100 mile race of the year after getting in via the waiting list - Centurion Autumn 100. As I went about re-building the body and mind over the summer I thought it prudent to enter a 50km or so nearer the time to get a decent long run in as I don't get a lot of chances to do this. This had previously worked well at the South Downs 50 just 4 weeks before the Thames Path 100. Having talked to David he mentioned that he had signed up for this new race that he was going to use a 'training' race called the High Weald Challenge 50km event organised by Stuart Mills. We made arrangements to travel to Groombridge together as it was a local race for David.
We arrived around just after 7am, swiftly registered, picked up race numbers and then promptly sat back in the car as it was feeling very fresh outside despite the gorgeous sunshine beaming! I intended to run with just a water bottle and be back within 5 hours or so. Other than that it was just a case of putting one foot in front the other and enjoy the day running on some lovely trails with like minded people. Route wise I had the GPX track loaded onto my watch and was 'hoping' that I wouldn't need the map despite the fact my map reading skills are sub standard. If I had bonus miles ahead then that was just fine with me. I must say I didn't even think about the route ahead! Follow the track line and run, period.
After getting out of the car at the last minute before the race briefing I bumped into Rob who was running light like myself. After all runners had gathered for the briefing Stuart said a few words and wished us well before we all crossed the field to the start line some 300 yards away. It only took a few moment for us all to line up at the start line and before you know it were we off.
After charging off up the road it was safe to say I didn't want to go out at suicide pace so I just settled into a pace that was going to be enjoyable. This was a 'training' run and wanted to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. I kept flicking to my watch to ensure I was on the right path and thankfully for the first few miles I didn't put a foot wrong. After trotting along for a bit I had a few runners tail me asking 'glad you know the way mate'. I replied to them 'I don't but my watch does'. If it failed I had the map of course but I would hope others running would do the same as it's all part of the preparation.
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| Just starting out on the trails |
After reaching the first checkpoint I didn't bother to eat or pick up a drink so I just had to call my number out before heading up the Weald Way. Up until now I had not taken out my map of the course and the GPX track was really paying off. I couldn't switch off completely but it made the need to navigate with due greatly reduced. As I headed up to the Ashdown Forest I caught up with a gentleman who had just come back to running after several months. A quick chat with him and it turned out he had attempted the Dragons Back race earlier this year. "If your scared of heights and find navigation difficult then it's an event that might well challenge your fears unlike any other" he said. It's not something high on my list but a challenge it is and something I wouldn't necessarily not do.
As I reached the summit I said goodbye as we turned onto the Vanguard Way. I have run here before and let myself flow down the hill. I felt so good in this moment and it's something I just love to do although not all runners do love downhills. I don't like the uphills so it's a good trade off. After reaching the road and moving through Gills Lap car park I was feeling and moving well. I passed 'The Enhchanted Place' from Winnie the Pooh's stories which made me smile as the sun was overhead shining down. Feeling like this is why I love running.
After crossing the 'The Pooh Bridge' I came into CP2. "Would you like me to fill your bottle sir' a kind volunteer offered. I love touches like this and I gratefully said yes and thank you before being directed down the road. It was between here and CP3 that I ran with another runner called Robert. As we passed through the Royal Ashdown golf course he had some great fascinating running stories to tell. I won't share those stories here but they spanned almost 30 years and included pretty much every situation you can think of. Incredible given I have only been running for 6 years. Robert was running his 248th Marathon / Ultra. I said you must have one understanding wife! Although he loved running a race like this every 2 weeks he did say it had impacted his performances as he said he didn't really focus on training anymore.
After hitting Forest Row at CP3 we said our goodbyes before I headed up a 'gentle hill' and through a camp site. I'm sure they had directed a few runners already as they were kind enough to say 'It's over this way!' Having crossed the field I was still feeling good and with about 20 miles or so in the legs I had really enjoyed today so far.
Having reached around 22 miles I came to a field and a runner in front of me who looked lost. I felt confident about the path ahead and after chatting with him for 30 seconds or so we moved forward. Within literally a minute though I realized that we were now off track! Suddenly my confidence dropped but I kept calm and got the map out. We back tracked some of the way then came back to where we stopped. I spotted a stile in the cornet of the field and noted that the direction we were heading would bring us back onto the right track. We had lost some time but to be honest it didn't matter and actually within half a mile we somehow got lost again as I took a wrong turn down a path. Now this was no fault of the Stuart and his team and the markings / way points are easy to follow. It didn't take long to resolve this and was back on the path running with Robert again.
Before I could say hi to him again Robert told me to push on as he would only slow me down. I had caught a handful of runners on in the last 3-4 miles and was still feeling rather good so I took heed of his advice and thanked him for that before moving ahead. As I reached what would be the last climb I caught a handful of runners, exchanged pleasantries before hiking up the hill as fast as I could. I was still feeling good and didn't want anyone to pass me in the last few miles. I reached the last checkpoint at Fordcombe and knew by looking at my watch that a sub 5 wasn't on the cards today. Not a problem because this is a training run and with the detour I took earlier I didn't mind bonus miles! As I was just leaving the checkpoint I glanced back and saw the the handful of runners I had passed. This sent off alarm bells and ran off as quickly as I could.
The next section had what seemed like more stiles and gates than the rest of the route put together. It was either that or I just couldn't run as smoothly as I had earlier. I kept thinking about the runners behind me and focused on just running as relaxed as was possible. After what seemed a fair amount of time my Garmin had hit 31 miles. I knew I had gone off track but as I moved swiftly through the final section which was a lovely single track through the woods I caught another runner whose quads said had been shot since 18 miles. Blimey they must be if I caught you this late. Perhaps I was a bit rude rushing past him as we were talking but he wished me well as I flew down the downhill which I absolutely loved and wished I had more of these today. In quick time I hit the road and dropped back into Groombridge.
After trotting down the road past a few cyclists who were competing in a triathlon despite a few of them walking their bikes up the hill! Outrageous behaviour. It wasn't long before I saw the last sign to turn left onto the final field before the finish. I caught the camera man unawares as he was laying down as I ran towards Groombridge Place. Thankfully I think he got a few pictures of me.
The finish line came soon after and I crossed the finish line in 25th place overall with a time of 5hrs 11mins. It wasn't bad for a training run really and despite getting lost I didn't lose all that much time and enjoyed the great route. After collecting my medal and pottery mug (which I love) I saw David who asked "where have you been?". I laughed and said that my navigational skills went a little awry despite having the bloody GPX track on my watch!!! Some things never change.
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| The Big Finish! |
After getting some free coffee I sat down for a while to chat with other finishers including Rob who finished just after me. It had turned into a beautiful warm and sunny day. Days like this are all the more enjoyable when running long. With this being my final long run before the Autumn 100 I feel in reasonable shape despite not having the consistent build up I had going into Thames Path.
My mental strength this time though feels significantly different. I don't feel overwhelmed or panicked by the thought of the distance. I've learnt a lot since the start of the year and and cannot wait to get started this saturday. I'm more concerned about coming out of it in one piece, enjoy some downtime before focusing on spring marathon training.
Happy Running!
Written by Dave Boxall
Two years ago I was out for my weekly run, an eight-mile loop to the North of Bath, which I run with my father-in-law. We return into Bath down the Cotswold Way, and as we started our descent we saw a group of three runners on the ridge ahead of us. As we descended the path we started to catch up with them. This made no sense, as they were serious looking runners with mud splatters, hydration packs and everything. As we got closer the only thing I could think was that they must have run a long way, perhaps 20 miles, and so be a bit tired. When we drew level I asked, “Have you come far?” “Chipping Camden” was the reply. A bit of further chat revealed that they were racing the whole of the Cotswold way non-stop. They were completely mad, or they were supermen (and women), surely nobody normal could do a run like that.
The simplicity of the challenge proved to be compelling, to start running at one end of a long-distance path and to keep going until the end. Not to mention the convenience, as I’d be running home. So after two years, my first marathon, three ultras and a lot of coaching from Cotswold Way Race Director Kurt Dusterhoff I lined up with 92 other runners outside the Market Hall in Chipping Camden for the start of the 2015 Cotswold Way Century.
The Cotswold Way is an evil route, in fact legend has it that some of it (Cam Long Down) was placed there by the devil. In order to include every viewpoint and chocolate-box village the route zig-zags up and down the escarpment. To be a National Trail the route has to be a minimum of 100 miles long, so there are plenty of loops and wiggles in the trail, and did I mention that it’s hilly?
The race started in bright sunshine after a few days of fine weather so once we left the roads of Chipping Camden and started walking up the hill it was a relief to find the trail was pretty dry. We ran steadily through the afternoon, ripping through the miles that I’d spent days walking when I rehearsed the route few weeks earlier. The first 50 miles or so were pretty enjoyable. I chatted with groups of runners, scenery was fantastic, although the afternoon was a little hot. The Route seems to take an age getting around Cheltenham but finally, as the sun was setting we started to leave it behind us.
My previous night runs have all been quite short, a couple of hours at most, so a full night out was a new experience. I don’t mind night running as it shrinks the world to a little bubble of light and tends to draw me inside myself. The route south of Cheltenham spends a lot of time in the woods. The full moon was little help here and I was glad of my recent knowledge of the path to make to the route finding easier. I fell in with a couple of runners, David Anderson and Jim O’Brien, on this stretch and stayed with them until a little after the “half-way” checkpoint at Painswick.
I started to suffer during the early part of the morning. By Stroud I was on my own again, unable to keep up with David and Jim as my legs tired. Somewhere between Stroud and Dursley my quads began to hurt so much I could no longer run the downhills, so I was reduced to trotting the flats and gentle downhill slopes and walking the rest. I found the section around Dursley very hard. Cam Long Down is an isolated hill away from the main ridge with a great path around the bottom of it, but of course the path goes straight over the top. After Dursley comes another morale-sapper. The path takes a two-mile loop around Stinchcombe golf course. The views would be great, but it’s dark, and at the end of the loop you’re within 400m of where you entered the course.
Between Stinchcome and Wooton-under-Edge the sun came up. It raised my morale a bit, but did nothing for my legs and as the morning became warmer my progress reduced to a walk and I started to worry about making the cut-off at Tormarton at 1:15pm.
Finally I reached the checkpoint at Horton. Frome here the route was familiar, as I’d run it several times in training. While at Horton I calculated that if I could maintain twenty-minute miles then I’d finish the race with about half an hour to spare. After a brief stop, I hauled myself out of the chair and struggled on.
My 20 minute mile plan held together through the fabulous grounds of Doddington House and Tormarton village, but by then I was almost hoping to be stopped at the Tormarton checkpoint. By this stage the only thing that was keeping me going was the thought that it was so awful that I couldn’t bear having to do it again… about a mile out from the checkpoint I met my wife, Monica, who had walked out from Bath with a friend to meet me. We walked the mile together, then I started out on the final fifteen miles through Dyrham Park and Cold Ashton to the finish.
There’s not a lot to say about those last fifteen miles. It was hot, I was incredibly tired, my stomach was churning and I really, really wanted to stop but the path kept going up and down the hills. After the final big climb to Lansdown Hill I felt much better. The route was really very familiar now as I’d run it dozens of times before (just never this slowly). I was able to jog some of the flatter sections and as I descended the final slope with Bath visible ahead of me I felt such relief. At the bottom I met my father-in law who would accompany me to the finish line, and at the last checkpoint Monica and her friend, Sally, were waiting. After topping-up a water bottle we were off. The path has one last twist. Instead of following the obvious and flat route into central Bath the path climbs, first up Primrose Hill and then up Sion Hill. After Sion Hill it really is “all downhill from here” and soon I was passing through the crowds of Sunday shoppers into the Abbey Square.
I wasn’t elated to finish – more very relieved, both that it was over and that I’d never have to do it again… Of the ninety-two starters, fifty-seven of them finished, and twenty of those finished during the last hour before the cut-off.
I think there are several things that made it possible for me to complete the Cotswold Way Century. The training is obviously very important, and after an injury at the end of last year I signed up for coaching from Kurt Dusterhoff at Cotswold Running. He made me feel confident that an “ordinary runner” can complete an event like this. Having the right gear is important – and nothing more so than shoes. I was lucky that during my training I found a shoe/sock/footcare combination that worked for me. Although my feet were sore at the end of the race, I had only one small blister. Having walked the Cotswold Way a month before the race also helped a lot. During the night the route finding isn’t easy and having a fair idea that you’re on course without continuous reference to the map or GPS is a great confidence booster.
Daniel Hendriksen won the race in 21 hours 29 minutes. First Woman was Angie Sadler in 27hours and 13 minutes. My finishing time was 29 hours and 38 minutes. By then, I was almost past being proud.
Ultramarathon running is a thing you do alone, but with the help and support of so many people. Monica, who has tolerated and even enabled this new obsession, The volunteers and marshals at the races who give their time to support us, and the other runners and passers-by who often encourage us and lift our spirits in the dark moments.
