NEMC Winter Wonder Ashington Woods marathon 2019

This is probably a very good thing to do after a marathon - a bit of mindfulness  colouring in McDonalds with a coffee. Not sure that the young boy who came along for some crayons and saw some of them were being used by adult was too impressed...

This was a free event for me because I had marshalled at the Winter Wonder Leazes Park event (marshalling also entitles you to free NEMC membership as well 😀). Ten laps of a route round Ashington Woods. It was very well marked and the marshalls were very encouraging. Drinks station and toilets at the end of each lap (2.6 miles). Pretty flat just a few gentle inclines. It was a sunny day, but windy and as the event was in woods this didn't affect us at all.

Just over 100 were registered for the event and as usual at these events some were doing 5 miles, 10miles, 20miles,  a marathon or just running as far as they could in 6 hours which was the time limit.

We adopted our usual plan for these events. Run everything in the first half and walk the inclines in the second half. Here is the first incline after the start (taken on lap 8 if you were wondering where everybody is)

Then a nice gentle downhill

Thanks to John Brennand for this photo on the approach to the lake

More woods

and then after a very short sharp climb running next to an old railway line

and then onwards to a more open section

followed by a slightly muddy section (which wasn't that muddy) I had trail shoes with minimal grip on and Melanie has road shoes and neither of us had any issues.

 Next the bridge which you get very familiar with

and then just before the final straight (thanks to Clare Stanton for this photo)

The long straight back to the finish which has two slight inclines.

These two photos were taken at the end of lap 8 by Paul Evans (who had already finished by then !). You might well conclude that one of us was feeling fresher than the other one...

 Back to the mindfulness colouring afterwards

Finishers collected a medal, a chocolate bar and a bag of crisps at the finish.

Golden Fleece Circuit 27.5m 2019

Last year this event was postponed from early March to May because of snow and we ran it in lovely sunny conditions in May. This year we ran it again in mainly sunny conditions in early March after a very warm end to February.

The route and the atmosphere were the same as they always are at this event, this is the fifth time for me at this one and the fourth time for Melanie. It is low key, two routes 16 miles and 27.5 miles, amazing checkpoints and food at the end all for £14. About half the field were runners the rest walkers and we all start together. We all have a check point card which is stamped at the checkpoints.

Apart from one tricky section  through Walkington the route is not marked. The ground was very firm and we could have run it in road shoes this year. Early on there was a slight delay at a narrow bridge and a gate. Our wait at the bridge was made more entertaining by someone attempting to cross via rope swing. He didn't make it and ended up in the stream, uninjured, but with wet feet.

On to North Cave

and Hotham Hall park

and Hotham church which looks a bit like they ran out of money during construction

Through the first checkpoint and off into the fields and woods before arriving at the wonderful North Newbald checkpoint. This is just a selection of what was on offer. The two routes separate after this and the longer route is much quieter.

The climbing starts here, nothing too strenuous, but they are noticeable.

The next checkpoint arrives quickly at Newbald Lodge (again lots of food to chose from). On towards the outskirts of Bishop Burton and Walkington (another checkpoint here) before heading south to Skidby and the last but one checkpoint. We were now into the slight breeze and tiring a bit, so more walking was done. Under the old railway bridge where the water level was much lower than in previous years

On to the final checkpoint and on to the Wolds Way

Down to Brantingham and its lovely church

Before the final steep climb well above South Cave with a view of the Humber estuary.

Down into South Cave, through the village and the Cave Castle Hotel

to the finish in the Village Hall. Here we had some lovely thick soup, cups of tea and too many cakes. A lovely day and much to our surprise, our second fastest time at this event.

2018 blog

Endurance Life CTS Northumberland 2019

Is this really February ? The weather was just amazing. This is the third time I have entered this event and it was so much warmer than in the previous two years. There was a bit of a breeze on the coast but it was behind us all the way. The tide was out so there was plenty of room on the beaches to run on firm sand.

The scenery on the Northumberland coast is just lovely, castles, beaches. We started at Bamburgh Castle as usual, but instead of registering inside the castle we used some marquees just outside the entrance. It was a very efficient system and we had our briefing inside marquee which kept us warmer as it was a bit chilly before we started. A disadvantage with this arrangement was we were given a discount to enter the castle afterwards so we didn't have free access to the cafe in the castle.

Some of these photos were taken by Melanie so thanks to her 😀

We started as usual near Alnwick Castle (the parkrun there had been cancelled for this week) and we travelled to Alnwick by coach. It was still chilly at this point but they didn't wait long before starting us off.

We mainly followed the river towards Alnmouth and it soon warmed up, lots of people were stopping, including us, to strip off layers.

and crossed the stepping stones

Alnmouth looked lovely as usual

Through the first checkpoint and on to Boulmer and Longhougton. We passed some Elvet Striders runners and they passed us as we made our way up the coast. About a mile after Alnmouth we caught up with Jane who we remained with and chatted to until the end.

Through Craster and on to Dunstanburgh Castle 

At Embleton we stayed on the dunes and along beside the golf course

On to Beadnell bay

This was around 20 miles and at this point my energy just went. No idea why, it was perfect conditions. I hadn't slept too well but I have had a poor night before a race and run well the following day. Oh well, it was just one of those days where it doesn't happen. But the scenery was lovely to make up for that 😀

One of the temptations of entering this race is for the last two years I have placed in my age category for which I have won a discount for another race. As their events are spread around the country, I have always gone for the local one. They don't do age category prizes on the day so sometime this week I might hear something....

2018 blog