From Petra Bijsterveld…
The last year I have spent a lot of time on the Pennine Way, either recceing or racing. I basically covered the whole of it twice over, that’s more than 500 miles of ploughing through endless bogs and muddy fields carrying a heavy pack. Mainly hiking to be honest. I decided I had done more of enough of that for now, it was time for something different, something more runnable, but still on the trails. So my attention turned to Centurion Running, with a solid reputation for staging ultra races in the South. I decided to start with a ‘short’ one, the 50km Hundred Hills in the Chilterns (Oxfordshire), which nicely fitted into the rest of my schedule. And so I found myself on the start line on Saturday morning in Stonor Park, an old stately home in beautiful grounds, with 420 other runners.
I had done some homework already: there were six F60’s on the entry list including me. Four looked beatable if I pulled my finger out. However, upon checking the fifth woman I found she had some smokin’ fast times, including a 1:36 road half marathon only 2 weeks earlier. OK, assuming she turned up (she did) I would aim to be 2nd F60 then. I am glad I checked in advance, so I didn’t spend 50k pointlessly dreaming of taking an age category trophy home.
The race is called Hundred Hills for a reason. With 4400ft of elevation it is decidedly hilly, there are not quite 100, but when you study the elevation profile there are about 15. And they are pretty steep too. Apart from the climbs the course is very runnable, even I, who is possibly the worst descender in the universe, could run down the descents here at a good pace. A lot is in woodland, interspersed with paths through fields. There were quite a lot of gates and a few stiles, but most were easy to negotiate. The race was fully flagged so there was no need at all to use the gpx. We were very lucky with the conditions, mainly bone-dry underfoot, and no rain all day other than a light shower just before the start when I was still sitting in the car. There was a chilly breeze so stretches out of the sun were cold, but the weather really was perfect for running. The previous two editions of this race had been very wet as well as muddy underfoot, so I lucked out here.
Lots of friendly runners, I had a couple of brief chats on the way, but was mainly concentrating on moving forward at the best pace I reckoned I could maintain for 50 hilly kilometres. Though I did manage to take in and enjoy the views too. There were 5 checkpoints, though I hardly stopped, I just grabbed fluids and fuel and continued on my way. I did note though how well organised they were and all the volunteers were ace. As in a marathon things were getting a little tough in the later stages, there was about a mile and a half along a road at mile 24 where I was beginning to question my life choices, but I managed to keep running. As the finish became nearer my watch indicated an estimated time of 6:30 and I was keen to stay below that so I gave it some extra welly. This was helped by overtaking a woman in the last mile who looked like she could be 60 (she turned out to be an F50) and I was super keen to stay ahead of her, so I managed to find another gear.
I was delighted to cross the finish line under 6:30, as 2nd F60, and 40th woman out of 108 who finished. The medal is lovely, I received a can of alcohol-free beer, and there was free hot food for all finishers too. I met up with a woman I had recently got to know at a Tea&Trails event so I even had someone to talk to before tackling the drive home. I am sure I will be back to tackle some more races in the Centurion calendar.
1. 3:42:54 Joe Turner (new CR)
22. 4:37:00 Karla Borland (1st F)
220. 6:27:43 Petra Bijsterveld
402 finished