Yorkshire Moors Frostbite Marathon 2011

I had been undecided about this race as I wasn't sure how much of it was on the Cleveland Way. For some reason the organisers would not publish the exact route until you had paid your entry fee. I had found the Cleveland Way very muddy on the Hardmoors 30 at the start of the month and if it was going to be largely the same route then I wasn't going to enter. A friend from Fetcheveryone.com came to my rescue as she had already entered and forwarded me the route. Only about 9m in total on the Cleveland Way, the first 4.5m and the last 4.5m. The rest of the route was either on old railway lines or across the moors and most of it I had done before on the Hardmoors 30 or the Smugglers Trod.

Another friend from Fetcheveryone, Liz, who I had run with on the Hardmoors 55 last year, was also doing this race and she came and stayed last night, so we were up at 4.30 in the morning to get to Whitby for the early start.

We left the house at 5.30 after de-icing the cars and arrived in Whitby still in total darkness just before 7. We registered and stood around at 7.30 for the briefing. It was about -2 at this point. I had bought roclites and mudclaws, the latter to be used if there was any sign of mud. But no, the ground was frozen so roclites it was.

Liz and I had agreed to run together again with no time targets set. The marathon runners had a 5min start over the 50m runners and we heard their hooter as we jogged along and as one runner close to us said 'the hounds had been released' and it was true, they steadily overtook us. We trotted along taking it easy as the aim was just to finish and get some time on our feet. At one point the runners ahead were turning sharp right away from the coast and we just followed them. It took me about 100 yards to come to my senses and realise that should not have happened. So I just said out loud we have made a mistake and all the runners around us just followed us back to the coast. Quite a few were just too far ahead, but they rejoined the path about a mile ahead when they realised their error.

After that it was fairly uneventful, the path was frozen mud until we reached the correct point to turn away from the coast to an old railway line and head into Robin Hood's Bay and checkpoint 1. We had a chat with the marshalls and headed off chatting away about races and Liz's preparations for the 10 marathons in 10 days event at Windermere in May.

We reached the highest point on the route as the sun came out and had a fantastic view of Robin Hood's Bay and Ravenscar Then it was off down across the moor to the turn around point - it was an out and back for the marathon runners, the 50m runners were similar but had a loop near their half way point. So we headed back up the moor and down to Robin hood's Bay. Now the wind had picked up a little, the sun had gone in and it was getting a little cold. We returned to the Cleveland Way and it was transformed. The frozen mud and been melted by the sun into major mud, probably worse than I had experienced at the Hardmoors 30. My roclites struggled and progress was very slow, especially when we had to descend steep gullies. But we made it back very happy and got fed soup at the finish. The second half was much slower than the first and we finished in just over 7hr 20min. A lovely day out.

Photos : https://photos.app.goo.gl/eRhXYwjkUvPb41jA6

Hardmoors 30 2011

'Good cross country training' said one runner after this one. And he was definitely right, it turned out to be a bit of a mudfest. My Kandidas didn't cope well with that much mud and I was left regretting that I hadn't used mudclaws.

The race started by going south along the Cleveland Way from Ravenscar and that section of about 4m was fine. There was a steep descent to Hayburn Wake and out the other side where the race organiser was waiting at the first checkpoint in a field. As we left the checkpoint we had a view of the field and he was attempting to move his car and he was getting seriously stuck, so three of us went back to help him. As other runners came to the checkpoint, they came and helped as well. It took six of us fifteen minutes to get him out and in that time we all got covered in mud from spinning car wheels. A complete comedy moment, but it did relieve any concerns about the 7 hour cut off being enforced!

My expectation was about 6 hours. What I hadn't realised was that after Hayburn the railway lines climbed back to Ravenscar. That was harder than I had expected. We then went north to Robin Hood's Bay and that section was fine. Then after Robin Hood's Bay there must have been a two mile climb along the railway line with no respite. I tried to run sections but most of it was walked. Finally, the climb stopped and the descent into Whitby was lovely.

