Sunday 26 March 2017

Dark Skies 2017

My tenth running event round Kielder and my first one in the dark. I was due to run this last year but I had to miss it because of injury. Last year storm Katie hit the area during the race and everybody got very wet and battered by the wind, so in the end I wasn't too disappointed to miss it.

This year the weather forecast was excellent, clear skies to see the stars and little wind.

I drove up in the afternoon after taking it very easy at Durham parkrun in the morning as the tail runner. I got there pretty early as I wanted to park at the event rather than a mile away and have to wait for shuttle buses before and after the race. I stopped to take this photo shortly before the scout camp where Race HQ was located


There was loads of people I knew at the event, clubmates, 


old work colleagues and Hardmoors runners.

I checked out where the start was 


which turned out to be right next to the main buildings. There seemed to be lots of entrants, over 300 ?




The Lakeside Way around Kielder is not quite marathon length so we were sent round the grounds of the scout camp 







before turning to do a clockwise loop of Kielder Water. Later we had a short out and cak section presumably to add ore distance. I started off very steadily as I had been having one or two issues with both my knees and my right hip. The aim was to get round without having any issues - I was lucky my body behaved itself. 

We reached the bridge over Lewis Burn fairly quickly


and the climb up the other side had the same lovely view near the top


Very soon it was getting quite dark for taking photos but I managed one last one


There was an official photographer at the viaduct


I seemed to be running quite steadily. I was walking the hills as I usually do at Kielder. I finally got my head torch out just before checkpoint 2, an hour and half after the start (the race started at 5.30). I realised I hadn't checked the fit pretty rapidly and I had to fiddle around in the dark trying to sort it. The stars started to come out slowly and I seemed to be making steady progress and passing quite a few runners. I thought that maybe I would come in under 5 hours which is what I have done on eight of the previous nine times I have run round Kielder.

We finally reached the dam and there was a little breeze in our faces here, but nothing to slow us down. It seemed noticeably colder on the south side of Kielder - I had a long sleeved base layer, tee shirt and thin gloves, capri shorts and calf guards on at this point - it was my top half which was feeling the cold. Looking at the temperature later, it must have been zero or below at this point. At about 20m, just about the start of Bull Crag, I put on my running jacket, but I couldn't get it to zip up which was frustrating, but it still had a beneficial effect and I also put on my new Inov8 mittens on top of my thin gloves. These mittens were a purchased after suffering with cold hands up on the moors at Saltburn. They worked well although it is harder to do things with mittens.

I ran as much as I could round Bull Crag, though passing fewer people. Finally I approached Leaplish which is where the October Kielder marathon finishes. I just wished I was finished at this point and I think I was a bit low at the checkpoint at Leaplish. I also knew now I wasn't going to be under 5 hours. The checkpoint staff told me there was just 1.8m to go and that helped quite a bit and I ran most of that back to the finish, past the fairy lights which had been put up to direct back to the finish.

The route had been superbly marked with flags and reflective tags and occasional signs so I am sure people who hadn't run it before should have been able to find their way. I had paid for a meal at the end and it was vegetable curry (very nice) cake and tea. I was surprised how hungry I was.

I had thought of sleeping in the car and had everything ready for that, but the shuttle bus coming and going and the cold made me think I would drive as far as I could. As it turned out, that was all the way and I got home at 1.00 am which turned rapidly into 2.00 am as the clocks went forward.

Would I do it again ? Not sure, I have a habit of stopping doing the same event more than ten times (parkruns excluded). I have run the Great North Run and the Windermere marathon ten times, but then stopped, so maybe I need a break from Kielder. Although it was good to see the stars, I think I would have preferred to run round during the day and had the views.

Finally another photo from the organisers from the start



Saturday 4 March 2017

Golden Fleece 2017



I have done this event twice before in 2013 and 2014 and I enjoyed it. It does have some long straight sections which I am not a fan of, but basically that's all that I don't like about it. What I do like about it is that it is very cheap, the food at checkpoints is amazing, the stew at the end is fantastic, the route is attractive, it is pretty runnable, it's friendly and well organised.

The route


starts in South Cave to the west of Hull. Race HQ is lovely church hall next to this old church


There was no race briefing, there was no kit check because there was no kit list, it was all very laid back. We were given a card which had to be stamped at every checkpoint which were all manned bar one self clip near the end. The course wasn't marked at all, but we were given a route description and map. Also I had the route from 2014 on my Garmin and I had OS maps on my phone, so I was never in any danger of getting lost. The only new bit on the route description was an alternative way through Walkington which I thought I would try as it looked a bit shorter.

The weather was dry with little wind but there was quite a bit of low cloud so it didn't look like we would get many views.

After last Saturday's disappointing performance I thought I would start slow and see how it went - I hadn't run at all since last Saturday.

There were a couple of queues for gates before we reached the first checkpoint at Everthorpe, no food or drink at this one, but it was only about 2m after the start. A bit of road and then across some fields to North Cave


and then into the Hotham estate



and on into the village itself, passing another church


and we reached checkpoint 2 shortly after. Off into the country again which started to get very muddy (it had rained all the previous night) and then into Tindale Moor woods. In the woods there is this delightful cottage


Then there is a big of drag on quiet road to North Newbald (which is about 8m into the route) where the two routes (long and short) split. Here there is a great checkpoint with load of food


I had a bit of humus and mozzarella muffin 😀 and then started the first climb into the wolds and on to a section of the Wolds Way for a while. Then off to Newlbald Lodge where there was another great checkpoint


It was caramel slice this time 😀 Soon after we reached halfway and the sun came out which I hadn't been expecting.

These were taken shortly after halfway by Christine from Beverley AC 😀




We came to Walkington and two runners in front of me went the way I went I had in 2013 and 2014. I knew there were another three runners running together way ahead of these two so I would see what happened when the two routes merged. As it happened I came out just behind the three who had been way ahead, so the alternative route was definitely quicker. We came to Skidby where we turn west and head back to South Cave and psychologically this feels good.  There is one of the long straights here which seems to last for ever. I had forgotten about going under the railway bridge which is often waterlogged


but it wasn't too bad this year. After this though it turned into a bit of a trudge uphill through mud.

I reached the York Grounds Farm and the last manned checkpoint and I had a small section of stilton and broccoli quiche 😀 I was running now and feeling pretty good. We could even see the Humber Bridge in teh far distance shortly after this. Back onto the Wolds Way (which the Hardmoors 200 runners will be covering, I don't envy them, both sections of the Wolds Way we did today were tough) and trudging some very difficult muddy sections


and onto a lovely church at Brantingham




Into the woods at Ellereker North Wold and here the hills are much more severe. Great views though


and finally back to the Village Hall.


I had a sock casualty but apart from that everything was good, a 8min course pb and a much better performance than last week. It is a puzzle how one day things can go not so well and other days they go much better.

There was food and hot drinks at the end as well, the stew was just amazing 😀 There was also more cake. The cost of this event (£15) even with an overnight stay was cheaper than the Endurancelife event last Saturday and the checkpoints and the meal at the end were so much better today.

I am sure I will be back at some point 😀