The Ponton Plod 27m 2017

This is an event I have been planning to for a number of years, but something always seems to happen which prevents me from doing it. This year I made it ! The cost is only £14 which is just crazily cheap for what you get. Toast and marmalade and Coffee or tea before the start, four checkpoints laden with home made cakes, sandwiches, rice pudding, fruit and at the finish this was what we could choose from (click to enlarge)

and these were just some of the food at the checkpoints (there were other tables)

Melanie is trying to complete all the Wainwright hills, but because the forecast for the Lakes was bad, she opted to join me even though she had done very little long distance running since the Elsecar Skelter in July. However, she has been walking up lots of hills which clearly helped today. It was lovely to have her company and she checked the route instructions while I followed the route on my Garmin and working that way helped us with the navigation - the route was also very well signed and the route description was excellent.

The weather was very misty initially and the forecast was for it to burn off very quickly and then be white cloud. It didn't work out quite that way, the mist lasted until half way and then we had bright sunshine for the second half.

The event started at the Village Hall in Great Ponton

The field was small about 46 for the 27m route and double that for the 17m route. There was a 12m route starting an hour later

Great Ponton is just to the east of the A1 (not far south from Grantham) and 99% of the route is to the west of the A1 so soon after the start we crossed the A1 by footbridge and were soon on an undulating path towards Stoke Newington and its attractive parkland

Then into the village itself

This road section lasted for about one and half miles. All the roads were very quiet apart from one which had a footpath.

On through Skillington - there were lots of attractive villages on this route and via farm tracks to the first checkpoint at 6.25, followed by Buckminster with his large houses.

Soon after that the terrain changed and we were crossing ploughed fields for a while

Luckily in spite of the heavy rain yesterday, they weren't very muddy. Finally we made it Croxton Kerrial checkpoint at halfway. We now knew some of the route and the checkpoint from the Belvoir Challenge event. The food at this checkpoint was very good ! Then onward

Soon after the reservoir we were off the Belvoir route and we made our way to Harlaxton. The checkpoint here was even better as there was rice pudding and tinned fruit. We probably stayed too long here, but we were in no rush. Shortly before the final checkpoint we pass this country house, Hungerton Hall

The final checkpoint was about 4m from the end and we made good progress back to the Village Hall and the amazing array of cakes, soup and puddings !

Soon after we left Great Ponton, we went through some very heavy rainfall. We were pleased we had missed that !

Hardmoors Rosedale 2017

"Welcome to the Hardmoors Rosedale marathon. There are two things wrong there, you won't be going into Rosedale and it's not a marathon". This was how Jon, the race director, started the race briefing. Hardmoors events are famous for giving you 'extra miles' at no extra cost....

I have done this event three times before. The first two years the route didn't change too much and it was the easiest of the Hardmoors marathons in my view. In 2016 Jon had to make a radical change to the route just a few days before the event and for the marathon this meant two laps of a route round Farndale which was a tougher route.

This year there was a more radical change and it is now longer than the original (most people measured it as 29.1m) with significantly more ascent (4500 feet approximately). The weather was hot, up to about 20 degrees at times. There was also some mud.

I was running this one with Sara and we started at the back as we knew there would be hold up at the first gate - the first 1.5m was the same as it always had been. Once through the three gates, we ran down the side of a wheat field.

and up into the lovely village of Gillamoor

where there was a lovely surprise view

We ran past the SportsSunday photographers

A few field edges and woods

The bracken was high in places (thanks to Sara for this photo)

and then onto some moors

Churches in the middle of nowhere

We were making reasonable progress, walking the many hills trying to preserve our energy in the heat. We had mainly be heading west, but finally we turned west with lovely views of the purple heather

There was a lot of steep descents into attractive dales (the route was very well marked with tape)

but inevitably there were steep ascents out of these dales. We past an interesting abandoned farm

We had a bit of a long road section with a descent into Bransdale, 

 before a climb and a descent into the lovely Farndale

Then onto the popular daffodil walk between High Mill and Low Mill, which was relatively quiet, before a big climb out of Farndale

and the inevitable descent back into Farndale. There were some lovely woods and this photo doesn't really do it justice

Then it was a relatively simple, but hilly section to the finish. At the start Ashley had taken a photo of the Elvet Striders running the marathon (thanks for the photo Ashley)

Suffice to say, I didn't look quite so happy at the end. It had been a hot, tough day on a beautiful route. Thanks to Sara for her company 😀

2016 blog

Elsecar Skelter 27m 2017

My approach to running is different to most runners. I don't care much about times and I  don't aim to get a personal best time. It would be nice if one came along, but I am not interested in doing the training to achieve a personal best. As long as I am fit enough to complete any event I enter, that is all I care about.

The Elsecar Skelter event suits me very well. It is mainly off-road, we run by many follies, country houses, there are hills and views and the route is complex enough to keep me thinking about which way to go rather than thinking about how many miles to go. The checkpoints are very good, lots of sandwiches to eat and there is a meal at the end, all for £12 if you enter early enough. It rises to £13 if you enter on the day ! I find it a relaxing run (well at least as relaxing as a run can ever be).

Melanie was doing this one with me and this would be her first marathon for over two years. Before the start we met up with a couple from the fetcheveryone website who I haven't seen for a number of years and chatted with Gary who I had seen at other events, but not spoken to before. The day before the event Eric decided to run it and he accompanied us round the route. We grew as a group as we ran round which was a bit of surprise given the low number of runners, so overall it was a very social event.

It starts at the Market Hotel in Elsecar right next door to the Elsecar Heritage Centre, which has cafes, art and craft shops and a steam engine railway. An interesting place to visit after the event.

The weather on the Friday had been wet, but today it was perfect running weather, a slight breeze to keep us cool and the sun making the an occasional appearance from behind white clouds.

The briefing was short, to the point and full of South Yorkshire humour. It reminded me of my seven years in Sheffield and Rotherham, three of which I spent working at Wentworth Woodhouse which is on the route.

The route started with a climb through woods and fields with the first views soon appearing

past the first folly, the Needle's Eye and on to Hoober Stand where we had the first self clip checkpoint.

On through the village of Hoober, across fields to Higher Stubbin and Nether Haugh (lovely names). More fields and past a mausoleum (largely hidden in trees but you can just see it in the distance in the photo below)

and on to the private road through the Wentworth Woodhouse estate. Again there are follies

before the main house appears - it has the largest frontage in the UK apparently

Working there when it was Lady Mabel College of Education has lots of memories for me. On to Wentworth Church

and the second checkpoint which had drinks and flapjack.

A mixture of off-road and road for a while and we came out through the woods to one of the main checkpoints in Westwood Country Park which is at the centre of the figure of eight route we were covering. There was plenty of hot and cold drinks and sandwiches. It was good to know we were going through here again later.

Through West Wood and round the edge and then through fields

and on to a section where the farmer had ploughed over the path. Fortunately, the organisers had taped a few trees in this section which made it easier. Shortly after came the next checkpoint where runners could decide to take the 21m route back (there was also a 15m route on offer from the previous checkpoint). It was good to have the flexibility to change as we went round.

Another hill to climb with lovely views from the top.

Then it's my favourite section Wharncliffe Edge

And on via the Wortley Hall checkpoint, back to Westwood Country Park checkpoint (more lovely sandwiches) and the last four or five miles across more fields

Into the Market Hotel, taking our shoes off before finishing

and eating quiche and mushy peas and collecting our badge and certificates

before having a drink from the bar. A perfect day. Well done to Melanie for completing her first marathon for a while and it was great to have Eric's company 😃

2016 blog