I was still on for about 6hr at this point. Found the Whitby checkpoint and had a cliffbar - these are great, I had some the at the Hardmoors 55m and haven't seen once since, I must get some.

It was fun dodging and weaving round the shoppers in Whitby and there were a few strange looks.

Once I had climbed all the steps and gone past the abbey I was back on the Cleveland Way. The wind was behind us and I was expecting to get to Robin Hood's Bay in 2 hours. It took 3 hours. It was very muddy and much more undulating than I remembered. It was also much longer than I remembered and the headland I needed to get to seemed a long way away. There were also three or four places where I was soaked by seawater even though we were 150 feet above the sea Those places were just a quagmire. About thirty minutes before Robin Hood's Bay my head torch came out. I had been expecting to run the last hour in the dark (the race didn't start until 11), but I was still 90 minutes away from the finish when I had to use the torch. This slowed me down even more.

Robin Hood's Bay to Ravenscar is only about 4 to 5 miles but I knew it was tough. The climb out of Robin Hood's Bay is hard then there are two up and downs before a long climb up to Ravenscar. The runnable parts were very muddy and it was hard to make progress, so little running was done.

Finally made it back with an elapsed time of 7 hours 6 minutes, which allowing for the mud shower at checkpoint 1, left me within the cutoff, but only just. I was 28th out of 29 finishers. The last person was over an hour after me. It was a bit of a lonely race, I had not seen anyone after mile 13!

This was more than made up for when I entered the Race HQ. There were about 25 people eating and drinking in there and they all stopped what they were doing and gave me an enormous round of applause. Ultra runners are lovely and it was just what I needed after a very tough race.

Sadly Phil Owen had to pull out after 10m because of problems with his foot. Anna Seeley had a good run and was back in about 6hr 25min. Will had a fantastic run, he was third in a time of round about 4hr 40min !

Newcastle Town Moor marathon 2010

The plan today was to take it very steady and see how long it took me to run out of steam. Since Ripon at the start of October, my calf problems have restricted my running and my longest run was last Monday. That one was 13m and I ran out of steam at 8m, so the omens were not good.

Lent a hand setting up Fetchpoint (the support point for runners from Fetcheveryone) and then went off to get ready and made my way to the start. Just lots and lots of people I knew, local runners, three clubmate and lots of Fetchies. The marshalls were mainly the same ones as last year and one remembered me from last year. Some of the marshalls also marshall at the Parkrun so there were lots of familiar faces. The marshalls were very encouraging, I wouldn't fancy being stuck out there for so long in that weather.

The weather was not great. It could have been much worse because the Town Moor is very exposed and and when it windy running is a nightmare. However, it was only a very light breeze. Its was a bit cold but what made it worse was the rain. The showers did not last long but they came very regularly. I felt lucky that I had decided to run in a waterproof top.

I started at a steady 10 minute miles and was soon near the back, but that didn't worry me and I did wonder if I was going a bit fast, but it felt comfortable and I remained at that pace for almost the entire race. Others slowed so from lap 3 onwards and I started to overtake people which helped with the motivation. On the fifth lap, I was sure I was going to tire, but I still seemed able to grind out that pace. I did walk the hill on the final lap but I knew I could do that and get under 4hr 30 which was almost 30 minutes better than the time I thought I might get. So I was very happy that I didn't run out of steam

We all passed Fetchpoint five times and the support there was just great. I did get teased by one Fetchie at Fetchpoint though. Last Sunday I paced her to a 10K pb on the Town Moor and as we got near to the finish I said 'There is a slight hill coming up and you need to dig in' and as we climbed I said 'Dig in Lesley'. We got to the top and turned into the finishing straight and I said something along the lines of 'Use all that's left and go for the pb' ! Now Fetchpoint was shortly before that hill and every time I went past she used all those lines on me. That happened five times ! I will be more careful what I say next time

Anna Seeley was the first Strider home and Andrew Thompson was close behind having had a great run and gaining a new personal best ! Phil Owen ran three laps, but his knee was starting to hurt so he wisely pulled out

Photos : https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z122hQumRYu5zR1cA

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