Written by Tom Garrod - http://www.bustinyourballs.org
Date: 28th – 31st August, 2015
Location: Thames Path
Navigation: Thames Path signs/ Harvey map given by organisers
Distance: 184miles/ 294km
Time limit: 80hrs
I first saw this event last year and I thought, mmmm, The self supported part of it seemed to jump out at me and being 184 miles too it seemed like my kind of race, I had never competed in a race of this distance before and to be self supported makes it that little bit tougher as well.
Self Supported means that competitors must carry all of their clothing, equipment and food for the duration of the entire race from the start to the end of the race, Competitors will not be permitted to purchase, acquire or receive food supplies or receive external assistance during the race.
In addition support crews or pacers are not permitted during this event (although supporters were welcome to cheer on competitors at the designated checkpoints),However, competitors will be supplied with additional water supplies only at each checkpoint.
This year has been very tough for me on a personal level in many ways and since I DNF’ed at my last event The Grand Union Canal Race, a 145 mile race were I dropped at 85 miles due to suspected injury, that race was also only 3 weeks after the Thames Path 100 too. I was so focused on this race in a big way and I really wanted to do well and I was in no way going to fail, even if it meant crawling to the finish, YES I really mean that !!!.
My pre race training had gone really well, Brighton was my place of choice to do lots of my heavy pack runs, I love it there and the routes that I took were along the sea front and along the cliffs towards the Seven Sisters and Eastbourne, these routes were very hilly and very open, this was a great help for me mentally as running in complete openness gives you such a lovely sense of freedom.
I weighed the pack down using rice and made sure I wrapped it in a number of black bags as I didn’t want it to split or get wet and it would have turned into risotto, MMM yum, yum NOT,
So I was happy with my pre race training, I had also done a number of heavy pack runs in London (where I live) some of my sessions in London and in Brighton where double run days, the ones I did in London I would get up at 2:50am and run for 4hrs in the before starting work at 7am then after work which finished at 4pm, I would run for 2hrs, both runs being with a 7kg pack, Thank you to Nicolas Vallon who joined me on some of the after work runs, even when It was pouring with rain,Thanks Nicolas !!, some of those runs in Brighton were 4hr runs with 7kg pack then 2hrs rest to eat, then running for another 2hrs to Eastbourne and Beyond.
I was also on annual leave from the 24th August and so it was perfect to use that time to prepare everything for the race, I had ordered 2 race packs online that I thought would be suitable for this event and they both arrived in good time, The Salomon Skin Pro 14+3 set was the pack I decided I was going to use, I had also ordered the Raidlight Ultralight OLMO 20L with the front pack, but I found that to be too fiddly and I wanted to use a pack that would be as simple to use as possible and with no faffing around, so I went with the Salomon one and a North Face Roo II Bumbag.
The idea was to use the main compartment in the race pack for all the mandatory kit, (first aid kit, Bivvy bag, head torch, back up torch, waterproof map case, waterproof trousers and jacket, thermal base layer, hat & gloves, hydration pack, map & compass, food, mobile phone, survival blanket, running kit) and use the front section for my food, this way it would be simple to access and not be fumbling around wasting time, something of which I was not prepared to do, I had trained too hard and spent hours traveling to training sessions to lose precious minutes faffing around.
My nutrition for this race was going to be all homemade and plant powered as I’m vegan and have been for five years now, so there would be a bit of time before the race that would be dedicated to preparing all of my food that I thought I would need, I thought of 4 main food ideas, 1st would be homemade energy balls with Madjool dates, cacao nibs, fresh strawberries, pumpkin seeds, linseeds, sunflower seeds, coconut milk, agave syrup and oats all blended together, rolls into balls and then rolled in pea protein powder, then placed in a dehydrator to harden up slightly but still be moist, this way it would be easier to eat as I wouldn’t need to drink too much water with them, the next food idea was homemade wraps with 2 different fillings, The 1st was with avocado, basmati rice, sweet potato, ginger and caramel, 2nd was lentils, sweet potato, mushrooms, ginger and caramel, my other food idea was roasted sweet potato wedges with smoked garlic, rosemary and sea salt, all of these were put into vacuum bags (this is so they stay fresh and the bag doesn’t split while I’m running)
So with all my food sorted I only needed to get one or two things more and I would be ready to start packing, I only had to get a pair of gaiters and a backup torch and I was set, so I headed into town where I managed to pick up both items, I had ordered them both online but Royal Mail had let me down again, funnily enough though since the race they had both landed in my post box, hey ho, So I’m sorted for everything and can now start to think about packing my bag, it’s the night before the race and I’m pretty relaxed and I know if I pack my bag now I will only unpack it again race morning to double check everything, So I get to bed at a good time and only wake up once during the night.
Race morning and I’m still surprisingly relaxed which it really good as I’m normally nervous at this time and in the run up to races, but for some reason I’m pretty confident I’m going to do well.
I sorted my race bag out and my finishing bag (this is a bag that contains everything you’ll need when you get to the finish, like a fresh change of clothes, etc, I had my breakfast and I’m happy that i managed to finish it all, I had already ordered a taxi the previous day to take me to the start in good time, so far so good then, my final pack weight was 7.3kgs
With the taxi arriving on time I was on my way, it’s always a funny conversation with a taxi drive on the way to races when they ask you “what are you up to today” ?, lets just say he was a bit shocked by what I told him.
I arrived at the Thames Barrier just after 8am and registration was already open, I wanted to arrive there early as time seems to fly at registration, I was one of the first ones there and finally I met Shane the main organiser, I got my race number, map and tracker (this a a device enable friends and family to track your progress in real time minute by minute during the race), then I met Paul “The Hat” Ali who checked my race bag to see if I had all of my mandatory kit, with that done I just had to sort my feet out, I don’t tape my feet up, I just put some foot cream on them that softens them ready for the 2 pairs of socks I use, I did my final checks and I was set with plenty of time to spare, HAPPY DAYS.
I knew a few people that were racing and I managed to chat with some of them before the race start which was at 10:30.
I had cut my caffeine 3 & 1/2 weeks before and also lowered my sugar intake around the same time so when I took any caffeine or sugar during the race it would have a greater effect on me.
I decided not to have a coffee before the start which in hindsight was probably a bad decision as you will fine out later on.
It was getting close to 10:30 and there was a race briefing where Shane went over the rules and any possible diversions during the race, there was another race starting at 10:30, the T100 which was from the Thames Barrier to Streatley, also self supported, so I knew there maybe people going off a bit quicker than the ones in the T184.
Before the briefing I met a fellow runner Matt Beaven and his wife Louise, Matt looked very chilled out as he was still wearing his jeans with only 25 mins till the start, we spoke for a bit and it seemed we were both aiming for the same finishing time of 55hrs (or much less if all goes to plan for me), so we decided at the start to stick together at least for the first 2 checkpoints and see how things went from there.
So with 10:30 nearly here it was time to head to the river side, I never seem too go to the front in races not to sure why, lack of confident ? or just the fact that this is a bloody long way and 5-10 meters isn’t really going to change much in advantage terms.
We started a little later at 10:35 and the sun was shining which was nice, the starting pace was nice and easy, I told Matt about my plan for the first part of the course, it was to run for 1hr then walk for 5mins, he was good with that plan and we stuck to it, interestingly enough I had Reeced the course in London many times as I live here……but on the South side, I only realised the race route crossed to the North side of the river going through Greenwich foot tunnel 2 weeks before hand, A route that in all my years of living in london I had never run before, well that’s all part of the fun isn’t it, most of the runners where still together at this point anyway so if you went off course it wasn’t a big deal,
We headed through the Isle Of Dogs and through Wapping and Limehouse before hitting Tower Bridge, here to the 1st water station was the busiest section of the route as it was full of tourists who always seem to get in the way especially now there are bloody selfie sticks everywhere.We seemed to negotiate this part pretty well though and with no dramas, we kept the run 1hr walk 5 mins plan and as the temperature was pretty warm we were happy with this, we got to the first water-station/checkpoint (13 miles) and I filled up my water bottles which were both empty and had been about a mile before hand so It was well timed, In the first running of this event they didn’t have this first water stop, the first water stop then wasn’t until 26 miles so it was a great idea and a sensible to have one earlier on.
We headed out and continued our nice steady pace, I took advantage to go to the next pub to use their loo, as finding places to go in London are challenging.
About a mile or so after the first aid station my legs were on fire and I thought to myself, How on earth are you going to run 184 miles when your legs are like this at 17 miles and how have you even run races of 100 miles before ?, I know this feeling very well and it seems to crop up in everyone of my races, you see the first section of any race for me isn’t good but I know that past the half way point I seem to get stronger and that pushed me on knowing that.
We continued on towards the next water-station/checkpoint and I decided that this would be a great time for the first proper intake of food, we both agreed that we would only spend 10-15 mins there, as it was a warm day I thought it important to take fluid on as in the form of “little and often” and the same with the food, this was to not get bloated as that would make running very uncomfortable.
I made sure I left with full water bottles and carried on the way, at this point I asked Matt if he was happy to change our plan to a 50min run/5 min walk and he was good with that, as I was very warm indeed, plus the first section up until Teddington Lock was all on pavement.
I was pretty impressed with the signage on this section and we didn’t have to use the map once.
Matt was feeling a bit low at this point and I talked to him for a while with words of encouragement, you see In all of my races I have always run by myself and never used a pacer or had any crew helping me and in training its the same, I’m a very social guy but if I run with someone else they have to be aware that I will have to go on if they slow me down or if they go too quick I will back off, we both agreed that earlier on, I spoke to Matt again just before we got to Richmond Bridge and apologised to him but I had to go on alone, he was ok with this and ran about 20 or so meters behind me until Marble Hill Park where he caught me up, we entered the town of Twickenham which is where I grew up and lived there until 2002, it was there that I saw my Mum and Dad and that was a wonderful surprise, they both are very supportive of my racing even if they do think I am completely bonkers.
I caught up with Matt again just before Teddington Lock were I made a stop to fill up on water, as did Matt, we ran together again until just before Hampton Court were I could see Matt was dropping off the pace again so I wished him all the best and I ran on ahead, at this point a chap from Summit Fever media who were there to cover the race for a film, started to interview me, pretty random during a race but I’m always up for a chat.
I was relieved to be off the concrete at this point and be on much softer ground and now I was in The Zone, it normally takes me around 10-15 miles to get into my running during a ultra but since I have been doing more speed training that distance had come down to about 7 miles, but then again each race if different and this race proved that as with in the first 17 miles my legs were on fire as I have already mentioned.
I was in my zone, in my element and running free, this is what I love to do and it is at times like this were I feel amazing and in complete zen, some peoples reaction when I explain this to them is pretty funny, ” how can you be in zen ?, relaxation when running ? Don’t you get board ?, what do you think about ?”, These are probably some of the most common questions you would ask an ultra runner, I always reply, to get relaxation when running you have to enjoy it first, build up a base fitness and just lose yourself in your session or race how ever long it may be, I don’t get board either, I never listen to music when I’m running as I enjoy the noises around me, this is especially the case when I’m deep in the countryside and at one with nature, I would find music would ruin the sheer bliss of this element, I think about many things while I’m running, normally all of my life issues in the first section of a run, then they come back to me one at a time during the rest of it, along with long sections of complete blankness, something of which is pretty hard to explain but my mind during this time is pretty much empty and I’m on autopilot, I have broken down a few times in some of my recent training runs because of the personal issues I’m going through in my life right now, but knowing how much this race means to me and the reasons I compete in them in the first place I have powered through, they have also been very emotional indeed when I have finished them, I also knew this race would at some point be an emotional journey too, with 184 miles to cover I had a lot of time to think about things and too assess them, I’m a true believer that races are run with your body and your mind, if at one instance your body is not willing your mind will get you there and vice versa, never under estimate the power of the mind, it all sounds very spiritual and in a way I suppose it is, but it will get you to that finish line and to a better place.
The week running up to race week I had started to compile a list of all of the water station/checkpoints and locks that were on the course, the distances between them and the facilities at each lock (water, toilets) I also had 3 columns with 3 estimated finishing times, 55hrs, 65hrs and 80hrs, that last one was my Mums idea.
This was a very tricky process as you had to work out what time you would arrive at each section by finding the minute/mile pace for each estimated finishing time, that multiplied by the mileage between each section then converting that into time, pretty tricky stuff, so I enlisted the help of my much more mathematically intelligent Mum, even for her it was a challenge, but we got there Thanks again Mum, it was great to have a plan to aim for, as I mentioned before my aim was to get sub 50hrs at least and I knew I was more than capable of this.
I was on familiar trail now as I had competed in the Centurion TP100, a 100 miler from Richmond to Oxford, also along the Thames Path, so after Teddington lock where it joined the same route I knew exactly where I was going.
As I mentioned I had run the sections before but at a different time of day, it was very odd running a section that you have run during the day when it was starts to get dark, the first night section was approaching, I love this part of the race as it’s much cooler and my pacing is still pretty good during this time too, I was slightly concerned however with my tiredness, as I was power walking along the path I fell asleep, yes while I was walking, I drifted towards the water, I was about 1/2 meter away from the waters edge when I got stung by a stinging nettle which woke me up, I realised where I was and pulled away from the water, at this point I said to myself, “right, as soon as you see the next bench lye down and put your feet up and set your alarm for 5 mins, as soon as 5 mins is up get up, splashed your face with some water and run, ok ?” “ok”, I did that and again 1 hour later, that was all the sleep I had for the entire race, I mentioned earlier I cut caffeine and sugar out of my diet about 3 1/2 weeks before hand so when I took any during the race the effect would be so much greater, I hadn’t had any coffee before the start either and that was the reason for me feeling sleepy, I had some caffeine earlier but decided that having those power naps was the right thing to do, after both of the 2 x 5 mins power naps I was wide awake, so happy days were here again.
