Hardmoors Roseberry Topping 2016

My fourth time running this one. It's called a marathon, but the distance on this one is over 30m. The Hardmoors events tend to have some motivational signs and the distance today was highlighted in this photo by John Freel of one of the signs

I was running with Sara today and we had a great run. Sadly the other third of our running team, Kath, couldn't make this one. Melanie was doing the half marathon today and unlike last year, I didn't see her out on the course this time.

I was up before 5.00 to get to Guisborough. We started a little late, 8.10, but it was daylight by then and I took a photo of Guisborough as we started to climb up yo the hills.

The climb up to High Cliff Nab wasn't too muddy, but it did get more slippy the higher we went. We chatted to other runners as we passed them and they passed us, it was a very social race today. Then after a few miles we came to Roseberry Topping, which looked awesome.

We went up and then down the other side right to the bottom, turned round and went back up the same way and then down another side. At the second time, the marshall kindly took this photo of us

As we came back up to the top of Little Roseberry we were snapped by one of the SportsSunday team

Then it was along to Gribdale and up to the James Cook Monument. There is normally a decorated tree on the way up, but this year there were two, which was great.

Just before the monument there was another SportsSunday photographer with Roseberry Topping in the background.

Soon after the monument the half marathon runners turned for home and we plunged down a road to Kildale and dragged our way up again and on almost as far as Blowarth Crossing before turning off the Cleveland Way and heading towards Castleton.

The route over the Westerdale Moor I love. It is part of the Esk Valley path that Melanie and I ran in sections eighteen months ago. Here is a view down into the valley

Onwards to Castleton station and the steep climb up to where David Tioth was waiting at his checkpoint with drinks, food and his motivational sign.

Then it was along the undulating track to Commondale where I had an incident on the first running of this event. No problems this year, we didn't stop and climbed the hill to the final checkpoint at about 25m. In theory that should have been 1.2m to go, but it was another 5m across the moors as the sky darkened. We just about made it to Guisborough Woods without having to put on head torches, but it was getting very dark so we put them on for the muddy descent back to the finish.

We got into the hall and received our pink tee shirt and pink medal 

and then much to my surprise I was awarded the v60 prize again - my sixth at Hardmoors ! Thanks to Phil for this photo

A fantastic day out :-)

Hardmoors Goathland marathon 2016

I have done this event the last two years and the weather has been pretty bad. In 2014 it rained heavily in the second half. Here is a photo of Melanie and I approaching the finish

In 2015 it went the other way and it was heavy rain in the first half, but turned out to be a lovely second half. Here is Diane and I approaching Saltergate (this year's Saltergate photo is further down)

The forecast on the Thursday before this year's event was (click to see the detail)

So it looked like it was going to be very, very wet and windy. However, the forecast kept on improving, but it still had heavy rain and drizzle for the time I would be out there. As I parked the car in Goathland and walked over to the Village Hall there was a bit of rain, but not heavy. However, the wind was quite strong so I had waterproof top and bottoms on to keep warm.

The Village Hall was lovely and warm and I chatted to Garth and other people I knew. At the race briefing Jon threw in that there was going to be four and half hour cut off at Saltergate at 15m. So that was my target, get there in that time and I should be fine to finish in the overall cut off of 9hr. I didn't think I would take anywhere near that long as I had finished in a bit over 7hr last year, but you can never be certain that you won't injure yourself and have to slow down.

Outside at the start, the rain had now become light drizzle and the wind had dropped a little. I decided to keep on the full waterproofs as I felt that once on the moors the waterproofs would help keep me warm and that worked out well.

The route was advertised to be the same as it had been for the last two years, so I had no anxieties about finding my way. To be sure, I had the route on my watch and maps downloaded to my phone.

I stayed at the back at the start

as I wanted to take my time over the rocks at Mallyan Spout 

and not feel any pressure to go too fast. At this point the drizzle had stopped so my hat came off and remained off for the rest of the race. I kept the thin gloves on though.

