Round Ripon Ultra 35m 2010

I love running round Ripon. I had never been there until I started running. My first race in that area was Kirby Malzeard 10K. It was hilly and tough, but I loved it. I have been back in that area for the Fountains 10K, the Ripon 10m, the Jolly Holly Jog 10k, the Burn Valley Half marathon, the Melmerby 10k, the Yorkshire 10K and the Muddy Boots 10k.

I wasn't very well prepared for today's race which was the first running of this event. I haven't done much running since Kielder at the beginning of the month.

There were about forty starters and we started by running from Studley Roger, a beautiful village and one of many lovely ones that we went through today and headed towards Ripon. We took a slightly convoluted route through the town and we were ushered through by the runners from the Ripon Runners club who started slowly to ensure none of us got lost in this section.

There was no marking on this course, just a map book with the route marked with a thick red line. It was a bit too thick and it was a bit difficult to see what was underneath. There were four well stocked checkpoints.

Before I got to the first checkpoint I was following three runners and they were looking at their map booklet so I just relied on them. This was a bit silly and we ended up in a quarry quite a bit off the route!

The first seven and a bit miles (well a bit more for some of us) to the first checkpoint were fairly easy going. After that we were pretty close to the river and then entered woods (but not before two more unplanned diversions ). Here it became much more difficult, muddy, slippy, lots of tree roots, it was slow progress. Those ahead of me paused to decide which route to take (we were following the Ripon Rowell path for most of race, but the waymarkers were often hidden, non existent or one occasion wrong !). I decided that it was time to get out my Satmap GPS. Whenever I bring it to races I find I don't need it, but it was clearly time to use it now - I should have used it from the start. It made route finding much easier from then on. I did make one further mistake, but because I followed an incorrect waymarker and didn't check the GPS until a quarter of mile later - dumb!

Lots of people got lost. I started at the back and overtook a few, then people who were clearly faster than me appeared and overtook me ! I didn't meet anyone who didn't get lost, some of them much more seriously than me.

There was three sections across the moors. I found these quite difficult to find the way, the paths weren't clear at all. There was also some sections on quiet roads. Other bits were very marshy, across muddy fields, but the second half had lots of hills.

There was nine miles between checkpoint 3 and 4 and that was pretty tough considering the terrain.

All the runners and marshalls were very chatty and friendly so overall it was a lovely, but tough event.

It finished by running down the road through the Deer Park (and the deer were very near the road today). I have run up that road many times, but never down - it was so much easier !

I finished in 7hr 57min. At one stage I was expecting eight and half hours so I was very pleased. Anna finished a few minutes ahead of me after also going off route. Will I be back ? Probably, it should be easier if the route is the same !

Kielder Challenge 26m 2010

The alarm went off at 5 again. I struggled to get out of the house by 6 and then it was a fast drive to Kielder. Up the A1 which was nice and quiet, as was the A69 and then north on the rollercoaster which is the A68, those hidden summits are fun

Then through the fog to Kielder. The car park was much more crowded with double the number of entrants this year. I had run round Kielder twice before today and both times were close to 5 hours so I would have been very happy with 4hr 59min, but I wasn't holding out too much hope as I have done quite a few long runs recently.

The runners were starting first at 8.00 and as we gathered at the line, up came a woman in a midge net and said hi Dave. It was a Fetchie named Soph, who I had only met online before and we then ran the entire race together

I realised pretty early on that we were running up hills I had walked up before. If a hill was particularly long and steep Soph would say 'run as far as that tree'. At first I wasn't quite sure which one she meant and I usually guessed at a tree (there were a lot of them) somewhat nearer than she meant ! Then there would be a call of 'Come on Rave Dave' (which I haven't been called since school ). Then there was the singing, I am not going to forget both of us singing Yesterday as we crossed the dam - neither is anyone who heard us !

I had a bit of an equipment failure. I took a bum bag, the same one which had lasted most of Grimsthorpe. It had one working bottle holder left, but after about 8m the bottom of the only bottle holder broke and the bottle fell through . I had also noticed that my insect repellent spray had leaked all over the bag contaminating everything in there including my shot blocks and s!caps. I also smelt of insect repellent (we didn't have any problem with midges though !) and my companion regularly took the mickey out of me ! The bum bag ended up in the bin at the end of the race.

The fog lifted after about an hour and half and it started to heat up a bit. Kielder and the the Lakeside Walk are just lovely and there was only a light cooling breeze. The undulations are tough though, 2000 ft of ascent apparently.

We finished in 4hr 25min which is an incredible time for me on that course ! Totally unexpected and it was down to Soph, I could not have done that without her.

Then it was off to the pub for food, drink and chat. A lovely day.

Smuggler's Trod 26m 2010

This turned out to be a lovely run

Up at 5.00 as it was an 8.00 start at Robin Hood's Bay. The weather was sunny, but with a bit more than a cooling breeze, but it wasn't up to a gale.