During the race the volunteers manning each water stations would ask me, “are you ok” ?,”how are you feeling” ? “Do you want to know what position you are”?, “haven’t you not been tracking yourself on your mobile” ?, I tell you I was more in the zone during his race than during any other race I have ever done before, I have no idea why, but I would love to have that feeling back for all of my other races, I didn’t want to know my position or where anyone else was in the race, I was just so focused on moving forward, doing my own thing and keeping things a simple as possible.
From Teddington thru to Oxford things were pretty much plain sailing as I knew the course and remembered it well, my watch was loaded with the route which I had started it at the beginning
but 24hrs in to the race the battery had died..BOLLOCK (I say it like this as I’ve only got one)
I had bought a cheap Casio watch to use during times like this so I still knew if I was on track for a good time.
I only looked at my watch in the early stages of a race as to not go off too fast, I think a lot of people get a bit carried away In that moment of the race start and set off at a very fast pace and maybe cannot keep that same pace for the remainder of the race.
The great thing is my memory is really good when I have been to places before, I can remember the exact turnings to take and when to take them, all was going really well and I was happy with my progress, my nutrition and hydration were all working really well, when I was even the slightest bit hungry I would eat and before I was thirsty I would drink, the little and often approach was working a treat.
I was really happy about this because I have a very big event planned for 2017 and it’s just under double the distance of this one, so knowing that my nutrition/hydration is sorted makes me very happy indeed, I always think that is the hardest part of any race for a lot of people, you see this is the first race I had done where you carry all of your food with you, so you have to know how much to take, what you like and roughly when you plan to eat it, of course it can change depending on how your feeling at any particular time during the race, so if you plan too much and unexpected happens in the race then that is your whole plan out the window, I think you have to go with how your feeling at the time, take what food works for you and if possible test out the food during a few of your pre race training sessions so you’ll know what works for you and your stomach, I stuck with savoury foods as I tend to eat more of this and it also agrees with my stomach more than if I eat a lot of gels and shop bought energy bars, these tend to upset my stomach and I also tend to eat less when I eat sweeter foods during races, during most of my 100 mile races I burn around 7000-8000 calories and it is very hard indeed to put that back on during a race, I think I eat between 2000 to 2500 calories during a race, I’m finding the more races I do my nutrition is getting better as I have guineapigged quite of few ways of eating and trying different food options, some people think I’m crazy trying out things during races and not training sessions, I do of course try them in training sessions but then again when are you ever going to simulate a 100 mile race during a training session, my kit choice however has sometimes only had its first outing during this race, crazy again you think, well not if you research to product carefully, I have done this quite a few times and there has never been any problems, in fact for this race I had never done a training run with the race pack I was going to use, I had no real issues with its and those that arose during the race were just pimped and sorted straight away, I used Ultimate Direction bottles with the pack too as I prefer them to the collapsable Salomon ones, I have heard a lot of people do this kind of thing as it is hard to find a pack that is 100% perfect for you.
So up until Oxford all had gone well and I was happy with my progress, it was this section that I had not covered on any training runs, so it was completely unchartered territory for me, the maps we got given at registration were Harvey maps, they had been mandatory kit for most of my previous 100 mile races but because the course was fully marked with red tape on those, I had never used them, as we only got given them race morning we had no time to pimp them with additional information to assist us during the race, you would think is would be pretty simple to follow the Thames Path and you would think you would just have to follow the Thames the whole way from start to finish, right ? Wrong !, very wrong !, you see even in the first 26 miles the path goes away from the Thames and after that even more so, as I mentioned before there are of course the Thames Paths signs to follow and the acorn symbols that are the markings of a national trail, these are sometimes very hard to spot though and you have to be so on the ball, sometimes they have even been pointing in the other direction from what they should be and sometimes the plastic acorn signs have been broken or even taken off the wooden post which makes it even harder to follow the correct route, but that’s all part of the fun right ?
AT 168 MILES
Normally I would be happy and just go with this but I was at times getting pretty frustrated and cursing at the map as it didn’t mirror the route properly GGGGRRRR, I had trained so bloody hard for this event and a simple matter of signage and the map were the things that was stopping me from going onwards 100%, that kind of thing gets me pissed, you see when I finish a race I like knowing that I have left everything on the trail, meaning that I couldn’t have given any more, but in this case if your not sure of the route it puts you in a tricky situation as you don’t want to waste any energy going the wrong way, so you have a lot of excess energy that could be used more productively, but each race is a learning curve, so you take that experience and move on.
I used a very different strategy in this section by which as soon as I worked out the correct route I would go at a very good/strong pace, (7-7 1/2 min/miles) this would work really well as it kept me on a more positive edge, There where some sections however that would look competed identical from ones that I thought I have covered already, the gates even looked the same and this is were you become unsure that this was the correct way to go, as I’m writing this report as hindsight is a wonderful thing I am kind of finding this funny, but at the time it can tell you at first I was laughing but further on I was not, another thing about this section is that the Thames is pretty much non-existent and would just be a dried out river bed, mmmm so much for just follow the water then.
Lots of this section was pretty thick we heavy grass and reeds which were very wet from the rain that had come the previous night and the last few days, this didn’t worry me as my feet were in good shape, I had major issue with them in 2013/2013 but since going to Pro Feet in Fulham and being fitted with the correct shoes and insoles, thankfully this issues have slowly fazed out which has probably been the best news in my ultra running life since I took it up in 2012
THANK YOU AGAIN PRO FEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You see if your feet are wet for a long period of time you can get what’s called trench foot, very similar to what happens to your skin if you stay in the bath for too long, it becomes shrivelled and this can be very painful indeed and can make your skin very tender, one of the best bits of advice my coach has taught me so far is, if your feet don’t hurt don’t touch them.
As I continued on my way I was constantly checking the route and making sure I was on the right path, it was really hard as the signage was so sh*t and I kept getting lost, eventually I found the next two checkpoints and that is of course very comforting, with each checkpoint apart from the first 2 were I was pretty much in and out within about 3-5 mins, I would fill my water bottles up, drink a little more and have a quick chat with the volunteers, then I was off, as there were so many locks with drinking water taps on the route where you could fill up your water bottles, I didn’t have to spend valuable time at the designated water stations.
The weather continued to be nice and overcast which for me is perfect running weather as it’s not too hot and not too cold.
I eventually arrived at the town of Kemble where a pub called the Thames Head is, this is where the event crew were based so I was closer to the finish, however it wasn’t that simple as the maps were not as detailed as one would like, this made it harder when you got to the town sections.
I must have tried to find the correct route for about 10-15 mins, I made my way in what I thought was the correct direction and found the Thames Head pub and the railway bridge that was apparently next to the field, I ran through it to get to the field with the finishing stone in it.
After going the wrong way a number of times I found the correct path and crossed the railway line and found the field that was before THE finishing one, yippee at last !!!!!,I met one of the race volunteers who said “well done, your nearly there, how are you feeling ?”, I remember just saying, “hey, I’m ok thanks, just a bit pissed about the navigation side of things but hey, there’s always next time to make it the perfect race”, so I entered the final field, saw the finishing stone, there were a number of people that had come to the finish, I was still running strong and I reached out and touch the stone…YES YES YES..I’D DONE IT.
I do remember the first thing I thought about when touching the stone was, How I could I go quicker next time and how would you do a double version of this race, one for the future for sure.
I’m also pretty sure that me and Shane (race organiser) where discussing this and the rule of it.
Conclusion
You would think what with getting a 2nd place and a time of around 55hrs I would be happy, right,?
Not really, when I finish a race I like knowing that I could not have given any more and that I have left everything on the trail, in the case of this race, there where too many times In my opinion after Oxford where I was standing still and trying to figure out the correct route.The next time I compete in this race the only thing I would do differently would be to start my Suunto watch at the section just past the Oxford checkpoint, apart from that everything went perfectly, yes there where a few tweaks I made to the race pack but that was it.
STATS
HERE IS A LINK TO A LITTLE VIDEO OF THE RACE http://tseriesracing.com/video/
HERE IS A LINK TO THE ORGANISERS RACE REPORT http://tseriesracing.com/2015-t100-t184-challenge-reports/
I would like the thank all of the volunteers that made this race possible an the Shane and Paul for organising it, Also a BIG THANK YOU all so much for all of your messages of support before, during and after the race, as soon as I turned my phone on in the pub after it went crazy.
And of course and massive THANK YOU to my marvellous coach Mimi Anderson.
Please remember the main reason I compete in these gruelling events Is to raise awareness for bustinyourballs.org, a testicular cancer awareness website I set up after beating the illness myself in 2005, when I was originally diagnosed with my chances of survival being less than 5%, so I hope competing in these events inspires patients that are going through the illness to realise there is a light at the end if the tunnel and to not lose hope and to always think positive and never never give up.
Next up for me is the Centurion autumn 100 on the 17th October
Written by Hannah Turner - https://runnertrainermummyandwifenotalwaysinthatorder.wordpress.com
This is a lap race. A 10k cross country route that you run as many times as you can in 24 hours. You can run as a solo, pair, team of 5 or team of 8.
Last year I entered as a solo and manged 12 laps (I'd hoped for 16) with so much going wrong: bad kit choice, needing to sleep, giving up early, wrong nutrition, the list is long!
This year I hoped for 16 laps. This meant not a lot could go wrong!
Firstly I had my shoes sorted,
Second I had my nutrition sorted. Real food and as advised by my coach, stick to the same food as long as you can before moving on to something else. Home-made wraps with chicken, sweet potato and avocado. Natures valley, sweet and nutty peanut bar, so nice! Jam sandwiches. Sausage rolls. Pot noodle (really think this will be great!). Bacon rolls for breakfast. Fruit. Sweets. 33 shake chia gels. High5 isogels. Iced buns, Chicken drumsticks.
Third a pacing plan. Even pacing for each lap, stopping each lap for hydration and nutrition.
And crew, my husband and kids would be there supporting me. Also, my running club always enter quite a few teams so there would be plenty of people around. A friend who lives locally was also going to pop along to say hi!
We arrived on the Friday to set up camp. My club always camp together around the 2km mark. We managed to set up the tent just before it started raining, which it then did for about 12 hours. My friend Matt arrived to say Hi (in the rain) and said he’d try to visit the next day and join me for a lap. I ate a pasta meal I’d prepared before we set off for dinner on the Friday night and went to bed about 9 to get as much sleep as possible.
solo camp
Race day
I woke early and the rain had stopped, but 6am was too early to get up for a race that starts at midday! I tried to relax, faffed about the tent, had breakfast, set up my checkpoint point food and got dressed. Then about 9 I tried to rest again.
I went down to the start with all the other runners at about 11.40 for the race briefing. The good thing about long races is you start slow, so I went to the back of the queue with all the other solos!
The race started at midday so I set off aiming for each lap to take 1h15m. It was quickly apparent on the first lap that the on certain sections the ground was very muddy from the rain and it was slippery mud. I had to tread carefully so I didn’t join the other runners who slipped over. After the first lap I’d decided I may need to change to trail shoes but after the first 2km of lap 2 the vast number of runners had compacted the mud so it was very runnable again. Phew!
My tactic for getting through this event was to simply count laps, if I started counting the miles off my brain might explode with the sheer enormity of the task I’d set myself.
At the 2km point we had our club camp so this was where I topped up with food and drink each lap. I decided after 4 laps (+ 2km) I’d stop for a sit down for 5 minutes and eat a bit more but my friend Matt turned up just as I ended lap 4 to join me for a lap, so I thought it would be rude to sit down! We did a lap together, possibly the slowest 10km he has ever run, but it took my mind off lap 5!
a bit more running
I was running, eating and drinking very consistently through to about 11pm, by which time I’d run about 8 laps or 48 miles. I now suffered from a cramp in my right glute which meant every step with my right leg caused me pain. Luckily our club captain, Colin, was on hand with his massage table to relieve the cramp and send me on my way.
The night started well, my head torch lit the way and I was steady in my progress. At some point, possibly 10 laps, I decided to have a rest so lay down on the back seat of our car for 30 minutes. I still had my trainers and bag on so it was pretty uncomfortable but it made me feel better. It was now properly dark, no lighting on the course other than around the start/finish area, so head torches a complete necessity. This was where I made a big error of judgement. When my torch started to dim, I borrowed someone else’s from the club rather than changing my batteries and I didn’t carry a spare. Lap 11 proved to be almost too much, my torch was virtually non-existent and every time a runner came past me I didn’t have the energy to keep up with them so I was reduced to a walk in the dark which was very miserable. I cried a lot, some runners asked if I was ok and I sobbed yes and no, some runners just ran past.
