Hi all,
Well its been several months now since my last blog and its fair to say that it has been a very eventful few months indeed.
Before I tell you all about the UK Ultra Distance Trail Champs that I recently took part in I will quickly gloss over another race that I took part in previously. I will try to be more diligent with updating my blog on a regular basis.
Back in June I took part in the Ultra Trail South West 100 (18,000 feet ascent) which was run from Portleven (Cornwall) to just north of Newquay (watergate bay). This race is organised by Endurancelife and is promoted as the toughest race in the UK.
The south west coastal path is without doubt very hard terrain to run on what with the constant up and downs its really hard to settle down into a nice rhythm. However, we covered the first 30 miles without any incidents and when we arrived at Lands Ends we were happy to be met with hot food and drinks and some of our friends waiting for us.
Shortly after this running in the darkness we got seriously lost adding another 40 minutes onto our route and even ended up at the edge of a storm breaker just out of Lands End. How? I really don't know.
As dawn broke the next leg to zennor was probably the worst of all it was only 6.4 miles bur it was like being on a different planet, the whole leg comprised of huge boulders and endless climbing over and running over them, the leg took 2.5 hours which is almost unbelievable for such a short distance.
The one great thing about the race was the fact that we had friends and family supporting us the whole way round which really helped us to carry on regardless.
After running through St Ives and Hayle we were confronted with a 3 mile beach, huge steps cut into cliff faces and to top it all off the weather took a serious turn for the worse. At mile 85 the next 6 mile were to be a lesson in survival more than running.
Unfortunately My brother James had picked up a very bad injury and was finding it impossible to keep warm, he had his waterproof on but the wind and now horizontal rain were getting very severe. There were many points in the race when he kept me going but now it was my turn to try and keep him going. I urged him to speed up so he could keep warm but his injured leg just wouldn't let him, we were miles from anywhere and I was starting to get extremely worried. After running for 26 hours the core temperature of our bodies had plummeted, but where I was able to sustain a fast enough pace to keep relatively warm James just couldn't do it. The first thing I noticed was his uncontrollable shaking and then the loss of proper speech and his extremely blue lips. But still the bugger wouldn't give up, until he said he wanted to stop at the next checkpoint. However, the next checkpoint was still over an hour away and I knew he needed to get warm immediately. I spotted some bright lights in the distance and decided that enough was enough and got him to follow me towards them. Fortunately this happened to be a pub about 5 miles from Newquay on the coastal path. We arrived at the pub where I stripped him down gave him my warm clothing and wrapped a survival blanket around him. Another runner had also developed signs of hypothermia and was also in the pub trying to warm herself. I contacted the organiser and told them where we were, they shortly arrived with a medic but thankfully they were both warming up OK. The organisers asked me if I was going to continue, I thought about it for a split second but the answer to me was simple. NO. Why? well you see I could of continued and I could of finished, we had run 91 miles and only had 9 left, but there are some things in life more important than finishing a race and the main one was that my brother was unable to continue because of his injury and hyperthermic body and the simple truth is I didn't want to finish it without him. Obtaining a medal without him would of seemed hollow and I just wanted to be with him and make sure he was OK. So that was that, I rang my wife and she came and collected us. Do I have any regret about not finishing the race? NO not a single one. You see there's always tomorrow.
UK ULTRA TRAIL RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS (AKA RIDGEWAY 85)
The race actually has two start times one at 10am and one at 12 noon if you wanted to enter the championship race you had to start at 12 noon. So it was that I started the race at 12 noon on top of Ivinghoe beacon in a mixture of rain and sunshine and although warm the storm clouds weren't to far away. The race has a total ascent gain of 9000ft and although there are some hillier sections especially in the first half on the whole the route is undulating.
Once again I had my wife and daughter following me round to support me and this was to be a big adventure for my 3 year old daughter as she was going to be sleeping in the back of our 4x4 on an airbed at nighttime.
There are 9 checkpoints along the route and before I continue I can honestly say these were the best checkpoints of any race I have done anywhere. The food and drink on offer was phenomenal with a choice of hot and cold drinks and hot food at almost every checkpoint as well as cakes, sweets, crisps, sandwiches etc. This race cost me £40 now compare that to the £140 I recently paid for a similar race where the food and drink on offer was poor at best then this is pretty amazing. Although to be fair this isn't a money making venture.