The start was across the main car park at Robin Hood's Bay and the it turned uphill pretty quickly. I decided that it wasn't runnable so I walked as quick as I could, turning round every now and then to see the lovely view south down the coast

There was a limit of 350 entrants and it looked line about 100 were runners which is a much higher proportion that I had seen at recent LDWA events. The other unusual thing was the number of checkpoints. Fifteen in total for a 26m route ! Some were self clips, others manned with no refreshments and some with lots of hot and cold drinks and lots of food . Some of the helpers at the checkpoints were dressed as pirates and lots of the signs were decorated with the skull and crossbones.

The route directions which I downloaded a while ago were pretty good so I knew where I was going most of the time. The course was also marked, so I never needed my Satmap (GPS), map or the route directions.

Great views of Whitby when we got onto the moors. Some of the paths were overgrown with heather or bracken so it wasn't always easy to see where you were putting your feet. Most of the ground was pretty dry, but on the moors there were some boggy bits

We came off the moors a few times into some lovely North Yorkshire hamlets, but then there was the inevitable climb back up again to the moors.

From about 17m to 20m it felt a long slog upwards and I thought I might have run out of steam. But once past the the high point at 20m, we descended and ran along an old railway line and I was fine there. Then there was descent into Robin Hood's Bay and the finish was the climb out of Robin Hood's Bay dodging all the tourists Some finish ! Finished in 5hr 20min 35sec

Pie and peas (again!) followed by rice pudding and peaches at the finish.

Northumberland Coast marathon 2010

I love the Northumberland Coastal Run which is 14m from Beadnell to Alnmouth. So when the opportunity came up to run a marathon on roughly the same course out and back from Alnmouth, I jumped at it and I am glad I did. An added advantage was that it was almost all offroad and it took me down trails I hadn't covered before.

A very small invited field of about forty including 100 marathon club members, locals and Anna Seeley and myself. Phil Owen was there supporting on his mountain bike and as is almost inevitable when Phil is around we had a sunny day. We started with a slight cooling breeze, but that developed in the second half which made it tough. It also got warmer and I was resorting to pouring a bottle of water over my head at the checkpoints. However, I seemed to dry out in about five minutes.

I had spent four and half hours on a mountain bike the day before and as I expected, I ran out of steam. This was at about 18m and I ran/walked from there. The scenery in the sunlight was just awesome. I managed to come in under 5 hours so I was happy with that. Anna finished not far ahead of me

One of the advantages of a small field is it increases your chance of a prize and I won my age category ! It's only the second time I have ever done that

I will definitely do this one again

Photos : https://photos.app.goo.gl/zRgMdecvzBL62We59

Elsecar Skelter 27m 2010

I did this run last year and I enjoyed it, so I decided to do it again. The alarm went off at 4.45. I heard the rain outside and I turned over.

But I didn't go to sleep and at 5.00 I forced myself out of bed, got myself together and left the house at 5.45.

The journey down to near Barnsley was painless apart from the 17m of road works on the A1 which have a 50 mph speed limit. Only two more years before they finish!

The weather was quite bad on the way down but it was just grey when I got to Elsecar and registered. I hadn't expected to see any Fetchies, but it was great to see two I had met before. We ran together until the first checkpoint, but I didn't see them after that and I had to shoot off afterwards so I don't know how they found it.

The route description was only available on the day which gave people very little time to study it. This meant that lots of people seemed to make mistakes and I spent a lot of of the race stopping people from going the wrong way. I did make a very minor mistake myself and there was one point where I took a wild guess about the right way and it was right.

We passed Wentworth Woodhouse where I had my first job in a teacher training college and it was lovely to see it again. It was raining quite a bit then and it developed into a short cloudburst. The view from Wharncliffe Craggs was lovely and we seemed to pass many follies and country houses. It was undulating mainly with just a couple of hills.

The undergrowth seemed much more developed this year and my legs stung from all the nettles for at least a day after.

I liked it a lot. Knowing the route saved me loads and loads of time - I was 90 minutes faster than last year. I was also only 6 minutes behind the first person home - I have never been so close to the front before - and probably won't be again !

Lovely pie and peas afterwards.

Photos : https://photos.app.goo.gl/R1czzmpHtqajDyFE8

Grimsthorpe Ultra 70m 2010

Drove down on Thursday night and stayed the night in a Travelodge which was next to a lorry park. Bad idea as the lorries started moving before 5. Breakfast in the neighbouring Little Chef - porridge followed by pancakes and coffee. The day before had included three portions of pasta and lots of fluids.

Got to Grimsthorpe to find an attractive country house/castle with undulating countryside surrounding it. We had to take anything we wanted for the duration of the race out of our car and leave it in the organiser's tent which we would pass regularly. This involved me carrying loads of extra kit over to the tent, most of which I didn't use, but I was grateful for some of it.

The structure of the event was one lap of 3m which took in the beginning of the larger lap and the end of the larger lap, then seven large laps of 9.6m followed by a finish running up the drive to the lit up castle with glow sticks marking the finish line - a nice finish.