Then one runner stopped and asked me a few more questions and then offered to run with me to the end so that I could see, she was in a team so really had to slow her pace to keep with me. It made so much difference to me and she then offered to lend me her torch for my next lap as she wasn’t doing any more laps. When we had about 2km to go and were out of the trees she headed to the finish and said she’d wait for me there. When I arrived at the finish I couldn’t find her! Too dark and too many people, oh yes and in my fuddled state I hadn’t asked her name!!! I quickly decided to enter the solo area and see if anyone was awake/around and may have a spare torch. The first van I found had a light on and someone sitting inside. I knocked on the window and asked politely if he had a spare torch I could borrow for a lap (it was now about 4.30 so the sun was due up soon), he quickly offered me his to borrow as he had finished running. I thanked him and promised to return it in about an hour and a half.
I set off on lap 12 with a brilliant beam to light my way. I pushed myself thorough, got some food at camp and generally grumbled and griped my way round the lap. By the end of this lap I’d decided I’d had enough, I felt miserable and tired. I stopped at the finish, returned the head torch and just leant on the barrier sobbing and feeling very sorry for myself. A surprised bystander asked if I was ok and I said yes but I thought I was finished. As I stood sobbing and feeling sorry for myself I watched another solo female cross the finish line and keep going, she was waddling, hand on hip but without a thought she’d kept going. I immediately felt wrong for wanting to stop. I decided I’d check the results to see how I was doing. If I was way down the rankings I’d stop (fingers crossed), if I was doing ok I’d give myself a stern talking to! The man in the results tent was slightly surprised to be met with a sobbing athlete asking how they were doing. His first response was do you need a medic, I said no just where was I in the rankings. 2nd lady (yeah, but oh no), how far away was 3rd – 1 lap, but the last lap had taken her 2 hours (yeah, but oh no). A bit more sobbing and another suggestion that I might need a medic, my response no but now I have to keep going!
At 6am off I went on the start of my 13th lap, I reached camp and stated I needed help to keep going, I couldn’t do it on my own. Immediately Colin (club captain) and Benjamin (husband) jumped to it.
Top crew – Benjamin
Colin quickly got changed and came with me to run/walk. Benjamin and Euan (son) met us half way round and took over from Colin keeping me company. It was now over to them to keep me going. Every lap I wanted to stop, but still win, so they checked the results to see what I needed to do. The lead lady had stopped after 14 laps so as long as I kept ahead and did 15 I could win. I then got a bit fixated on just 15 laps, other runners could of course keep going too so if I stopped at 15 someone could start a 16th before the 24 hrs had finished and beat me. Benjamin (knowing I’d be really happy with 16) and Colin convinced me I needed to do 16 laps to ensure I won. So I started lap 16 with Benjamin and Euan, collected a bacon roll from the camp and we walked the last lap together. It started raining on the lap, so slightly damp but with the end in sight I felt good. With 200m to go I said I’d run into the finish, as it felt more fitting than walking. Benjamin had run ahead so they knew I was coming and I got a big cheer (makes my eyes water remembering). I finished in 24:03:22, 16 laps, 160km (almost 100 miles). I felt fantastic, damp, emotional and tired. I went to the showers, Benjamin brought my kit and we went back to camp to await the presentation ceremony. A club mate, Andy Jordan, also won the men’s solo category, our male pair came 3rd and we had many other teams who did brilliantly. It was a great day at the office for Harpenden Arrows.
Very chuffed
Catching a kip before the presentation
3rd place male pair. Ammon and Patrick.
Written by Karen Ives
Having misspent numerous hours at work poring over race reports in preparation for running my first 100k, it is only polite for me to return the favour and write one myself.
Quite why a middle aged woman from the Fens would embark on a race in Northumberland as a first at this distance is yet to be quite understood, probably a lot to do with an exceptional runner and good friend of mine being originally from this part of the world. A few years ago he ran coast to coast, 77 miles across Hadrian’s Wall finishing at his birthplace in Wallsend. We had talked about this a lot when we first began discussing ultra running so it seemed fitting that this should be the place to start.
September 25th came around, I arrived in Rothbury, which was to be the end point of my race, as trained as I was ever going to be, injury free and keen to see what my body would do after 45 miles since that was the furthest I had ever ran.
The start of this race was a mass start and included 100 mile runners and 50k runners, on the breathtakingly beautiful Lindisfarne Island at 7am Saturday morning. Conditions were almost perfect, cool, still and slightly overcast but with a beautiful pink sunrise over Lindisfarne Priory with Bamburgh Castle framed in the distance.
Everyone seemed very sure of what they were doing. I am not completely inexperienced but I always wonder what is in every ones backpack – I have always preferred to run unfettered. When training I like to stash water along the route rather than carry it. However there was a mandatory kit list so I had to carry some basic items despite the fact that this course was well supported with aid stations approximately every 10k.
Armed with my backpack containing whistle, space blanket, hat, gloves, emergency fuel, water, running jacket and sneaky iPod in case of emergency I duly switched on my race tracker for the folks at home to follow me, put the phone in a plastic sandwich bag and set off bang on time.
I never really have a race plan; never really know how I feel until I start running. How did I feel today? Had I thrown a 6 today? Or was it more of a 2 or 3?
A few weeks earlier I had completed a 6 hour race where in that time I had managed just short of 40 miles. That was fairly flat and on tarmac, I had a loose idea that maybe I could cover 40 miles in 7 hours initially and then see what happened after that.
I felt good and strong, ready to conquer this distance, to keep the negative thoughts at bay, to be ready for the pain, to minimize the exhaustion by proper fuelling, to enjoy running in an area of the country I am not familiar with and finish in a respectable time.
If I am honest, aside from the very first marathon I ever ran, just to finish is not quite enough for me, I can enjoy racing for what it is but I can’t help it, I always have a time in mind and I no longer make any apology for it. I can be way out but I am perfectly able to adjust my expectations as and when it becomes necessary. My family always say to me, it’s not about the time, of course it bloody is!!!
The first section is from Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, 30k to Bamburgh castle and the first official checkpoint.
The route takes you off the island over the causeway onto the mainland and inland on St Oswald’s Way. This is a long distance walking route which links some of the places associated with St Oswald, the King of Northumbria in the early 7th century who played a major role in bringing Christianity to his people. It follows Holy Island in the north to Heavenfield in the south, a distance of 97 miles covering castles, coastline, valleys, villages, forest and farmland. I wanted to enjoy this, much as I love my home, it’s not overly pretty or scenic, it is very flat, and I have run so many fenland miles that this was all new and exciting. Actually I would consider myself to be a road runner, I just don’t run trails – farmers here tend to get irate and block their fields off, it’s just easier to run round them on the road.
I had elected not to use my GPS watch. It has the capacity to panic me too much. “Oh no I’m going too fast I’m going to be too tired,” “Oh no I’m going too slowly I‘m going to be last” etc etc. Over this distance, for me, running to feel was enough. So I had a watch on, of course, but only to keep an eye on the actual time.
I didn’t want any support on this first section either, settle down, see how you feel, get a feel for who is around you and get 20 miles or as near as, in the bag as easily as possible and conserve as much as you can. No problems there. However the terrain was an awful lot slower than I anticipated. The woodland sections were muddy, containing a fair bit of uphill running. I was wearing trail shoes but being inexperienced on this terrain I was nervous of turning an ankle so it’s fair to say I was cautious. It was as early as this that I decided I wanted to complete this within 15 hours – the official cut off time for the 100k was 18 hours.
We were pretty strung out early on and there were large sections of this where there were no other runners in sight. Fortunately, being an official path there were sufficient marker posts to be confident of being on the right track. Bamburgh Castle was easily visible in the distance and was a great beacon to head for, especially as I was trying to “chunk” the race, one marker at a time.
I am not a very social racer, or runner for that matter, I am happy to pass a few minutes with a fellow runner but really am not comfortable running with anyone. I have no idea why that is or where it comes from – I like to think I am a pretty sociable sort usually and I am not overly competitive, except with myself, so why I prefer this solitude is a bit beyond me. Friends have asked me so many times, “what do you think about when you are running all those miles?” I really have no idea, Nothing? Everything? Anything? So I passed a mile or two with a chap from Gateshead who extolled the virtues of the Kielder marathon the following week and was using this as a training run for an upcoming Ironman event.
There was a small checkpoint at about 12 miles with water and jelly sweets. They took my runner number to check me in and I stopped long enough for a cupful of flat coke and grabbed a couple of haribou sweeties before pressing on. I had no idea who was in front or behind me, perhaps that’s just as well. I have messed up many a race, usually by trying too hard and overcooking it too early.
I was ready to reach Bamburgh Castle – it was tantalisingly visible but seemed to take ages to reach. The disadvantage of not wearing a GPS of course, but finally having climbed from the coastline and rounding the Castle, there it was and I allowed myself a longer stop. Not too long though, after all I had only run 30k not even a third. Still feeling positive though, I took on some electrolyte fluids that were on offer, checked in with my race number, a quick chat with another lady who was also running the 100k and we were off again. Consensus seemed to be that this was a bit longer than 30k. It certainly took me longer than it ever has before to cover the distance, 3 hrs 19 mins, but hey ho, it was the same for everyone.
The next section was 22k to Craster which for me would be the halfway point – how hard could it be?
To be fair it was actually a pretty good section for me. I had managed to recce some parts of the route earlier in the month, so as we left Bamburgh Castle and headed out across the fields I recognised where I was, just through the cottages, cut across the driveway and along the hedgerow. By now I felt in need of a bit of music. We were running inland for a bit and very strung out and I needed a distraction for a little while. I had to stop to dig around in the rucksack, I usually thread the cable under my t shirt and the iPod goes in my shorts pocket, but I was wearing a waist bag and couldn’t be bothered to take it all off, consequently I didn’t really know what to do with it so held it for a while. That annoyed me so I ended up shoving it into my bra. I really shouldn’t have bothered, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t allowed and soon after I took my first wrong turning. There were runners behind me who probably shouted to me but I couldn’t hear them – it’s totally my own fault and a very good reason why it’s not a good idea to race with music on. Fortunately I probably only lost about 10 mins, but I missed a left turn in a residential area and took the next one instead. I kept looking back to make sure runners came behind me but no one did, I was sure there was someone not that far behind. I jogged for a bit then decided to turn back since I was clearly wrong. A kind resident going out for the morning paper put me back on the right track fairly easily and I rejoined some new faces. Maybe I had lost more time than I had thought.
One of my big concerns when running long distances is fuelling. Everything I have ever read emphasises the importance of proper nutrition throughout the race, and I have never felt that I have got this quite right. I have learned that long distance running hurts, it can hurt a lot but that is manageable. You can learn to block out and ignore the pain in your legs and body, put it aside and push on regardless. The issue is exhaustion, you cannot block that out and once it hits you it is very difficult to carry on however mentally strong you may be or however determined you are. If your legs do not want to move any more it’s nigh on impossible to persuade them.
I have an advantage in that I have a cast iron digestive system. I can eat pretty much anything and everything and it’s unlikely to upset my stomach; however my disadvantage is that I am not really a food lover. Usually I can take it or leave it, and I quite often simply forget to eat. I will eat anything on offer if I am hungry, but I have quite a small appetite and during a race I just don’t want food. Everything I have ever read or learned from much more experienced runners than me has lead me to understand that barring injury or illness, if I was going to fail to finish this, it was going to be through poor nutrition. I had practised as much as possible beforehand and I know that I just cannot get solid food down when running. I use energy gels, sweets, flat coke, and electrolyte drinks. This was not going to be enough over this distance so I had armed my supporters with pots of Muller rice, chocolate mousse and chocolate milk. I knew that my stepson and stepdaughter Kay and Barry would be at Craster as they were driving up that morning to join their dad who was already there. They were bringing the additional supplies so when about 5 miles out and I was struggling through the sand dunes I decided it would be a good idea to take a walk break, save my legs and plan what I needed at the checkpoint. It was a getting warm by then too, so it would be time to change my shorts and t shirt, put new shoes and socks on and take on some proper food. This was a nice thought and kept me going through to the end of that section.
It was a nice moment when I saw them both running towards me and cheering about 400 yds from the end, telling me that I just had to get round the corner and up the short hill where the pub was waiting. Kay tried to jog with me but had high heels on and failed miserably. Barry jogged alongside but I was struggling badly by then, a sure sign that I needed fuel.
Craster was the end of the 50k race and the pub was buzzing. Finishers, marshals, race officials, people taking their lunch, support crews and drop bags littered the area. Which was unfortunate for all of them since I decided to whip off my shorts, t shirt, shoes and socks in the middle of them all. My belated apologies if I ruined anyone’s lunch!
I pretty much shoved anything down that I could; a vanilla custard Muller rice, a chocolate mousse, some milk and I think I had a few gulps of flat coke on top too. It was at that point that I started to wonder where I was in the race. The majority of runners were doing the 100 miles and I hadn’t really seen too many 100k runners and no women at all. The marshals seemed to think that I was quite high up and that not too many others had come through, that was enough to get me going again. I am not sure what my split time was at that point but to be fair I didn’t really care. I knew I still had a chance of finishing within 15 hours provided the wheels stayed on. I wasn’t really hurting too much, had no niggles, felt re energised from the food and knowing that I was halfway done. So with a final thank you and goodbye to everyone I headed out again to the applause of the pub goers.
