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 😀

2014 blog

Endurancelife CTS Northumberland

This event has been held for about six years I think, but I have always resisted it because of the price. I have tended to do the Belvoir Challenge which is lovely event. However, it does involve an overnight stay, so when you add that in, the Endurance Life event wins. I have never run some parts of it, so that was also an attraction.

The event attracts people from all over England, I met someone from London, two from Sheffield and one from Brighton. There were a few local runners as well and some of them I have met before.

The route is essentially go east from Alnwick to Alnmouth and then follow the coast north to Bamburgh. They supplied a GPS of the route, but they changed the route in a few places. Luckily, the course was exceptionally well signed - they had even put up signs indicating this was not the path to take in case anyone was tempted to take a path off the route.

I left the house pretty early (5.30) and drove to Bamburgh. This meant passing Alnwick but we had to go to Bamburgh to register and be bussed to Alnwick for the start.

I managed to get to the Castle

in time to see Jules and Helen and Dougie off on the ultra, before going back inside to register for the marathon

It was pretty windy outside and we went out there for the briefing and I bumped into Claire from Fetch who kindly offered to take my photo for this blog

Then it was onto the bus and off to the start at Alnwick on the Harrier League cross country course

We had been warned there were no toilet facilities at the start which meant that everyone spread out all over the place - there were no bushes.

The first leg to the coast was attractive countryside, passing under the A1 and London Edinburgh railway line. We ran on the main Alnwick - Alnmouth road for a couple of sections, but these were relatively short, it was mainly trail which got very muddy in places. I got to the Alnmouth checkpoint 7.2m in 1hr 10min which I was happy with (we had devices attached to out wrists which we put into a box at checkpoint so we got a printout at the end showing when we got the the checkpoints)

I was surprised we didn't get onto the beach at Alnmouth, the route stayed in the dunes and went up the hill to the golf course, which then led to a very muddy and steep descent down to the beach at Foxton Hall. The route went off the beach and then onto a trail to Beadnell, familiar from the NEMC Coastal marathon. Then it was the usual route to Longhouton, with some lovely views

I reached the the checkpoint at Howick (13m) in 2hr 14min so this was all looking good at this point. I was conscious I was a bit tired - I had looked at my watch earlier and had seen we had covered 10m when it felt a lot more than that - not a good sign .... 

There was more trail all the way to Craster and on to Dunstburgh Castle

And then more trail through the dunes avoiding Embleton Beach (one of my favourites 😕 )

all the way to Low Newton. We did run near a nature reserve which I didn't know existed so that was interesting. Then up towards Football Hole, where it occurred to me that I usually run round this area in the summer and the route was much muddier than it is in the summer.

I reached the third checkpoint (18.5m) in 3h 35min - that was 1hr 23min to cover 5.5m from the last checkpoint, a drastic slowing down. My legs felt there was nothing left in them and I was walking far more than I would normally have done on that terrain. Then it was another long walk/run to the bridge over the river that flows into Beadnell Bay

And finally onto the beach you can see in the last picture. It turned out that running on the beach wasn't that easy (though it looked lovely 😀). 

The tide was in so it was a choice of running on soft sand (no) or dodging waves in an attempt to run on harder sand. I didn't always manage to dodge the waves so I ended up with wet feet, which wasn't too much of a problem, it had warmed up and the sun was out.

I walked/ran all of Beadnell beach, through some of Beadnell and then down onto the beach again. This was more tricky to run with rocks and stones close to the high water mark. Then we came across the route's major obstacle, a river coming into the beach but because the tide was so high the sea was going into the river. The result was a crossing where the sea got up to the top of my legs

The 'beach' after this was hard to make any quick progress on, it was rocky. This didn't last too long and we approached Seahouses, with a view of the finish at Bamburgh Castle just over 3m away

Down onto the beach between Seahouses and Bamburgh and the final checkpoint. The 'beach' here was tricky to make much progress on

If the tide hadn't been so high this would have been easier for runners to make good progress - not me, my legs had gone so I was walking all of this anyway. Finally the finish arrived, 5hr 53min for 27m. Pretty poor considering my time at 13m - 2hr 14m.