I now feel I know every blade of grass personally.The larger lap started downhill down a tarmaced estate road (only farm traffic)

down to the lake then a limestone track upwards (which I always walked), then a lovely gentle down hill on limestone trail then a gentle rise upwards which I walked more of after the second lap. Then a turn onto the estate road again and a steep climb up (at this point you had the chance to see some of the runners coming the other way who were further round the lap. Then turn into some lovely woods on an uneven grass trail with more climbing. At the top we then turned into a lightly wooded area with sheep and we ran through what I would call fairy grass, mid calf, not thick over uneven ground. This was one of my favourite bits as it was flat and lovely to run through. Back onto limestone tracks, down, then up, more limestone trail and then onto a grass track to the first self clip checkpoint. More grass track slightly down hill, lovely, then back to the estate road where we turned to head back. This was the killer section. Imagine those approach roads to country estates where they have rows of trees either side, they are dead straight, flat and in the distance you can see the castle. This particular section was just incredibly, mind sappingly dull and very, very long with just one bend. Although flat I found it very hard to run all of it, it felt like it was sucking the energy out of me. Then a descent where we met runners not so far round the lap.

Lovely descent into woods to the lake. Onto an ascending grass trail which I walked mostly to the second self clip checkpoint, then a lovely downhill on grass, more undulating limestone trail. More ascending grass trail up to a lovely flat section in woods which led to the organiser's tent. So a varied course, apart from the one very long section. Lots of wildlife - hares, rabbits, bats, some creature like a small dog I didn't even recognise!

The first small lap was fine and I ran round with someone I knew from Fetcheveryone. I lost him at the end of that lap as he stopped to pick up a drink. First big lap was fine just watching where we were going - it was well marked. Halfway round I realised my new bum bag had split where the bottle went in. Luckily I had brought a spare bum bag with me.

Second big lap, in a good groove. Gave some of my water to a runner who was suffering as he had used all of his water.

Third big lap. Wham, hit the wall big time, walking lots, very grim. Suddenly seemed to be drinking loads and I almost ran out soon after halfway. Luckily the organisers were patrolling and I managed to get some water off them, but I finished that by the end of lap. Realised that I hadn't taken on board anywhere near enough water on the first two laps so carried two bottles from the fourth lap on.

Fourth big lap, better than the third but still pretty grim.

Fifth big lap. Much better, running much more of the route.

Sixth lap. First half was fine. It got dark about halfway, but I was mainly on road so I was able to keep up a good pace. It was easier running the long straight bit in the dark as you couldn't see how long it lasted.

Didn't stay long at the checkpoint as I could see a chance of being sub 15 hours, but I had forgotten that for me running with a head torch on uneven ground is always slower, so I missed out by quite a margin, though I was still feeling very fresh at the end where I could see where I as putting my feet.

I finished 14th out of 30 finishers. Four people did not finish.

Nutrition - went well, Muller rice was just great and went down very easily. Philadelphia sandwiches become very dull and were replaced by cereal bars. Tescos pasta was brilliant. Started with stop blocks, but gave up on them. Used an Succeed S!cap every lap and Nunn for a couple of laps. One of the advantages of laps was that you got access to your food and kit every 9.6m. It seemed to work and I had no cramps at all and no blisters. I ran in road shoes. Changed socks and top after five big laps.

Perfect weather, hardly any wind, cloudy until the end of day. No rain.

Many people think I am bonkers to be running long distances. One of the participants was a jugglerunner, that is a runner who juggles as he runs. And yes I believe he juggled balls for all of the 70m (he had luminous ones for the night !). I am not in that league (yet).

After I finished I went to sleep for a few hours and woke again at 7 and went over to the main checkpoint. There were still five people out there on the course (the cut off was a very generous 27 hours). I really admire those people.

I got home and found it difficult to walk much for the following two days. Stairs were particularly hard!

Lessons learnt:

1) Give up with bum bags (my second one also split on the final lap) and take a backpack
2) Think more about how much water to take
3) Remember you will be slower with a head torch
4) Avoid lapped races with long straight sections
5) Do more runs on consecutive days - I only did one pair.

I can't see myself doing this again, it was good, but I just feel I know the route so well, the thought of doing that route again seven times would drive me crazy (or even more so than I am already).

Photos : https://photos.app.goo.gl/89vsGjk4HXqsrBS29

Osmotherley Phoenix 33m 2010

Last year I was uncertain whether I would do this run again as I found it very tough and the warm weather made it harder. However, memories fade and when it came round to entering this one again, I could not resist it. The scenery and the views are great, the checkpoints are well stocked with food and drinks and there is a good friendly atmosphere.

The route follows the Cleveland Way out of Osmotherley, past Lordstone's Cafe, but then avoids the three following hills which include the Wainstones, before returning to the Cleveland Way and the climb out of Clay Bank. Then after the trig point, its down to Chop Gate and a very tough climb out of there towards Wheat Beck. After some more lovely countryside, its a long climb back onto the moors and onto the Cleveland Way again, but this time south of Osmotherley and you follow the Cleveland Way back to Osmotherley.

Last year I got injured and walked quite a bit of the last ten miles. This year I had no injury problems and managed to improve my time by 30 minutes to 7hr 40min, but I can't imagine me doing doing this event much faster than that.

2009 blog : Lisrun: Osmotherley Phoenix 33m 2009