Next section officially was 21.5k to Warkworth, the last big checkpoint. But I was thinking only as far as Alnmouth, my 40 mile point.
I can honestly say I don’t remember too much about this section, it was only about 10 miles to Alnmouth and I think it was fairly uneventful. There was a small checkpoint, as there was throughout the course manned as ever by wonderfully supportive, friendly and helpful people who really understood running. I probably I passed the time of day with one or two others that I met along the way, but as ever, found myself running alone and enjoying the spectacular scenery of Northumberland. The weather was absolutely perfect for me. I never mind running in warm weather anyway and the temperature was probably in the high teens with little or no wind. It was bright and clear and I remembered the words of my running buddy, “let the views pull you along, and imagine you are in the cinema watching a film, just enjoy the moment for what it is”. This really worked for me and I am amazed at how easy it was for me to view the distance in small chunks. I really did not give hardly any thought at this point to how far I still had to run and that helped me tremendously. I knew I had the fitness to get to the end somehow, the question was always do I have the mental strength to match it? At that point it seemed as though maybe I did, I was in good spirits although my new shoes were uncomfortable. I had raced in them before so wasn’t sure what was going on there, but a bit of discomfort was fine by me at that stage.
I think this is the section where we ran along the beach but I can’t be certain. Fortunately I was running with a couple of guys doing the 100 mile and one of them had recced this part himself and he duly advised us that maybe we were going to get wet along the beach. Sure enough we turned, ran downhill and onto the beach. Unfortunately the tide was coming in, quite quickly in fact and after a few minutes of easy running along the hard sand we had to move up the beach onto large pebbles where it was impossible to run or even walk very well so we stumbled and staggered, trying not to twist anything whilst looking for the little orange flag that told us to turn back inland. A couple of dog walkers told us that we had missed the tide by about an hour. It seems that when he recced the route earlier the tide was a long way out.
After a few more golf courses to traverse, there were a lot of these on the route, all the Saturday morning golfers were very friendly despite the fact that hoards of runners were putting them off their stroke, Alnmouth came into view and I had made my 40 miles.
My support crew were in the pub, no surprise there then, but Kay, Barry and their dad Roger, duly came running out, armed with the hundreds of bags filled with everything but the kitchen sink that I insisted, wrongly as it turned out, that I would need.
I had some more chocolate milk and some rice and took the opportunity to visit the ladies. I never seem to need to pee on a run, but the facility was right there so managed to squeeze one out.
Kay got the maps out and took charge of the route, advising me that I had about 7 miles to Warkworth where there was a fabulous aid station waiting for me with soup, coffee and all sorts of wonderful things. After that it would only be another 6 miles or so to Felton where she would join me on my run to the last checkpoint where Barry would join me to the end of the race. Lovely thoughts, only another 22 miles or so to go and only about 12 on my own – I was going to do this.
As it turned out this next section was one of the worst for me and contained two places where I took a wrong turning. Thank goodness they were close by and actually saw me go wrong, saving me some unnecessary miles and stress.
Heading out of Alnmouth along the road I felt ok still, alone and starting to hurt, shoes a bit uncomfortable still, but nothing that wasn’t to be expected. The dreaded exhaustion was being kept at bay and I was two thirds of the way through. Then I hit a zone, suddenly, running slightly uphill parallel to the bay on tarmac, I don’t want to do this anymore, this is stupid, maybe I should just stop, so I did but only briefly.
Relentless forward progress is the ultra runners’ mantra, so I thought I would keep moving, I walked trying hard not to panic. I told myself this is just a zone, a bad one but it will pass, just keep moving. I had been through good zones, really good ones; it was only natural that I would have to contend with a bad one, all I had to do was wait for it to pass. I absolutely couldn’t give up now and I bloody well wasn’t going to. All I had to do was run 12 miles, a distance I can do in my sleep, then I would have company and all would be well with the world again. As a solitary runner, why I thought company would be so good I don’t know, but I did and that’s what kept me going. The value of having a pacer towards the end of a run cannot be overestimated in my mind but it has to be the right one. At that stage I didn’t give this any thought, just get to Warkworth, take on more fuel then get to Felton that’s all you have to do girl.
It was a slog is all I can say. I was getting tired, my legs ached, I felt I had been running for hours, I had, and even the scenery wasn’t cutting it any more. Halfway through I came to a junction and went right as there were no marker posts; it felt like the correct way, it wasn’t. I heard yelling and screaming, thank god for my support crew, they had seen me and I turned around having lost maybe 500 yards. Other runners had caught up with me by then and after a quick chat with Kay who said she couldn’t begin to imagine how much I must be hurting I set off with a couple of 100 mile guys who were by that time run walking and were feeling positive as they had passed their halfway point.
I really couldn’t judge distances anymore and without the GPS I was a bit in the dark. I had already acknowledged that the distances were not at all accurate and it could be anything from 5 – 10 miles to Warkworth but all I had to do was keep going, there was soup waiting for me.
Not knowing this part of the route I tried not to think about anything much, still in a bad place I ran, walked, jogged, chatted and slogged it out all the way to Warkworth and the finest aid station I had ever seen.
What a welcome in the pub. They knew my name since I had to give my runner number which had been ripped off earlier, sat me down, gave me coffee, lentil soup, bread, chocolate brownies and told me that I was doing really well and I was high up I the field since most runners were yet to come through.
It was at that point another lady 100k runner came in and I decided I wanted to race. I had no idea where I was but I at least had a target now, something that usually doesn’t matter to me. Maybe at that point I needed a reason to carry on, so sorry love whoever you were; I was going to beat you.
I changed back to my original shoes thinking there was something wrong with the ones I was wearing, they didn’t feel any better. Turns out one of my feet were swollen and I just had to lump it. Refuelled and re energised I was out again walking uphill out of town with another 100 mile guy who was desperately trying to get a bowl of rice down. We had a chat about nutrition and he offered to share it with me. The camaraderie and support from other runners was incredible and very moving – for me it’s an integral part of ultra running. I don’t always get involved with the camaraderie thing but I can feel it and love being around it even though my natural self doesn’t always want to join in.
Final stage, Warkworth to Rothbury via Felton. An official distance of 29k but may as well have been another 100 miles.
Unfortunately the good zone didn’t last very long and I was soon back in the bad place. I just felt that this was more of the bloody same, a very unfair thought and does a disservice to the lovely part of the world that it is, but this is an honest account and that’s how I felt at the time.
Not too far to Felton though to be fair, penultimate checkpoint and a village that I had visited before. I was tired and hurting. The tiredness was nothing too scary so I wasn’t worried about that yet. The pain in my legs was getting bad and I knew I had to address this mentally. It was always going to happen, it wasn’t going to kill me, it wasn’t going to get much worse, it was expected and I had to find a way to ignore it and accept it as an integral part of the day. This helped me for a lot of that stint which was another straightforward slog and probably the worst part of the day. It was getting late, still daylight but I could feel the warmth of the day dissipating and decided that I needed a new t shirt. I didn’t actually want anything else to taken on enough for a while and this was all mental now rather than physical.
I knew Felton was where support runners could join and as I ran down the footpath and into the village I saw a lady dressed in running gear. I asked her if she was waiting to pace someone and she looked at me as if I were mad – no she was supporting her husband but round the corner they were waiting for me at the pub.
I just wanted this over. I didn’t even go into the pub. Barry and Roger were waiting across the road and Barry ran over to check me in. I demanded a new t shirt; I had lost all my manners by then. I refused all offers of anything and insisted I was taking off my backpack and waist bag. They were annoying the hell out of me by then, there was nothing in them I needed for this final push and I just wanted to get going. I had seen the lady I was trying to race come in just behind me and I just wanted to get this finished. Kay wasn’t ready, as usual for her, but she insisted that we needed the phone and at least some water. “Well you wear the bloody backpack then love, I’m going, catch me up”. How rude am I? They were doing a fantastic job for me and unbeknown to me at the time they were very worried for me as I was acting so out of character.
My split time here was 10.56 so I was pretty confident I would still make my 15 hours which helped a lot.
Kay caught me up as I left the village and by then I had gotten over myself and we had a lovely stint together across valleys and through woodland as it was getting dusk. We caught up on each other’s lives, her kids, her plans, she’s moving house next week and we made plans for me to help her with that. She’s a photographer and she got some lovely shots on her phone capturing a gorgeous orange sunset. The terrain was quite tricky here and we had to be on the ball to follow the route signs. Also we were going through woodland in fading light and had to walk quite a bit. This was just what I needed and was soon back in a good place. In fact this was one of the nicest stretches of the run; I don’t even remember feeling particularly tired. We laughed a lot; she’s as flaky as hell but great company and was just what I needed.
We didn’t see a single soul on this stretch, but suddenly we saw Barry running towards us telling us it was less than a mile to the final checkpoint and he would run back with us. As we came out from under the A1 there was the pub and my rival just in front.
A quick drink of flat coke, find my head torch as it was almost dark by then and I want to get out before her. Barry was running this with me, he was in the toilet. “Tough” I yelled to Roger, “I’m off; tell him to catch me up”. Roger is not a runner and thought I should wait for him. Fortunately Barry was on the ball and understood completely, I was out, across the bridge and into the woods before I heard him shout that he was right behind me. That was when I tripped on a root and dropped like a stone flat onto my face. I broke some of the fall with my right wrist, it probably hurt like hell but so did everything else by then so I didn’t even notice.
This final stretch was a complete nightmare. If I had been alone I would have thrown in the towel. Total darkness across an endless string of cow fields, no other runners or torch lights in sight. To make matters worse someone had taken all the reflective signs off the posts, so we would enter a field and struggle to see the path through, when we found it there was no telling if it was the right one and we had to cross the field and hope that we found a reflective sign on the other side. It felt like hours and hours and I used up a huge amount of energy worrying that we were going to get lost and run way more miles than we needed to. This is not a good thing after running nearly 60 miles.
I knew the path into Rothbury so I was constantly looking for familiar ground and just not finding it. It was incredibly slow going and I shouted, swore and was generally a bloody nuisance to poor Barry who was desperately trying to get me home. Rothbury is in a dip and I hadn’t realised this, so because we couldn’t see the lights of the village at all, anywhere in any distance I was convinced we were lost for most of this final leg. It turned out that we were never lost and actually I don’t think we took a wrong direction once, it just felt like it.
Suddenly Barry pointed out an unusual cliff face to our left – bloody hell I had seen this before, I knew where we were, we were nearly home. One final left turn where we would go up a short hill then less than a mile down into the village. We saw the lights and heard the noise, the best feeling ever. We fair sprinted down the hill, saw the final arrow taking us over the bridge to the right and there it was – the finish point. Barry stepped back and let me run in alone to wonderful support and a very kind man who told me I could stop running now. The time was 14 hours, 14 minutes and 23 seconds.
I sat down in the pub and someone handed me a medal, a t shirt, a finishers medal, a certificate, some trail socks and a running belt – I was second lady and fifth overall!! How about that???
This was an excellent race, incredibly well organised and supported by people that clearly understand ultra running. An amazing and wonderful experience from beginning to end. Looking back I am not sure there is anything I would have done differently. Maybe recced a bit more of the route, but that’s usually not possible anyway and there is something exciting about not knowing what’s around the next corner.
I probably won’t be back next year. That’s only because it’s so far away and there are so many wonderful and exciting ultra races around the country that it would be a shame not to try out some others. 100 miles?? At this point I have no desire to even try, but I said that after my first half marathon about a marathon so who knows?
Apologies if this account is wordy and too long. When reading reports I am always looking for how it felt and what was it like? I have tried to capture this here but cannot do so without providing additional information and it would have been wrong of me not to include the efforts and role of my supporters, so try as I might this is the shortest version I could produce.
Thank you once again to all the team involved in every aspect of this, if anyone is thinking about doing it, this is one not to miss.
Written by Nick Wishart - http://www.delamerespartans.org.uk/spartan-blog/nick-wishart
Motivation is everything. When you want something this much, then you surely will prevail. Well, after 3 days spent running 135 miles, I have proven to myself beyond doubt if there ever were any, that the mind rules the body and your legs will go where you direct them.
This could be a long race report and so I feel that I need to set the context.
I entered this race last year as my ‘A’ race and spent 8 months building up to it. Then less than 48 hours before the start, as we were setting up the family camp at Lligwy beach, I did some serious damage to my adductors while hauling our trailer onto a leveller block. It put me on crutches and despite an attempt to run on Thursday, my race was over before it even began. All the recce trips, planning and preparation necessary for my first multi day adventure went on ice, along with my groin! We stayed on the island and followed Dave as he raced around in fine style, along with the Helsby green army. It hurt to be there but yet it was still fabulous, infectious and I hobbled back home wanting it even more…..
Having vowed to be back, nothing was going to stop me in 2015.