After this there was a long pull up onto the moors

The visibility was quite good at this point. After the first checkpoint, we climbed up to Simon Howe and the mist got thicker. On the way up, with Jason, Paul and Dee, some other runners were coming across at 90 degrees towards us, quite how they had gone wrong I couldn't figure out. By Simon Howe I had left the others and started south towards Wardle Rigg.

The mist here was quite thick and at one point I had to think exactly where I was. With no landmarks in sight it felt disorientating and for a short while I thought I was going west from Simon Howe. I quickly pulled myself together and remembered I was going south, checked my watch for the route and carried on. 

Approaching the Wardle Rigg checkpoint we came across the very waterlogged section of the course. There was no alternative but to wade through some of it. I always wear waterproof socks for this event and they worked just as well as they have done before.

The descent to the railway line and the pull up to just below Saltergate were fine. The colours in the woods in the valley were lovely

In the previous two events this has always been a low point as I know that the Saltergate checkpoint is only half a mile away, 

but we have to go all the way 

along to Levisham Bottoms, climb up to another checkpoint outside Levisham and do a drag up Levisham Moor to reach the Saltergate checkpoint (probably about 5m in distance).

This year I didn't feel this low point, I just got on with it. The run along Levisham Bottoms was lovely, you could look across the misty valley.

As I climbed up to Checkpoint 4, near Levisham, we entered thick cloud with visibility down to about 50 meters. I got to where Checkpoint 4 was supposed to be and there were just two people standing there. I asked whether they wanted my number and they said no they were just spectators. This threw me a little and then Jon, the race director, appeared out of the mist and said I needed to go down to Dundale pond, up the hill to where the checkpoint was because the checkpoint wasn't in the right place.

This didn't make any sense to me, how did they get the checkpoint to be on the way to Saltergate, I couldn't remember any road access on that section. Oh well, off I went down to the pond where there was marshall who took my number and then said I needed to go back up another hill but not north to Saltergate, but in a roughly southerly direction back to Levisham but up another track which leads to a road end and that was where the checkpoint was. The marshall said I would then be coming back to him, so I imagined we were doing an out and back section to fit the checkpoint in. It wasn't quite like that, we did the other two sides of a triangle (you can see the triangle on the second map above) to come back to the marshall at the pond. As I came back back Jon shouted out that he had managed to lengthen the route and add more ascent ! I asked the marshall at the Pond whether this had confused the lead runners and apparently it had. I guess if you don't find a checkpoint you just carry on along the route, you don't go looking for it.

At this point I could see two other runners gently jogging up the hill and disappearing into the mist. I decided just to walk this gentle ascent, I felt tired and there was still a long way to go. I knew that I would make the four and half hour cut off at Saltergate which would probably be extended anyway because of the Checkpoint 4 confusion. It is a shame there were no views from here as the mist was so thick.

I made it to Saltergate in four hours. The road was busy there and visibility was probably less than 50 meters but the crossing was well marshalled. Thanks to Matthew Nelson for these two photos

I caught up with the other two runners who were just ahead of me, but again they started running as I continued walking up any ascent I came across. Again I caught them at the turn off the Old Wife's Way and again they ran on into the mist.

I came up to Malo Cross

which looked in danger of falling over. Then over the boggy section to Fylingdales and on to hard track. Again I nearly caught up with the two runners who looked unsure of the way, but once they saw me approaching they felt reassured and ran on into the mist and out of sight.

Again they were only just ahead of me at Lilla Cross. Rod, the marshall there, warned me that the beck at the bottom which we had to cross was in full spate, so I knew that would be fun. I went down the muddy path from the cross carefully and my two front runners vanished again into the mist. After the muddy path end the route goes along a well surface track before turning off onto the moor. The turn was well taped, but it came up suddenly (there is no permanent sign or I didn't see it) and I wasn't expecting it to be quite where it was. I trudged down this very boggy section crossing multiple small streams. This was part of the Lyke Wake route that I had done in July (but in the other direction). It was wet then, but it it was much worse yesterday. 

