You can see from last year's event I didn't get the photo quite right.
I have trained all year for this, built up slowly, paced myself and gone to other events where Sports Sunday have been taking photos. All the preparation has now paid off and this year's result is
The event itself was tough but enjoyable. The car parking was very difficult this year. I arrived shortly before 8.00 for a 9.30 start and got one of the very few remaining places in the overflow car park.
In the hall, I had my kit checked and had a good chat with Fran who I haven't seen for a while. Darren, Katie and Viv were also there and I had a brief chat with them - they had had to park about a mile and half away and a local had given them a lift to the Village Hall.
I decided this was going to be a 'get round' event. I haven't done a Hardmoors event since early November (Goathland). I did a flat marathon (Town Moor) late November but no long distance event in December. On Saturday I ran Sedgefield parkun , Sunday, the Jolly Holly Jog 10K and although I took both of those very easy, I wasn't expecting my legs to last on the Monday. Also it sounded like the course was going to be very muddy and not at all like it was in 2017.
I decided to run slowly on the Cinder track out of Robin Hood's Bay towards Whitby. It was a lovely day with great views out to sea
There was some wind from the south west but it was behind us in this section and I managed the gradual climb fine. Then there was the lovely run down to Whitby, via the Hawkser rail carriages
Soon after this I got chatting to Kathleen who was doing her first trail ultra or trail marathon and we ran together to the Whitby checkpoint where Phil and Sue were marshalling. Through Whitby, which was quiet, and up the steps where I took a a couple of photos and lost touch with Kathleen who went on ahead
Up to the Abbey
Once through Saltwick, the mud started in earnest, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. It wasn't too runny except in one or two places, mostly it was the gooey, sticky type which make your shoes twice as heavy. Past the fog horn and lighthouse at Ling Hill
and soon after I passed the Sports Sunday photographer and onward along the muddy coastal path.
I caught up with Kathleen again and after a while she asked if there were any first aid facilities at Robin Hood's Bay and I said there probably was but I was carrying some basic kit. She had slipped on the mud and caught her arm on the barbed wire fence and had a long cut on her arm. None of my plasters were long enough, so the next best option was to use a long crepe bandage to keep it protected. This all took a while and lots of other runners going by offered to help which was lovely and typical of the spirit in these events. We started to run gently but Kathleen's knee started to play up, she had twisted it in the fall. We walked the rest of the way back to Robin Hood's Bay
and once we were in sight of the checkpoint she encouraged me to go on. She was planning to retire there which was probably wise considering what the second part was like.
The Cinder track initially goes downhill from Robin Hood's Bay in the direction of Ravenscar, but then starts to rise (the first photo is looking back.
I found it hard to do much running once this started, so I spoke to Melanie on the phone (who had done two parkruns and run in between them and so covered 13m !) and I looked down on the leaders running the coastal path before Stoupe Beck and they seemed to be moving very quickly over that section - hopefully not much mud there, I mistakenly thought.
Ravenscar and its lovely view back to Robin Hood's Bay finally appeared
The Ravenscar checkpoint is very exposed, I didn't envy the marshalls there, but as with all the marshalls they were cheery and helpful.
On to the Cinder track
Just 12 miles to go at that point ....
We made it down to Hayburn Wyke in good time and then through the woods until we got close to the sea
The Cleveland Way was muddy here, more liquid mud and quite a bit of it is uphill, so we made slow progress on this section. We were faster than some others, we were both wearing Saucony KOA ST shoes (thanks Tony from Let's Run where we both got them from) which were better than most other shoes in the mud.
We were both getting a bit cold towards the end of this section, the wind was picking up and it was starting to get dark. Returning to the Ravenscar checkpoint, the marshalls were sensibly checking that we were layered up and had head torches.
After a quick toilet break in Ravenscar, we started down the hill to the cliffs and the head torches were soon on. It was pretty dark at this point and I realised that the mud here was probably worse than anywhere else and navigating it in the dark was far from easy. It also started to rain for a short time. I nearly fell and I was doing all sorts of arm movements to stay upright. Finally we made it to the road down to Stoupe Beck and up the steps on the other side.
Then the same at Boggle Hole, up and down steps. We were passing a few runners in this section. Finally down more steps into the bottom of Robin Hood's Bay and the steep road climb back to the top and the finish at the Villlage Hall.
I don't have the exact time yet, but I think I was about an hour slower than last year, but that doesn't matter, I made it, and hopefully it will set me up for the winter ultras and marathons coming up.
I think this maybe the first time we have had long sleeved tee shirts which was great
A tough day out in the mud, but it was good fun :-)
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