This year has had a few injury hiccups as is usual with distance running (and age!), but finally the running gods smiled on me and so I came to Holyhead in one piece, with 5 Ultras in the bag for the year so far and more than ready to run one big lap around this stunningly beautiful island.
Not wanting to miss the fun, there would be 5 more hardy Delamere Spartans toe-ing the line; Andy, James, Ged, Gareth and Jason. I predict a riot!
Support from families would be on hand here and there, plus Paul Avo who would become a key member of the Spartan squad.
Day One Fri 4th Sept
Me, James and Andy rode with Ged to Holyhead to meet Gaz and Jetpack and then join the other hundred or so nervy looking figures hauling enormous weekend kitbags over to the start line at Breakwater Park.
Conditions looked dry for the weekend, though a pretty gusty northwesterly was clearly going to buffet us on our 36 mile journey to Amlwch today.
The atmosphere on the start line was friendly but with a lurking sense of what lay ahead keeping the runners pretty subdued. At last, 1pm came and off we went, Johnny Cash ringing in my ears, where it stayed for most of the next 3 days.
A race is a race, so I naturally wanted a decent finishing time and I had made a sort of total guesstimate for each of the 15 checkpoints, which was tucked away in the pocket of my racevest. However, my primary goal was completion, so not going off like a giddy kipper was high on the priority list!
As we (thankfully) left Holyhead town behind us, I found myself in step with John Knapp; last year’s winner. As far as someone to find myself in pace with, I pondered the sanity of this.
However, on day 1 the plan was to use my HRM as the gatekeeper of effort and I used it all day to throttle in my exuberance. It mostly worked, until I met another character. Back to that later…..
The only section of the entire 135 mile coastal route that I haven’t ever stepped foot on is the path beyond Holyhead as far as Church Bay. Looking back, it doesn’t provoke many memorable moments other than the odd nasty shingle beach, with Holyhead seemingly always still in front of us but to our left now. After sensibly letting John slip away into the distance, Andy and I cruised along happily together.
We were soon joined by a young guy wearing some knee length boardshorts and at first I figured he must be a kitesurfer who had been caught up in the fun when we crossed a few beaches earlier on. Introductions were soon made with Luke who turns out to be a very handy runner and we had many a fun hour off and on until our final dash back into Holyhead together 2 days later.
The most beautiful section of the island is arguably the Northern coastline, with beautiful inlets and dramatic clifftop singletrack paths. It was a joy to be flying along, with a whole weekend of running ahead of us. My spirits were high, though my right ankle was already making a horrible grinding noise and both Achilles tendons were very tender.
Disciples of Stuart Mills will be aware of his ‘Race Focus Energy’ mantra and my RFE needle was pointed high, enabling me to easily bury the aches and niggles by looking up, taking in the surroundings and enjoying the moment. My RFE tank stayed pretty full for the entire journey.
After 20 miles or so, the elastic between Andy and I stretched a little and I pressed on towards Amlwch with Luke for company.
As we headed towards Wylfa, a figure appeared in the distance running towards us. This signalled the arrival of the one man Spartan service station; Paul Avo, who had come straight from work to provide support for the weekend. This didn’t just mean sitting by the roadside, he was a proper mobile pitstop, refilling bottles and handing out food as we ran!! Refuelled we ran on and Avo then ran off to hunt down the others. 5 star.
The last 10 miles are a bit of a rollercoaster and Luke and I were both starting to feel the climbs a little. On the Lakeland 50 this year my run had been decimated by really severe adductor cramp in both legs that crippled my pace and plagued me all the way to the finish from before Kentmere, so when they started clutching again after just 25 miles of day 1, it was a bit of a warning signal. Time to take the climbs up the big steps more conservatively.
However, on reaching the final turn off the coast into Amlwch and retrieving the honesty book page, instead of cruising home, the pace of the boardshorts noticeably increased!
As we wound our way around the streets in search of the Leisure Centre, the day ended in a sprint finish to the line.
Like you do on day one. Conservative? Great fun!
Job done. 6hrs 23 mins for just under 36 miles and 4,000ft+ of ascent.
This was actually about 10 minutes slower than my pre race finger in the air guesstimate, but I blame the headwind and my dodgy legs!!
Now it was time to get into the hall and bagsy a sleeping spot for the night. As I had finished quite early, the choices were still reasonable (for a sports centre floor!) and I cleared the far corner of the hall, laid / tipped out my kit and moved in!
Not sure what time this was; looks like faff o’clock to me
Before long all 6 Spartans were back and apart from Jason and Gareth who were sleeping elsewhere (who said that was cheating?!), the remaining 4 of us claimed the corner for Sparta!
Although I fancied a swim to loosen the legs, my adductors were really tight and I was starting to get the odd severe full on leg cramp, so I opted for a massage instead. This was both a very smart and very painful move as my adductors were pummelled relentlessly into submission! I have to say that for the rest of the weekend, I never had another peep from them. Thank you! In fact, having had a post race massage after day 1 and day 2, this was probably the smartest thing I did all weekend as my legs behaved impeccably.
The cafeteria in the Leisure Centre was serving lasagne, so I reluctantly left my curry Pot Noodle in my kitbag and Andy and I went to try it. Conscious of the need to replace valuable Kcals, we both forced ourselves to finish every piece, though my appetite was really not co operating.
Faffing about endlessly seems to be a key ingredient of multi day racing, so the rest of the night was consumed with doing just that, until finally shoving my twitching limbs into my sleeping bag and sticking in the ear plugs for about 4 hours of fitful sleep.
Day Two Sat 5th Sept
At 04:50 the rousing strains of Johnny Cash started to leak through my earplugs and the big mileage day was upon us.
I’m a creature of habit regarding toilet visits in the morning, but very early starts normally catch me out and this had concerned me before the race. I had to make 2 unscheduled stops in this years dawn start Highland Fling.
Anyway, I actually managed a ‘performance’ and then set to work on a 500kcal expedition porridge to get maximum fuel in for the 66 mile day ahead.
Outside it was still dark and a bit chilly, but armwarmers and no jacket was the best choice for me at the start. Overnight the wind had been howling but thankfully this seemed to have notched back in time for the 6am start. As we headed through Amlwch and back onto our south bound coastal journey, the beautiful first rays of dawn were appearing before us.
What a fantastic time of day to be out on the coastal path. I know this section of coastline better than anywhere else, having run it countless times when staying at our favourite spot at Lligwy beach and so the miles just glided by.
Although my adductors still felt slightly sore, it wasn’t easy to hold the pace back when the trail was so inviting and the energy levels were bubbling. The plan was to always run with just the next CP in mind and not dwell on the fact that we would cover 50% of the entire island coastline today.
As I focused on the path and the views, I soon found myself more or less on my own, with a few of us exchanging places back and forth as we covered the ups and downs of the first 12 miles.
I came through Lligwy beach CP5 bang on my ‘schedule’, stopping only briefly then passing quickly onto Moelfre where I had a fantastic pannad and jaffa cake greeting from our friends Eira, Ann and Gwyn. I love a cup of sweet tea on ultras!
The next stop was Red Wharf Bay and CP6, where I knew that Sian would be waiting. Avo of course was also bouncing around as I came into the car park and he set off to get the pitstop ready.
It was great to see Sian for the first time and so topped up with fluids and snacks, I headed off in high spirits towards Penmon.
The next section was 10.6 miles; with a reasonably long flat estuary run followed by a fairly big climb to the Llandonna transmitter, around the longstanding landslip diversion and then some quiet lanes meandering down to the beautiful Penmon point.
Ahead of me was Dick, who was leaving Red Wharf Bay as I arrived. The gap between us had been fairly static. However, as I climbed off the beach at Llandonna and began the climb up through the fields towards the radio mast, he appeared right in front of me. The little blue tern coastal path signs tend to be erratic in different parts of the island and he had taken a wrong turning somewhere, adding ‘bonus’ miles to an already epic day.
I know how much that can screw your positive thinking and he certainly wasn’t happy, but we ran on together and I was glad of his company, enjoying some good conversation all the way into Penmon.
We chatted about past events, including UTMB and I remarked that although the RoF is a tough event, was it worthy of a 4 point qualifier rating? His straight response was; come and ask me that when you are done on Sunday and see if you think 4 points is merited. Wise words indeed Dick. In fact I was convinced by 8:30pm on Saturday that 4 points is a worthy haul!
We arrived together at Penmon CP7. Once again I seemed to be bang on my expected timing, which always feels reassuring and helps your supporters as well!
It was getting pretty warm now and as usual at about this stage, I wasn’t really feeling hungry. Left to myself I would no doubt have ignored the CP offerings but Sian and Avo double-teamed me into forcing something down from the car and they also sneakily loaded my pack with extra bits for later.
After climbing out of Penmon, the journey to halfway at Beaumaris is simple enough, except for a horrendous rocky, shingle beach section that tested my will a little. This was probably the only time I didn’t feel smiley all weekend, as it was impossible to make any pace and my feet and ankles were battered and bruised by the constant lateral movement.
By the end of the day I had developed a sore ankle bone, my fibula was bright red and bruised from the constant impact of the side of my shoe on it.
As a measure of my protest, I stopped and had a pee on the rocks before ploughing (literally) onwards to Beaumaris.
The town was typically very busy and I had my fair share of odd looks from daytrippers enjoying the sunshine as I tramped along the seafront. There was the odd cheer from a pub beer garden, but it seemed as if we were travelling relatively unnoticed by the general population.
I made the halfway point CP8 in my predicted 7 hours and decided to stop for a shirt and shoe change and refuel, with the whole family as well as my inlaws here, making it a little party!
Immediately beyond the CP, the route heads away from the coastline towards Menai with a pretty cheeky steep climb up a back lane. I saw Robin with poles out and decided to have a go myself as they were in Sian’s car. So after making Sian run halfway up the hill to hand them to me (sorry!) out they came and I clack clacked onwards.
I think it took me about a mile to get pissed off with this decision, but now they were with me to the next CP. Damn. I folded them down and stuffed them in the back of my pack. Waste of time or what! I had only used them once before on the Lakeland 50 back in 2013 and I doubt they will be making an appearance again any time soon.
Midway along the lanes, the route heads back off road onto a short loop section of trail. There was a small group of us together here now, including Dick who appeared having managed another little blue tern induced detour onto someone’s front garden! As we ran down some narrow singletrack, we were surprised by a few cows and a bloody enormous bull trotting right towards us. Yikes! Who wants to play chicken with a large bull? Thankfully as the cattle panicked they veered off straight into the undergrowth and we scarpered before they re emerged.
More stretching of the elastic in the group came as we ran down into Menai Bridge and so I pulled away on my own along the Straits, enjoying passing under the bridges in the sunshine.
CP9 came at 40 miles and perhaps symbolically, is in a churchyard, where thankfully I wasn’t in need of the last rites just yet. I dumped my poles onto Andy’s wife Val, stole as much coke as I could for my bottle, picked up a welshcake and set off towards CP10, on what is probably the least inspirational inland section of the entire route.
As I trotted along a shingly piece of beach, who should appear from nowhere like the shopkeeper in Mr Ben? Avo of course! It was really toasty now and so I took more time to reload my bottles from his car and as I headed inland towards Brynsciencyn, Dick and the rest of the little posse regrouped with me.
I must have been on a go slow at this point, because after just a few miles I found myself dropped a few yards off the back of this group. I stopped and dipped my buff into a stream to cool my head in the heat of the afternoon. I was actually quite happy on my own, when I’m feeling a bit tired I’m happier sticking to my pace, not a group pace.
After what seemed like an eternity of drudgery along lanes and then fields, I re engaged with the group just as we approached the Sea Zoo CP.
Now about 10 hours on the go, seeing the kids waving their flags as I approached the CP gave me a real boost, refilled my RFE and refocused me on the job left to be done. Various hotspots on my feet necessitated removing shoes and I sorted my feet out, before leaving just as Andy and Gareth arrived.
The next section was the longest of the day, at 12 miles, including the passage all around Newborough beach and forest. Knowing I was still on schedule, I kept my steady plod going, preparing myself for the leg sapping crossing of the sandy beaches ahead.
I knew Andy and Gareth were travelling quicker than me right now and it was no surprise when I heard a gate close behind me about 30 minutes later and Andy joined me.
Having his company was a great distraction to increasing fatigue. Having been here together before, we both acknowledged that the fastest should carry on at his own pace and not linger.
In reality we were pulling each other along! As we ran into the car park at Newborough Warren, Andy’s family and Avo were waiting for us. Sensible decision making definitely becomes harder as the tiredness takes over. I knew I needed fuel but was reluctant to wait for Pauls mobile brew machine to heat up! I made do with fantastic mandarin orange segments while Andy was keen to keep moving. He set off while I filled up, then while I caught him up, Paul produced a cuppa and ran after Andy to give him a quick top up. Quality support!
We reached the edge of the dunes, where the coastal path heads both left and right. Right takes you away from the beach via the forest track and the correct route takes you first left and then around a sandy dune and immediately onto the beach.
It was a gorgeous afternoon, the sun was out and the sky was blue. Although the beach is seemingly endless, I have done this section twice before on long recces and I was ready for it. I love this beach, it’s a favourite of Sian’s and so I kept positive and knew we had day 2 sorted if we could keep moving well to the next CP.