Jon had taped the crossing of the beck, but it looked like you had to wade so I ignored that and went to where I normally cross (I heard later that people who crossed there had water way above their knees) and got across without getting wet.

Down and out of the mist and I couldn't see my two front runners anywhere. I thought they had either made very good progress on this boggy section or possibly they had missed the turn on the moor (it turned out to be the latter as they finished after me).

Now the clouds had lifted, it was turning into a lovely evening. I got to the last checkpoint at Ellerbeck where I was directed across the road and not over the bridge, so I was jumping across the stream again ! Then down into the valley and across the railway line again and up to Simon Howe where the two marshalls were in good spirits despite being out on a hill top all day. Photo taken by Mark Dalton

Then it was the lovely descent back to Goathland and the Village Hall. Back in 7hr 3min which was better than in 2015, but not as good as 2014 when I ran it with Melanie.

A hard but a lovely day out on an attractive route. 

Part of me wished that the route had included the stepping stones at Wheeldale which were on the half marathon route. The stepping stones looked like this on the Lyke Wake

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday (photos by Valerie Kidd)

Morpeth 2 Newcastle 2016

Tips on how to run a road marathon from today's run:

Do the race with a sniffle, but take plenty of hankerchiefs
Leave your waist bag with your food, s-caps and phone (with the route on) by the door of your house
Choose a day when there is hardly any wind and it isn't too warm
Choose a marathon with a route which is fairly flat

Result: 4hr 28min 1sec which is the fastest I have done since Windermere 2015 seventeen months ago. 212th out of 337 finishers.

I had very low expectations from this event mainly because of my sniffle and forgetting my food and s-caps. I was sure the sniffle would affect my energy and I was thinking I would be lucky to break 5 hours. I was reasonably confident of making the cut off of 5hr 30min. The other aspect I was concerned about was the organisation.

This half marathon or so event had been running for almost 100 years and was claimed to be England's oldest race. I did it my first year of regular race running in 2004. The route took us for about half a mile down a coned lane of the A1. It turned out that was the last year it ran as the Police understandably said that couldn't happen any more and there was no agreement on a new route.

Today's event was organised by a company and their reputation took a nose dive when they moved the event from July to October. By that time some people had booked hotels and flights apparently.

Besides a marathon, they were also putting on a half marathon, a relay, cycle races and a children's race the day before, so there was a fear that they had taken on too much. Also there were a few early indications that it wouldn't go smoothly - you had to pick up your race 'pack' from Newcastle. The pack consisted of an envelope with your race number and throwaway chip. Also the buses to get you to the start (not actually in Morpeth but about two miles south in the middle of nowhere) did not leave from near the finish, but about two miles away so I had to decide whether to park near the buses and have a long walk afterwards or near the finish and have a long walk before the start - I oped for the latter.

However, having said that the organisation on the day was very good. The route was very well signed, they had professional event management staff with lollipop signs on even the quietest junctions - some of them had so little to do they appeared bored out of their minds, others were like very enthusiastic coaches. The aid stations, every 5K, had water and High-5 as advertised. Having forgotten my s-caps and food I knew I was going to be having High-5 at every aid station.

There were quite a few encouraging spectators about in the built up areas offering chocolates, jelly babies and orange segments. The chocolates and orange were lovely, but being a vegetarian I had to give the jelly babies a miss. One guy who was outside his house offered to go inside and get me a drink - I must have looked very bad at that point ...

The organisers claimed there were 1000 runners in the marathon, but it looked more like 300 or so to me, but it looked geared up for 1000. I started gently thinking this was the only way I was going to have any energy for the second half. I passed Tony from the ultra runner store in the first mile - he was spectating, no way would I have passed him running !

The first 5m were on closed A-roads and they were a little dull to be honest. Mainly flat, but not much to look at.