What went wrong ? Well maybe going to a posh meal at work (very enjoyable) the night before hadn't been the best idea. But sometimes you just can't figure it out. The Hardmoors 30m went much better than I expected, but this one went worse than I expected. Hopefully the next one (seven days time...) will go better.

Hardmoors Saltburn marathon 2017

I was running this one with Sara

(this photograph was taken on the cliff tops between Saltburn and Skinningrove, not long after the start).

"Enjoy and don't die" were the final words at the race briefing from Jon Steele, the race director. Good words on a day when the weather forecast was awful.

The winds were forecast to be very strong and they certainly were. The route follows the coastal cliff tops for a while before heading inland towards Guisborough Woods. Then it is up onto the moors before heading back to Saltburn.

The start through Valley Gardens, which is well sheltered, was fine and not as muddy as I expected. Once we hit the coast and had climbed up the cliffs it was very different. 

Here there was occasional heavy sleet/rain showers, but it was the wind which seemed to be largely in our faces that made it tough.

The steps down to the beach at Skinningrove was amazing I felt like I was being blown back up again.

Then there was the inevitable climb out of Skinningrove.

We ran along the cliff tops a bit longer than last year (to avoid part of the Cleveland Way that goes through someone's garden) and there were some great views

I had hoped that with the wind behind us and moving away from the coast the next section, back through Skinningrove, past Brotton and North Skelton and on to Skelton Green would be easier. It was for a while, but the fields were muddy and at some point the rain became relentless. At Skelton Green, 12m, the half marathoners, turned for home (though they still had 3m to go ;-)).

After that we were back on the Cleveland Way to Slapewath and both Sara and I noticed that the weather turned distinctly colder. The rain also turned to sleet then snow at times. Down to Slapewath via very muddy steps and back up into Guisborough Woods where the snow was beginning to lie.

We descended down again to the bottom of the woods and ran towards the bottom of the climb to High Cliff Nab. One of the marshalls there asked if we were cold. I said I was fine, but I hadn't quite appreciated what was to come soon.

The climb up to High Cliff Nab was the muddiest I have ever seen and it was great to see the two encouraging marshalls cheering us on from the top

All the marshalls did an awesome job, at least us runners were moving but they had to just stand there in awful weather.

We continued on, mainly upwards through the woods on muddy and increasingly boggy trails. Finally we emerged on the moor which I had expected to be a bit boggy. It was worse than I expected and the wind and the snow and the hailstones were in our faces. It was a bit grim at this stage. We also seemed to be on the moors for much longer than I remembered. I wished I had put on another layer at this point, but the thought of stopping and taking it out of my bag and taking things off in that wind, well it wasn't going to happen. It was a big relief to get to the A171 and get off the moors. After that there was still plenty of mud and wind, but we were more sheltered.

It was only when I got into the Hall at the finish that I realised how cold I was. I sat down and found I couldn't undo my gaiters. Luckily Lorna could see I was struggling and came over to give me a hand. I got into the shower as soon as I could and that really helped.

I am struggling to remember a long event which I have run where the weather was worse than this. Would I do it again ? Yesterday, I would have said no, but today, well I am thinking about it .....

2016 blog

Hardmoors 30m 2017

2016 had been a good year for running for me - 18 marathons/ultras and no injuries. It can't get much better than that. In January 2016 I decided that I would set myself a target to keep my motivation up. Normally, I react against targets, I prefer to just enjoy myself, but it was just me setting this one so I have enjoyed planning and working towards it.

The aim was to have completed 150 marathons/ultras within ten years of my first marathon in May 2007. But I was only going to do events which took my fancy and pace it steadily. It has worked, I enjoyed all eighteen events last year, which leaves me 6 more to do, so the Hardmoors 30 would the first of the 6 and would be number 145.