About half way towards the turn at Llanddwyn island, Andy was starting to suffer. After ignoring our agreement and his instruction for me to press on, we settled into a run / walk combination and fixed our focus on a group of 3 runners that were now just ahead of us.
This seemed to work well and we steadily covered the next long stretch before the honesty book flag, slowly closing the gap ahead. We arrived at the flag at the same time as the others, before heading across the marshy rough track to regain the forest trail that would lead us to CP9.
Having pushed ahead of the others at a steady pace on the fire roads, Andy’s pace faltered a little and the suffering returned. I knew that getting to the CP was a priority so he could recharge, so we pressed on, before I finally decided to go ahead and get to the checkpoint and have them ready with a hot drink to revive him. It is a horrible place to be when nausea and fatigue take over, so I was reluctant to leave him. I also know, having been there, that I would rather sort myself out on my own.
At the CP, I had a few chips offered by Sian, but really did not want to eat. Andy arrived, was ill and after about 5 or 10 minutes indecision I finally agreed to leave him. He would take the sensible proper time to get sorted to cover the last 6.5 miles.
I headed out across Maltraeth cob and was soon joined by Steve. We pressed on together and rejoined Erixon from Sweden. The three of us stayed together to Hermon, where we negotiated the diversion from the trail. After dodging a combine harvester heading towards us, we had a chat with the farmer. Having seen a couple of runners ploughing straight through his crops, he had decided to make a better path through the field for us!! I was just glad it was daylight, as navigating this section in the dark could not have been much fun.
I could smell the finish now. Having seen a beautiful dawn, we now watched the sun as it started to dip towards the horizon and I was determined to finish without using a headtorch.
I picked up the pace over the final set of dunes towards Aberffraw beach, retrieved the honesty book page and then set off as fast as I could for the village, leaving the other two behind.
It’s amazing where the energy can come from after 14 hours of running. As I came around the estuary in the gloom, I was sure I heard my name being called!
I looked across towards the other side. There it was again! Then I heard ‘Daddy!” It was Sian and the girls and they ran parallel to me along the shoreline path in Aberffraw and met me as I came over the bridge into the village. Those last few hundred metres were a blur. What a relief to get into the finish. Job done in daylight. Epic!
14 hrs 38 mins. 66 miles 4,600ft ascent
After the massage miracles of day one, it was a no brainer for a post day two pick me up so I got my name down before nabbing a spot by the stage and unrolling my sleeping bag. I was delighted and slightly amazed when about 20 minutes later, Andy appeared in the hall. Back from the dead!!
Time for massage therapy. This time Ceri worked her magic and loosened the knots in my legs. Fabulous and something to remember for future multi day events, as it’s a real tonic for tired muscles. No cramps today, very sore feet and ankles, but apart from being exhausted I was in good shape. All I needed now was some food and clean gear.
The family were in a B&B at Maltraeth, so we nipped back there and I had a bath while my microwave stew and dumplings cooled down.
Then it was straight back to the hall, where folks were slowly starting to arrive. James and Gareth were home safe. After a beer with Luke (thanks Tim!) and some chatting with James while he spilled spaghetti on himself, I decided to get my head down at about midnight. With a fairly large pile of bags still unclaimed in a heap in the middle of the floor, god knows where all these people would sleep; there wasn’t a spare bit of floor left! I couldn’t be bothered to prep for Sunday. Sleep called…….
Day Three Sunday 6th Sept
04:50 and everyone’s favourite artist blasted out from the speakers. I left my earplugs in while I sat up. When I went to sleep the hall was half full of unclaimed bags. When I woke up, their owners were lying in an untidy heap all over the place. I picked my way through what resembled a war zone, made my visit to the throne and then warmed up some porridge.
My brain was on go slow and I had barely enough time to dress, get Andy to stick tape over my various bits of worn through flesh on my back before we had to leave. The porridge remained half eaten. Paul grabbed my kitbag for me and outside we went for the 6am start.
Damn, where’s my headtorch?! No time to find it, so Paul took his off and plonked it on my head as Bing gave the briefing for the day. Feeling very unprepared and with no food and just one bottle, I was already looking forward to the bacon butty 7 miles in at CP13 Rhosneigr!
Off we went into the darkness. I had no idea if my legs would work after yesterday, but as we headed out to the coastal path I was amazed that they were moving well, with no pain. I found myself at the sharp end and concentrated on my footing, glad of the headtorch for the first mile or so of rough ground.
Feeling comfortable and happy with the pace, I carried on, stashing the torch after about 20 minutes as we made our way around the headland.
We were soon at the Anglesey circuit after about 2.5 miles and I moved into 5th place as we headed up the short hill to the fields beyond the circuit. The lead 4 runners slowly pulled away and I settled down.
I was happy to have reccied the potential obstacle of the route through the dunes into Rhosneigr, and soon enough the CP at Sandys Bistro appeared. I was already over 15 minutes ahead of todays plan. All good. I gave Paul his headtorch back and with a bacon butty in hand and a cup of tea, I jogged through the deserted streets of the town.
Having negotiated the dunes into Rhosneigr, now I had to navigate the dunes out around RAF Valley. After a bit of meandering, I popped out onto the beach and headed steadily onwards towards Four Mile Bridge. This section can only be described as mostly dull, winding around fields and brambly singletrack as we went up the tidal estuary before the crossing onto Holy Island. By now, the ball of my right foot was starting to burn and in need of attention. A job for CP14.
Eventually I emerged onto the road again, where Paul was ready with his service station, about 400 yards short of the CP.
I whipped off my shoe, tried to dry my foot and stuck a Compeed onto a large and deep double blister. Hmm. I filled up with mandarin orange segments, reloaded my bottles and scuttled off, waving merrily at the checkpoint crew with just the briefest pause to show my number before heading straight onto the boardwalk section over the marshy estuary.
Now about 25 mins ahead of schedule, the next few miles went very uneventfully as I aimed for Silver Bay and the honesty book. The relief from applying the foot plaster lasted all of about 5 minutes and I tried to bury the discomfort in the back of my mind.
Silver Bay is a beautiful little secluded cove. I grabbed a page, waved to a solitary couple on the beach, admired the view and began the final west coast traverse of Holy Island northwards towards Trearddur Bay.
By now my right foot was really burning and every step was becoming excruciating. Alone on the headland, I sorted my head out by screaming out loud at myself; ‘suck it up, it’s just f***ing pain and you’re almost finished’! That seemed to work, I highly recommend it as therapy!
Ahead of me I spotted the bobbing black wig of Luke in 4th place and we rejoined forces along the headland with about 13 miles left to run. Those last 13 miles were far more pleasant than I had been anticipating before the race and we cruised along having a great time, as our once distant Holyhead Mountain final destination got gradually closer and closer.
As we came into the final CP 15 at Trearddur Bay, the family reception committee were out and the atmosphere was fantastic. Luke had a can of Guinness (!) and while I waited, Sian sprayed a nice go faster Spartan green stripe on my head, along with some glitter. Don’t forget, we are serious endurance professionals you know!
Then we bounced off towards South Stack, as if it was a Sunday morning fun run.
The final honesty book page was collected and we made our way over the last bit of trail and along the roadside path before starting to climb the hill up towards South Stack.
We were greeted by cheers from the kids and friends as we made the climb up the steep steps to South Stack. I love this part of the island, there are truly epic views over the cliffs. With a wave, we headed back onto the trail for the last 3.5 miles around Holyhead Mountain.
I was buzzing so much at this point that the climb was forgotten completely. The pace picked up and as we dropped towards the furthest point at North Stack I shouted to Luke to take it easy as a fall now would be disastrous. As the words came out of my mouth I kicked a rock and down I went like a sack of the proverbial. Luckily I avoided the rocks and did a full face plant into the bracken instead. I’m still picking splinters of thorns out of my hands and arms now. This was highly amusing for 118 and we bounded down the steep track to the house on the cliff edge. (Note: this corner would benefit from an honesty book page I think Bing!)
We passed a group of walkers with looks on their faces that spoke volumes. Luke’s GPS watch was predicting a finish time of 6:59 and it was clear that if we legged it we could break 7 hours. Time to light it up then.
We charged along the single track and bounced down the steep slab steps, with the finish line beckoning. We both agreed that our finish required a full sprint, absolutely nothing held back and so after coming through the gate we let rip, coming over the line (in the correct direction!) as fast as 135 miles of running would allow.
A brilliant and fitting finish to the best race experience I have had yet.
6hrs 54 minutes for the last 33 miles and 2,600ft ascent.
Written by Matthew Hearne - http://www.svp100.co.uk
A geography degree, a map, a compass and a GPS…no excuse for getting lost, right?!
After having recently completed the CCC and despite swearing numerous times during the race that I’d never run the UTMB, I decided that I might as well try and collect the 9 points, put my name into the ballot and see what happens. Having picked up 3 UTMB points from the CCC, I needed to collect 6 more points from 2 races before the end of the year. After a quick search on the UTMB website, I noticed that there was a 3 point race in the Peak District, called the Peak District Gold Ultra Challenge, which was approximately 100k in length with 3,000m of ascent. A week before the race and entry was still open, so I thought that I might as well have a stab, even though my feet had not fully recovered from the trip to Chamonix.
The Peak District is a lovely part of the country and I’d not been up that way for a few years. In fact, the last time I’d visited the Peaks was with a bunch of lads on what can only be described as a ‘Withnail and I’ weekend away, fortunately without the presence of an Uncle Monty character. One of these chaps just happens to be the race director for a certain ultra marathon which takes place on a small Welsh island.
Hitting the Monsal trail with Toby
A couple of friends (Donna and Ludo) from my running club had also signed up for the race in the Peaks. Given that it started at 9pm on the Friday, we all decided to work half a day and head up in the afternoon. Escaping London was relatively easy, but we set off a little late and ended up arriving at the start in Hathersage approximately 20 minutes before the race was scheduled to begin. There was no time for pre-race nerves, as I was desperately trying to get dressed and sort out my equipment whilst the race briefing took place. At registration we were handed a map of the route and in return we handed over a signed form saying that we were carrying all the mandatory race equipment. Believe me, there was quite a large amount of equipment required for the race, including two O.S. maps and a blizzard survival bag. Still, it was possible to pack reasonably light, although not as light as I would have liked.
Stunning sunrise over the Peaks – photo taken by Donna McCourt
Prior to the race there had been few clues regarding the route itself. The website gave a very high level overview of what the route would be, and we were provided with approximately 50 grid references to follow; over 100k it left the navigation very open to interpretation. Also, the map we were provided at registration was high level and did not provide enough details to fully navigate by. As such, it’s fair to say that I was slightly nervous as I set off at 9:08pm, approximately 8 minutes behind the rest of the field. I had a rough idea of which direction to head in, but there was no one to follow for the first couple of miles in the dark. I managed to take a couple of wrong turnings, and had to back track a number of times before I started catching up with the back of the pack.
This race was certainly going to be a challenge. Navigating at night with a head torch was proving to be much tougher than I expected, and I felt well out of my comfort zone. I’m far too used to following bits of tape, other runners, or geographic features in daylight, or glow sticks and reflective tape at night. Suddenly the uncertainty of each step left me feeling fearful, particularly when there were large drops at the side of the trails up on the high peaks. I knew that I wasn’t the only person struggling with the navigation as I could hear another runner on a lower path grumbling and fighting his way uphill through the undergrowth, after having missed a turn.
Into the dragon’s breath – photo taken by Donna McCourt
Approximately 10 miles into the race I was given the choice of running along a main road, or following a path through a field. We had been instructed to follow footpaths where possible, so I opted for the latter. It was pitch black and there was a mist slowly descending upon the fields. As I moved my head from side to side, all I could see were yellow eyes were staring back at me. Having watched far too many horror movies, my mind was working overtime, which served only to increase my pace.
I kept losing track of the footpath and then suddenly my foot disappeared with a splodge and I fell forward. I was up to my knees in a bog and fortunately my poles had prevented my arms going all the way into the mud. The sheep surrounding me certainly heard a few choice words and I decided that I really wasn’t enjoying the race at this point, and I started questioning whether I’d actually finish.
Shortly after this incident I found my way back onto the main road, where I bumped into another runner called Toby. It turned out that he was the chap I’d heard fighting his way through the bracken earlier on. We decided that we might be more successful at navigating if we stuck together for a bit, and to be honest, I was glad to have some company out on the dark trails.