I noticed at about 2m I was starting to get quite warm and I thought this was a very bad sign as it was probably from my cold. It felt like the wheels were coming off earlier than expected. But it didn't get any worse, I did get one or two niggles after that, but nothing which lasted.

We finally made it to the outskirts of Blyth and went down the road to Seaton Sluice, where we turned closer to the coast and had a short off-road section (bliss). We were soon back on tarmac and past the end of the North Tyneside 10k race and we followed that route through Whitley Bay (halfway), Cullercoats and Tynemouth. It was pretty busy  with people walking on what was now a lovely day in this section but there was quite a bit of encouragement as well. I was aware that I was running along at better than 10 min/mile pace using the distance markers and my time but it suddenly changed and I was two or three minutes behind. Not sure why, but I will have to look at my splits. I was still thinking there was no way I would keep this up and I reckoned the 20m point would be the psychological point when everything would fall apart. I was regularly passing people and I think after about 4m only three people passed me and two of them I was just behind at the finish.

I talked to a few other runners and there did seem to be a number doing the event as their first marathon. It was a good one for that, fairly flat. The one exception was just before the Fish Quay in South Shields where we turned up a steep hill. It didn't last too long, but there was no way I was running it.

I was hoping to see more of the river after this, but we didn't see much. There was quite bit of pavements next to busy road, then onto a cycle track next to warehouses. The distance markers for 20m, 21m and 22m weren't there which was a relief, I got through the 20m psychological barrier without realising and I still had something in my legs. At this point I could see a chance that I would finish under 4hr 30min so I decided to try and hang on. Luckily a couple of other runners were just ahead of me and they were going at the pace I needed, so I tried to hang on to them. It worked, I was just able to keep in contact with them and came into the finish, with lots of very enthusiastic spectators, just behind them.

Would I do it again ? Probably not, the scenery wasn't great and I prefer to have some hills and be in the country. Still I am glad to have done it and pleased with my time.

There was a cotton tee shirt and a medal at the finish.

Spires and Steeples 2016

I did this one for the first time last year. It is low key event, there is no fuss. It follows the Spires and Steeples footpath from Lincoln to Sleaford. You park at the finish and a coach takes you up to the start. There is also a half marathon which starts halfway down the route and there are also walkers who set off an hour earlier on the marathon, so there are usually lots of people around.

After a lovely descent through Lincoln it is a pretty flat route which passes through numerous villages, crosses fields and and quiet country roads (and of course goes by many churches).

I came down the night before and as last year treated myself to this the night before:

I was up at 6.30 and left the Travelodge at 7.30. The dawn colours looked attractive

I caught the coach up without any problem. There was a different start from last year, just around the corner which made the distance about 0.25m longer which was fine.

They had the same checkpoint system as last year, we were given six elastic band with our race number on and we left on at each checkpoint and one at the finish.

A couple of people came and up and chatted as I was wearing my Elvet Striders hoody which as nice - one an Durham Harrier who now lives in Beverley and somebody else who is a good friend of one of our club members.

The start was well organised

Just as we left the rain which had been forecast arrived and it got quite heavy. We went down through the quiet Sunday morning streets in Lincoln. I didn't notice this in Lincoln last year

The rain lasted for about 3 hours so that wasn't great. The route also got quite muddy in places, much worse than last year. We crossed a few pretty bridges

and quite a few, probably ten, fields like this

These just got tougher as it went on, my shoes (Inov Ultra 290s) were picking up loads of mud and the only way of moving forward at any sort of pace was to adopt something like a cross country skiing action.

When the rain finally stopped, the sun came out but the wind picked up and it was a headwind. I was also a bit tired and I was walking far more than last year. Consequently, I finished 35min slower than last year. Not great but the conditions were definitely worse this year.

The course was signed very well except at one point (or maybe someone removed it the sign) where a few people made a mistake, but I was lucky as I could see them coming back to take the correct turn.

We ran through a field of chickens near the end, there seemed to be thousands of them

It was definitely worth doing this one again, but I think I was lucky with the conditions last year.

