From Matthew Kennedy…
This North Coast is probably not the first one that comes to mind in Yorkshire, since the race name refers to the final stretch of the South West Coast Path, running from Hartland Quay in Devon to Minehead in Somerset.
It makes for quite an unbalanced course – nearly 25 miles of cliffs to Westward Ho!, about 25 flat miles around the Torridge & Taw estuaries to Saunton Sands, and then back to the cliffs of the Exmoor coast for the final 60 miles or so. With 18,500+ feet of climbing in total, it’s more or less the Three Peaks and the Fellsman, with a regular marathon sandwiched in between.
The other factor that made the race unusual was Storm Amy, although out on the fringes the weather was more peculiar than bad. During the day, it was windy & wet but surprisingly warm – the steady drizzle felt fine without a waterproof – and during the night, the wind and rain mostly dropped away.
However, for maybe 5-10 minutes every hour, the wind would suddenly pick up – gusting strongly enough to blow you up a hill (nice) or off your feet into a gorse bush (not so nice) – and it was often accompanied by short bursts of freezing rain and even hail. But as the lowish dropout rate of around 25% suggests, overall conditions weren’t actually all that terrible (even if the state of my feet afterwards might suggest otherwise…)
Each stage of the race presented its own challenges – the Hartland cliffs were muddy & slippy, the estuary cycle path was monotonous & unforgiving in trail shoes, and the Exmoor cliffs included a long, twisty forest section that felt like it was never going to end. Nevertheless, I was treated to a beautiful sunrise as I climbed the last hill, then shuffled down into Minehead to see one final hailstorm catch the local parkrunners by surprise.
(It’s my second ultra organised by Climb South West and I can highly recommend them for folks looking to venture further afield. They offer smaller, friendly races across a range of distances and seem to have developed a loyal following – the closest local comparison would be Punk Panther)
(1= David Parrott 24h48)
(1= Martin Reynolds 24h48)
3 Matthew Kennedy 25h05
15 starters, 11 finishers