Wednesday 1 January 2014

Hardmoors 30 2014

I have done this route four times, three times as the Hardmoors 30 and once as the Hardmoors Princess Challenge. The Princess Challenge was run in September and I enjoyed it much more than the January version - the weather was better and there was no mud.

The route is not all mud by any means. There is a fairly flat four miles (apart from a steep descent at the end) south along the Cleveland Way followed by another four miles back to the start at Ravenscar along an old railway line. However most of that is uphill which has a draining effect. But this section has only a little mud.

From Ravenscar, you then join the mud free railway line on a mainly downhill stretch to Robin Hood's Bay, then still on the railway line a climb upwards before a lovely descent into Whitby. Then you navigate your way through the crowds at Whitby, up the steps to the abbey, join the Cleveland Way and follow this all the way back to Robin Hood's Bay and then onto Ravenscar.

It feels like a race of two halves, the first 20m to Whitby is a bit testing but nothing too serious. I usually go past the Abbey at about the four hour point. Then the difficult bit starts. The Cleveland Way undulates a lot as it follows the edge of the cliffs and in the January version there is lots of mud. This usually has an awful effect on my race time, it has often taken three and a quarter hours to cover the last 10m. I managed to shave almost 30 minutes off that in September.

Yesterday, surprisingly the mud felt different from previous years. It seemed it was more of the liquid variety and fairly hard underneath, so it was possible to make reasonable progress through it.

What made yesterday so hard was the weather. The forecast was that the wind would pick up and it would rain heavily from about 1. This started as we approached Whitby, but the wind was behind us and we were sheltered so it didn't seem so bad.

However, once we got to Abbey and were on to the cliffs, we realised how hard it was going to be. The wind was very strong and directly into our faces. The rain was stinging our faces, so it was hoods up, head down and battle onwards. Not a lot of running happened on the stretch to Robin Hood's Bay. As we got close to RHB the wind seemed to increase and there was one bit where it was particularly bad. Melanie was attempting to shelter behind me to get a break from the wind when we crested an undulation and felt the full power of the wind. I grabbed a nearby fence pole and attempted to get traction through the mud. It was hard I wasn't making much progress. I turned around to check on M and she had been blown about twenty yards backwards ! I went back for her and made her hang on to me as we made our way from fence post to fence post. Flanker and KinkyS who were just catching us at this point had similar issues and another runner had to get on all fours apparently. I am not sure what geographical features led to that point being so bad, but it didn't feel like a gust of which we had had plenty.

We got to the RHB's bay checkpoint and were told we were going back via the railway line rather than the cliffs. As we were seriously cold (in spite of a waterproof and two layers) this was a relief and we warmed up as we made our way to the finish and warmth and food :-)
In 2011 after finishing I said never again. After the 2013 race Melanie and I certainly said 'Never again' and we have done so again since finishing yesterday, so will we back next year ? Who knows ...