Elsecar Skelter 27m 2018

It was not part of our plan for Melanie and I to do this event. However, there was a two month gap between Melanie's marathons/ultras and she wanted a long event to keep herself marathon fit. We had done this event before (five time for me, twice for Melanie) and we do love it. It is a twisty route with lots of follies to look at and some hills and lovely views.

The only disadvantage to doing it was that I had a place in the Hardmoors Rosedale marathon the following day. It is four years since I had done two in a row and we both did those two and we did some training for it. The first one had been a very hilly one through Lakeland Passes followed by an undulating road marathon (Windermere) and it had worked out well. This pair was the other way round with the much tougher Rosedale coming second and I didn't have any time for any specific training for back to back long events.

We stayed near Elsecar but we didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked as there was a lorry depot close by. We made it to The Market which is the Race HQ in plenty of time

This is a very cheap event, you can get coffee or tea at the start, there a basic meal at the end and some of the checkpoints are very well stocked with cakes, sandwiches and orange slices. All for £15. There is a GPX supplied together with a route description.

We started probably a little quickly. We soon reached Hoober Stand

and on to the village of Hoober. Lots of field crossings

and on to Wentworth Woodhouse (thanks to Melanie for some of these photos)

The farmer in one area had ploughed over the path so there was a little choice but to go directly through a hay field.

It was getting very warm - we think it got up to about 27 or degrees. There was some shade in the woods and a little breeze, but I was finding it hard going which felt a bit ominous for the following day.

It was great to reach Whancliffe Crags, this is a lovely section with great views and it is mainly downhill

I slowed a bit more after that, the sun seemed to be sucking all my energy away. On a couple of hills I had to pause for breath which is unusual for me. I think this may have been caused by a lack of hydration in the days leading up to the event. 

We made it round in under six hours and we were only a bit slower than last year when it had not been as hot. So overall it had gone well, but I was a bit concerned how tomorrow would go when the temperature was forecast to be higher and there would be a lot more hills and overgrown paths.