Round Ripon Ultra 35m 2016

This is a 35m run to the north and a little to the west of Ripon and mainly follows part of the Ripon Rowel footpath. I have done it one before in 2010. I got a little lost at one point that year, but I don't think I added too much to much my time which was just under 8hrs. I couldn't remember too much of the route, only sections which overlapped with the Rock and Rowel event, but they were in the last 7m or so.

This route has a little bit of everything - trails, farm roads, quiet country roads, woods, fields and moors. There was a little more tarmac than I remembered, even some of the farm roads were tarmac.

The first half lulled you into a false sense of security as it was pretty flat. There was a 4hr cut off at Masham which was at 16m, so my aim was to get there well before the cut off. The cut offs got even easier after that.

At the start I met up with Gromit from Fetch and chatted to her and two friends she was running with. Mark Dalton from Hardmoors was also there and we chatted for a while.

We started at the Village Hall in the lovely village of Studley Roger and we ran part of the Jolly Holly route into Ripon.

Ripon is lovely and we ran past the cricket club which is used as a base for the Jolly Holly

Then we turned on to the Ripon Rowel footpath which runs north and follows the river fairly closely. We went past some lovely farmhouses

The first checkpoint was at a caravan site, so there was access to some toilets there. I am not sure what was wrong with the womens' toilet, but there seemed to be lots of women using the men's facilities. 

We then approached the lovely village West Tanfield

We then went into the muddy woods between West Tanfield and Masham again following the river

There was one point where there was a choice of three routes. Two of the routes looked to be heading in the right direction, so I chose one up to a viewpoint and on the way down the other side met up with some of the runners. Maybe I should have taken the other route, but I don't think it was much different in terms of distance.

I ran through Masham (16m) which looked very busy and got into the checkpoint in 3h 2min which I was pleased with. I now had 7hr to do the last 19m, so that was going to be fine. I also managed to reunite a runner with his watch which I had picked up about 4m previously.

Shortly after we left the checkpoint we crossed a stile and were confronted by a field of 7ft corn with a faint path through it. That was the way to go and it was fun !

The route continued fairly flat with a few undulations, but after the halfway point the hills started in earnest. And there were quite a few of them. After halfway we plunged down to a river and had a long drag upwards, maybe 2m on a country road. At the top was the third checkpoint which was close to a cafe selling ice cream which was very tempting. A short descent across fields followed by a another steep climb on tarmac. The climbs and descents continued and we crossed moors a couple of times

At this point I was running with runner who had lost his watch, Ben, who turned out to live in Coxhoe near Durham and works in one of the Colleges. We chatted away and I was doing the navigating, but after a while I was slowing and he attached himself to another group. It was noticeable that runners were often running in groups, presumably because some of them were not sure of the route.

We finally reached the last checkpoint by which point I had used all my water. I filled up and drank loads. The weather had been fine, cloudy with the sun coming out only rarely, little wind, perfect running conditions. I had started in long sleeves as it had been cold at 9.00 and I didn't roll up the sleeves all day. We ran through a few fields with cows and I did think that maybe a red shirt might not have been the best choice ....

From the fourth checkpoint, most of the route was familiar from the Rock and Rowel events. There was a lovely stretch in woods along the side of a lake near Eavestone. At this point I had picked up a couple of shadows who weren't navigating who were about twenty yards behind me and following me because I looked like I knew where I was going. This was fine and there were occasions when they got closer and chatted and there were times when I shouted where I was when there were a couple of sharp turns in quick succession.

Finally we made it into the beautiful Studley Roger deer park, one of my favourite places

We were also running down the central path to the finish, which was great. I ran into the finish aware I was going to beat my time from six years ago. I came in 5min faster which was very pleasing. 

Finishers received a very heavy medal. We had been given a technical tee shirt before the start, together with a map book which I didn't use as I had downloaded the route to my phone.

My 140th marathon/ultra which is a nice round number.