The first leg was just over ten miles and was scenic undulating route with a nice run through wendover woods and all though the thunder and lightning was getting closer it was pretty uneventful and I just enjoyed the company of several others to pass the time. The second leg was much the same and comprised of a climb up to coombe hill and more wooded areas to the outskirts of Princes Risborough. On leaving this checkpoint however is when the thunder and lightning really hit us, the thunder had me literally jumping and I was suffering from a strange headache caused from the atmospheric conditions whilst the lightning was too close for comfort.
On arriving at checkpoint 3 I was amazed to meet my wife in a full on storm stood next to the car with her umbrella up, "bloody hell watch you don't get struck by lightning" I said for which she replies " its OK I've got my rubber wellies on". I decided to change my wet t-shirt and donned my new Rab waterproof and onwards I went hoping my wife hadn't been fried by the time I met her at checkpoint 4.
The next stage was a slightly hillier one than the previous stages although nothing to taxing compared to what I'm used too but none the less it was still a pull up to checkpoint 4 at the church of St Botolph, I had covered 32 miles so far and had already overtaken some of the 10am starters, it had taken me just over 5 hours to get here and I felt good so I stopped for a quick cuppa and some food. I gave my daughter a big kiss goodbye and told her I would see her again at the 44 mile mark at checkpoint 5.
The rain was still hammering down at this point but I was warm with my new jacket so I continued on at a good pace running along Grims ditch and north stoke before joining alongside the River Thames where I was almost knocked over by a dozen or so Canadian geese taking off from the waterside. This section was attractive if a little flat but eventually I arrived at Goring the 44 mile point about 19.45 at checkpoint 5. Here I changed again had some hot food and donned my head torch ready for the next 43 miles as it would be in darkness. I once again said fare well for now and was informed I was currently in 20th position and had passed all but a handful of the 10am starters.
I think my biggest mistake so far was stopping for to long at Goring as when I left my legs felt significantly heavier and didn't want to move at the same rate as previously. However, I ran on regardless and thankfully the rain was beginning to stop which was a Godsend as the terrain becomes a lot more exposed from here to the finish. I managed to pass another few runners up to checkpoint 6 at mile 52.
With another 30+ miles to go I realised that I was going to have slow down slightly so I didn't burn out before the end, my objective was to just finish and get the 3 points needed for the ultra trail of mont blanc. The next section was much the same as the other leg in terms of terrain and I ran with another competitor for a while to try and ignore the increasing pain in my legs, as we arrived at checkpoint 7 at 62 miles my wife was there to greet me although my daughter was now fast asleep in the truck.
For some reason this was the most emotional I felt through the whole race, it was probably down to lack of food and tiredness so I stopped for a short while ate a hot dog and had a lovely cuppa with plenty of sugar, as I left this checkpoint I had an unbelievable feeling of euphoria and that I was definitely going to finish, after this the pain was bad at times but it never entered my mind that I wasn't going to finish.
Whilst running this section I had to stop to use the outdoors for a toilet break, whilst crouching and minding my own business suddenly three large 4x4 headlights came on and came tearing across the field with lights blazing directly towards me. More than a little concerned I quickly made myself respectful and carried on. However, the 4x4's continued to pursue me so I stepped to one side to let them pass. There must have been 15 men in total and as I waved them by the third vehicle stopped to ask me to turn my bloody light off as I was blinding him! I soon found out that they were rabbiting, but I still find it amazing that of all the fields I chose to stop for a toilet break it would be the one that had three 4x4's in.
On arriving at checkpoint 8 with 70 miles completed I was welcomed by a roaring bonfire, music playing and another checkpoint full of hot and cold food and drinks. I settled for a peanut butter and jam sandwich, refilled my salomon s lab with water and electrolytes and continued onwards.
A little further on I was to catch up with another competitor called Garin from the 10am start who's head torch had completely died on him and was stumbling along in the darkness trying not to fall. I decided to stay with him until the next checkpoint 10 miles down the road. This probably did lose me a place or two and affected my finish time but i really didn't mind and was happy to help somebody else realise their goal of finishing. We chatted and ran all the way to the last checkpoint at barbury castle which we arrived at at 5am and by this time dawn was almost hear.
bye for now, Mark.
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