Chatsworth Park
To keep the account of the race as brief as possible, here is my summary of my personal high and low points:
High points
- – Finding someone to buddy up with for approximately 40 miles of the race. It turned out that Toby is a triathlon coach, and he did a great job of pushing the pace and keeping motivation high. He also had some great stories from Kona, Norseman and various other races I’d love to do. We also found a chap called Steve along the route who ran / walked with me for the last 10 miles or so;
- – Running through a section of forest in the middle of night, only to find the wall of Derwent Reservoir looming up ahead of us. It reminded me of Winterfell from Game of Thrones, and it was a truly awesome sight. I laughed insanely for around a minute as we ran towards it, believing myself to be back in the Middle Ages;
- – Realising that we could navigate by following footprints in the dew when visibility was poor due to the fog;
- – Running through a field with 100 sheep running ahead of us, barking like we were sheep dogs;
- – Looking at the heavy mist deep in the valleys as we hit one of the highest points on the route. The mist was eerily glowing red in the darkness of the night, and it looked like dragon’s breath;
- – The amazing sunrise shortly before we hit the Monsal trail, when the cloudy sky was painted with red, orange, indigo and violet;
- – The moment Toby’s fiancée pulled a can of Coke out of the car for me, despite having been told by locals that it would be impossible to buy a can of Coke anywhere in the middle of the night;
- – Being looked after by the ladies at the Grindleford aid station who were really cheerful and super helpful;
- – The final descent into Hathersage;
- – Being provided with a nice curry at the end;
- – Having my heavy bag and tent carried to the car by a very helpful chap at the finish.
Low points
- – Arriving at one of the early aid stations to be told that none of the aid stations would have Coke. It’s fair to say that Coke is my favourite aid station drink, and the caffeine and sugar combo normally help keep me going strong, particularly when sleep deprived;
- – Finding that water had to be decanted from large 10 litre water containers at each aid station, which was virtually impossible to do without someone else helping. At many of the aid stations the volunteers were not proactive in offering help, and had to be asked;
- – Falling into a bog early in the race and having damp socks and muddy hands;
- – The numerous navigation errors, knowing that each one was going to add ‘bonus miles’ to the total distance;
- – Barely being able to see through the mist as the light from the head torch bounced back against the water droplets;
- – Arriving at one of the aid stations in the heat of the day to be told that they had no water. I had to then queue in a café in order to get my bottles filled, whilst a member of the public in front of me yammered on about how many races she had done and which ones I should do next. She didn’t let me go ahead of her though, even though I was mid-race and barely able to stand upright by that point;
- – Climbing the final ascents in the heat of the sun, wishing that there was some shade;
- – Finding out that there was no finisher medal after all that effort.
The Monsal trail was easy running for around 10k
All in all, it was a tough race and I felt that the 3 UTMB points had definitely been earned at the finish. The navigation aspect was certainly much tougher than I expected, but the route itself was fantastic, and it definitely made for a great run. I just wish I’d been able to see much of the scenery in daylight hours.
A curry and a certificate for finishing
I learned that I’m not very good at running on my own, as I prefer jokes and banter with another runner to help me through the tough times. Being with another person also really helped with the navigation as we were able to sense check decisions before heading along new paths. I’m not sure I enjoyed the last 10 miles, despite the scenery being stunning, but that was probably due to my lack of fitness following the CCC. However, in retrospect, I’d definitely recommend the event to other long distance runners. The cut-off of 24 hours is definitely quite challenging, as demonstrated through the DNF rate which was 53%. There are a few small things that the race director could improve (see my list of ‘low points’), but overall it was a well organised event, with plenty of aid stations on a very suitable route for running, and reasonably good value for money at ~£65.
Written by Owain Thomas - http://www.ultrarunningmatelot.co.uk
After a long journey all 6 hrs of it, in the car from Plymouth that was made longer thanks to the lovely M5 traffic jams, we made our way down a dusty track heading towards lights and sounds that were on the horizon, and with Belvoir Castle (near Grantham) glowing due to an orange light I was starting to get pre event excitment or as my wife who is my support crews says starting to become a pre race arsehole. I still don't know what she means by this as I'm always calm and collective prior to any running event!
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| Glamping was available (Photo by Mark Ratcliffe) |
Met at the campsite area by my good friend Duane of Team Buff UK, he guided us to the area, where he and the others were pitched along the start finish line. Probably one of the longest start finish lines I've seen for sure and arriving late meant we didn't get the best of spots but it wasn't the worst. It was dark, so we didn't hang around and soon got our shelter up in quick time thanks to lending hands of my Team Buff friends. We've gone for a different set up to our HOPE24 set up. Mainly for ease as our massive tent is a nightmare to put up and down for such a short time. With it up and done and only the stuff for the insides to sort out we went off to our hotel to try and get a good night sleep prior to a long day ahead of me. We checked in and put my best support crew member (my 5 year old son) into bed and I and the wife soon dropped off to sleep.
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| All set up! |
Event 28 of 37 Equinox 24 - 24 hour Endurance Event
I slept pretty well, unlike my wife she had a pretty rubbish sleep which was not good considering she was going to be crewing me later on. I still had to register to pick up my race number and finish setting up our stuff for the event, so we left the hotel early, grabbed a big breakfast and made our way to the event.
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| All ready for the go! |
The place was buzzing with the very atmosphere I like. People were up and getting themselves ready, campsite was a lot more filled and I couldn't wait to start. I registered straight away and picked up my race number and the Equinox24 Morph (a bit like a Buff) and preceeded to finish sorting out my stuff, getting it all prepared. Even though I had some various snacks out on the table, I decided to try something different. As I had no minimum laps or a target it didn't matter if things went wrong. I was out to enjoy it as much as I could and try new things. Having heard about a nutritional product called Tailwind from Duane, and knew other friends raved about this product, I thought I'd give it ago. I filled up my bladder in my race vest with water and added the naked flavour Tailwind powder to the water. As it was a 2 ltr bladder and normally the sachets give two scoops for 500 ml, I added 7 scoops to the water. I went 1 less as I had a feeling 8 would be one to many.
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| Duane and myself |
As I was getting ready, the fun run for the children was set off and it was soon good seeing them having fun. Some with their parents some with out. It was a lap of the camping a field about 1KM I think and it was good to see all the solo and team runners cheering them on as they went around. I stuck my hand out for a high 5 like many of them will be when I am running about, but alas none took up my offer. I felt slightly rejected by this but I knew they were focused on their goals hehe!
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| Team Buff UK's Sarah, David and me! |
As 11.30am approached everyone made their way down to the start finish line for the run director's briefing. Johnny Nicol with microphone in his hand mentioned the usual rules and regulations you would hear at a 24 hour event. This is the 3rd year the event has been put on and has grown massively since the 1st year and this year there was about 1200 odd runners either running the 10K, team relays or as soloists and this was showing in the atmosphere around the arena.
Last few minute preps and I made my way to the start line, with so many people on the start line, I was towards the back. Everyone was eager to go, like horses in the starting pens. The big and small hands hit 12pm and we were off, the supporters along the start straight finish cheering us on as we made our way out of the area. Each lap was 10KM and was made up of mainly tarmac with some grassy areas, having asked a few veterans of the course, I asked how it compared to HOPE24's course and was told it's not a challenging but the extra 1.2 miles makes up for it. The course lead us out down the road before turning right up an incline and the first of the grassy areas. It took us around a field before back on the road and heading back towards the way we came. Not far after the 3KM sign we turned right and headed down a slight incline towards and over a bridge near two beautiful lakes at the 4KM point. Straight after the bridge we made our way up a long hill, it wasn't steep but it went on for about 1 and 3/4 KM's where you hit a water station.
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| Race start briefing |
We turned left onto another grassy field where it took us past the 6KM marker towards a steep short downhill section. The downhill was also at a camber all the way down to the bottom where you turned left toward what they call "That Hill". This was a short steep hill, which brought you back up to the top towards the tarmac. It wasn't a tough hill but it was enough to make you walk it. At the top turning right along the grass you soon hit 7KM and eventually heading down the tarmac which we came up before hand. Half way down the hill where a marshal waited for us we turned right into another field and down a slight incline towards the lake. You can see the arena from here and one of the lakes. We turned right at the bottom and headed past the 8KM and turning right over the bridge and back up the incline towards the arena. 9KM's led you back into and around the arena. The route lead us around the arena where some of the best support you could imagine were located until you hit the finish start straight which was a really slight incline and that was your lap done!
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| That Hill |
So how did my event go for me? First two laps were pretty good, straight away I went with run the flats and downs and walk the hills from the very beginning, and making sure I soaked up the event with the mindset of enjoying it all the best I can. I didn't stop between the first two laps but after finishing the 2nd lap I had to change my shoes. I was wearing my Hoka Speedgoats, but due to the amount of tarmac it just wasn't worth trail shoes. I had another pair of trail shoes and only one pair of road shoes. I went with the road shoes which happened to be my famous Hoka Flops from my epic adventure. Even though I knew it was going to get damp during the night on the grass it was worth the risk I thought. The sun was beaming down on us, and it was redders out on the laps. I was making sure I took my salt capsules every hour due the heat and sipped on my tailwind from the race vest's bladder. I had a cup of water when I reached the water station. As I made my way up the long hill for the 3rd time, the back of my right knee blew out on me. The injury I sustained during the 7 ultras in 7 days reared it's ugly head once more. It proved I wasn't fully recovered and now it was a case of damage control during the laps. I got back to the tent, and the support crew aka the Wife was waiting ready to go. She knew exactly when I was coming, due to hiring a tracker for the weekend for this purpose. It saved me using texts on my phone and it worked very well.
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| Digging in deep (Photo by Curly Photography) |
I'd taken my poles out for hills to give my knee some respite and soon 5 laps had gone, each marshal I passed on each lap got a thank you, because they rotated with different marshals through out the 24 hours, I didn't know if I'd see them again. I crossed the line and grabbed a top up of the bladder and my head torch ready to dig in deep for the night. Each lap finished with that amazing support, there were cow bells, cheering, clapping, and signs. On one lap I had a runner called Paul Ross from Shabba Runners recognise who I was and came over to me as I passed and shook my hand. I stopped and chatted as he introduced me to his team and told them of what I had recently done in my epic adventure. The awareness of what I set out to achieve over the year is working and it makes me very humble. During lap 6 I had other runners slow down and chat to me asking me about what I did. I was humbled and my spirit was lifted because of this. Also my wife was now having a nightmare due to my boy being poorly and vomiting everywhere, the last thing she needed was to deal with me. I had 30 min break and headed out once more my thought with my wife and boy now and not on the run. I was pleasantly surprised it wasn't that cold. it was cold but I coped with just my X-Bionic Trick shirt and Gillet my arms and legs felt warm. On the other side of the lakes there was a big wedding going on, with a terrible saxophonist and a DJ giving it large, I was able to guess the tune and have no need for headphones. It went on til late into the night/early in the morning so wasn't much of a quiet period.
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| Great support throughout the event by Team Bear Tri |
Eventually I came in from my 7th Lap, it was not good with my knee, I felt great otherwise, with Tailwind doing what I expected. I still hadn't needed any food and I seemed to have solved my issue with eating right here. It was 2.48am and I went out for 8th lap but 2 minutes after I couldn't go a step further with my knee and with my boy being ill I didn't want to go out (in my head anyways). I hobbled back and I went for a lie down. Something I didn't want to do or plan for but I did it. I got my head down about 3am and it wasn't until almost 7am that I give my mind a telling off and dragged me out and back on the course. I kept hearing the other runners go past and I had to get up, I had to. The sun was coming up with a little mist over the course. It was stunning, and with that second wind you get first thing when the sun comes up, I went out put in a good 8th lap, I saw a field full of ducks which was something I didn't expect.
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| Photo by Mark Ratcliffe |
Now I went on for my 9th lap with time to do another and another I had in mind, but as I made my way around the course, my knee had nothing left pain, pain I hadn't felt since the third day of #YOLO7dayUltra. the day I couldn't barely walk. That was it, my event was over for me. The rest of me was good to go, and if I hadn't had stopped for almost 4 hours I could've done even more. Was I disappointed? No I did what I set out to do and that was to enjoy myself. My wife met me at the bottom of the finish straight and walked with me to the finish. I received a great man hug from Johnny who's words were "You're going to be the first to punch me for saying one more lap aren't you?" "No, my knee has had it" was my reply, with that I ended my run and collected my lovely medal. I was very pleased, that I survived pretty much on Tailwind alone with no issues, no sickness, cramp or feeling hungry. I had fuel in the tank and it was great. I was reasonably happy with my performance and the fact actually I could of nailed more laps really but this time just 93KM's were completed but they were happy 93KM's.
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| More miles for Phil |
What can I say about this event? It's a very special event. The atmosphere is amazing, the support is something I've only seen really at events this. The marshals are everything you want from a marshal they kept your spirits up and made sure everyone was ok as you went around. There was plenty of food selection in the arena, from fish and chips, jacket potatoes to pizza. There was a double deck beer bus which supplied throughout from Friday on wards.The event is amazing and if it grows even bigger I hope it doesn't lose the spirit, the atmosphere I love about it. I've met and created new friendships, Sid the man who wore a Morph suit throughout another inspirational man and Nikki Reeves who had more changes of outfits than the London Fashion show you smashed out an awesome 111K whilst still fitting in a long sleep. The winners Gary and Kirsty were amazing and put in outstanding performances.
Johnny and Laura have created something special here, long may it continue. Definitely one as long as I'm not at sea I will go back to.
I must thank my wife and son for being an amazing support crew once more, X-Bionic and Sunwise for the continued support and the amazing kit.
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| Top Crewie! |
I've 9 events left to do now and more miles for Phil to run. Until the next time!
Owain