I have done the Hardmoors 30 three times and the Hardmoors Princess four times - the Princess is the same route, but run in the summer. I haven't done the Hardmoors 30 since the start moved to Robin Hood's Bay, so although I would be running over the same ground, it would be starting further round the route and a large part would be running the route in the opposite direction to what I was used to.

I was up at 5.30, left home at 6.30 and arrived in Robin Hood's Bay at 8.00. I had my kit checked, collected my number, had a cup of coffee, sorted myself out and chatted to a few people before the race briefing. Then it was outside and ready for the start.

As you can see it was cloudy and at this point there was little wind. The route started on the cinder track and there is a 3m gentle climb up to Hawkser before a lovely descent into Whitby. On the old route, this climb is usually at about 15m so I usually walk most of it. As it was the start, I ran it for the first time. As we went along the route, we were more exposed to the wind, so out came the waterproof top to put over two long sleeve layers. Every 30min or so it would rain briefly and a couple of times it was hailstones, but it was dry apart from that. It was a bit harder running into the wind, but once on the descent it was fine.

Whitby was much quieter than it usually is, but with this version of the route we were much earlier in the day. We came to the 199 steps up to the abbey

The views over Whitby are great

Finally we pass by the abbey itself

and follow the Cleveland Way along the cliff tops back to Robin Hood's Bay

Up to the lighthouse at Ling Hill, the path wasn't too muddy

There was a photographer just after this point and I thought I would try a leap but it didn't quite work out...

After this the mud started in earnest, it was thick and clung to the bottom of my shoes so I felt I didn't have as much grip as I would like. I felt I was running well though and making better time than I usually do on the section. The wind helped to blow us back to Robin Hood's Bay

I was very surprised to get back to Robin Hood's Bay in 2hr 40min, I would normally have taken much longer. I even started to dream of a sub 6 hour finish. However that soon went out of the window.

After leaving Robin Hood's Bay we went south on the cinder track. This descends gently for a mile or so, then there is a long ascent to Ravenscar. I decided to walk that section 

James caught me shortly after this and he and I chatted to a walker who was out for a stroll. On these Hardmoors events people just chat and it is lovely.

At Ravenscar the route was slightly kinder, we didn't need to go up to the Village Hall, we just carried on along the cinder track after a short road section. However, the cinder track now descended all the way to Hayburn Wyke, the southernmost point of the route. I ran this section, not fast but steady.

Came in to checkpoint and we were greeted by the usual 'encouraging' sign as we left

and descended into the Wyke

before being faced with the many steps out and back to the Cleveland Way

The steps seem to go on forever and I had pain in both feet when I got to the top. I have never had this before and I was struggling to walk let alone run and there was 8 miles to go ! It wasn't looking good at this point but the sun came out and coast looked lovely

The path here was muddy and slippy and again the wind was in our faces. I hadn't realised how much uphill this section was back to Ravenscar - I am used to going in the opposite direction.

It was starting to get a little darker as I finally reached the Ravenscar checkpoint to be greeted by Lorna who was doing a second shift as a marshall, she had also been at Whitby. The marshalls at Ravenscar looked very cold, it was windy and getting cold. We descended from Ravenscar back onto the Cleveland Way and passed Gareth and Lesley marshalling and jumping up and down to keep warm.

Only about 4m to go now but there were three sharp descents and ascents in that section. I managed to get through them without any more foot pain. The last climb was up from the bottom of Robin Hood's Bay itself and it was now getting quite dark by then, but there was street lighting so I didn't need to get my head torch out.

I huffed and puffed my way up the hill and turned into the car park and ran into the Village Hall to finish. 6hr 45min which was faster than any of my previous Hardmoors 30 times and equalled my fastest Hardmoors Princess time (there is much less mud in early September when the Princess is run). I was very happy with that, the change in the start point really helped me.

There was some lovely vegetarian chilli to eat before I started the drive home. Another lovely day out 😀

2014 blog