Corinne Rodgers

Having come to the firm conclusion that if I can’t go fast go long, 2015 has become my first foray into the world of Ultra.

Taking part in TR24 last year as part of a 5 person team, I was ecstatic on completing my longest distance ever (50k) in 24 hours, but at the time I could not get my head around why someone would choose to do the event solo…..surely repeated laps around the same course would be mind numbingly boring and therefore a much greater mental challenge with too much temptation to stop at the start gantry and retire to a not so comfy air bed? As time went on however, I began to consider the benefits of the event as a test of ability and stamina: no navigation meant I could concentrate on keeping going with no fear of getting lost, every 6 miles I could change kit, grab supplies, refuel in comfort , and most of the way round I would benefit from the over whelming support from other runners that is ever present at the event. I was sold. It turns out secretly so was another team mate, Lisa and both of us were primed and ready to go come Saturday morning , intrigued to see how we’d get on – with the course and with each other for that amount of time!

For anyone that hasn’t had the pleasure of taking part in a 24 hr event of this kind, the atmosphere is awesome – and we set off to a huge amount of noise and celebration which got us in the mood for what I referred to for most of the rest of the adventure as my first ‘Ultra Party’ – pork pies and all !

The target we set was 100k – the longest distance either of us had completed continuously and a good training base for the 86 mile ‘Ridgeway Challenge’ that we are undertaking at the end of August. The strategy was to walk the hills and run the rest until we were forced to walk either through fatigue or through common sense (we walked large portions through the woods in the night to avoid risk of injury )

So how did we get on?

The strategy worked well ! We ran/walked the first 70k, fuelling every hour . (It was hot in the day and I drank an average of 750ml every lap!) Took a break at around 21:30 pm for a hot meal (noodles) and a warm cup of tea, and changed into clean warmer clothes for the night section. The night section was much slower – we wanted to be safe and figured the longer we were on our feet the better in preparation for our next venture, but we stayed warm and about 3am we resisted the temptation to go with a huge greasy burger and opted for a coffee which we took round with us . The fatigue had really hit us then …. I can only liken it to one of those hangovers where you are so tired your head if foggy everything becomes a bit silly. We were giggling like teenagers one minute and cursing the next. Our legs were strong , we were relatively ache free but were reducing to a shuffle nevertheless. At 90k we decided we may benefit from a snooze (I think the deciding point was Lisa suggesting we ran for a bit and me replying with something rhyming with ‘duck poo’)….one plus point of a lap based challenge. After an hours rest, I wouldn’t say I felt more energised but I was certainly in a better frame of mind! We completed our 100k with a good 4 hours to spare …. We considered pushing on but came to the conclusion that we had met our target and the inflatables were looking increasingly comfortable by the minute. Our planned additional lap timed to finish with the end of the event went out the window quite frankly when the heavens opened …… huge respect to the solos who were still continuing at this point in the driving rain, I have yet to develop this much determination but I am getting there .

So why call it an Ultra party ?

• The atmosphere was electric all the time – every team cheered you on all the time and one running club even took down all the solos names so they could cheer us individually as we ran past.
• Having completed a 50k and a 38miler alone as well as most of my training – it was great to have company – especially when we talked non stop for 13.5 hours.
• It was Lisa’s 40^th birthday on the Sunday. I bellowed at the changeover guys as we passed the start at 00:30 which prompted a round of singing – awesome moment !
• It was pretty much a continuous buffet – during which I got to eat my beloved pork pies as well as cheese and marmite sandwiches as well as a ton of sugary foods guilt free – bonus !
• We had a little boogie every time we stopped at our base camp where 3 relay teams from our running club were housed – pretty sure this kept us flexible and avoided the cramping …

I strongly recommend this type of event to those of you who want to test your boundaries – there’s tons of support, plenty of marshalls and you know you are only ever a few miles away from everything you may need when the going gets tough. Next year I plan to talk a little less, run a little more, smile just as much and aim for 100 miles.

Well done everyone who took part !