From Andrew Merrick…

Some months ago I was asked if I would do a 100 miler with Becca Cesar de Sa. Her husband Nuno, who did the asking, makes a fine cup of coffee and they are both good company so I was happy to say yes. After some internet searching, we eventually chose this race put on by Greener Miles Running. It started at 9am in Blanchland, about 2 hours drive, so we could stay at home the night before, and looked to have some interesting scenery, including most of Hadrian’s Wall. Decision made, we were not put off by the small number of entrants (16) with about another 36 doing the 50 mile version. As subsequently advertised on TV (!) we also thought we would take the opportunity to raise some money for the MND Association. 

So we headed off early on Saturday morning, with Stephane, another competitor (our car was almost 20% of the field) and his girlfriend, and arrived with about 40 mins to spare in time for a full kit check, drop bag drop-off and the necessary pre-race faffing. 

The sun came out as we set off and we were in a happy place as we reached the first (roadside) checkpoint at 12 miles to refill our bottle and grab some fruit, having run at our intended pace on some trails and footpaths. We were slightly giddy when a few miles later we reached our first sighting of Hadrian’s construction efforts, although that was the last time we saw the sun that day! As we continued to trek along westerly (into the wind) we had a good view of virtually all the remaining bits of wall, saw our Saturday support team (Lis and Chloe) racing to get to checkpoint 2 ahead of us (they did with 10 mins to spare), and ran past the famous Sycamore tree which I failed to spot given I was concentrating on staying upright on some fairly steep steps. [In my experience, there are 3 principal reasons for failing to complete ultras – insufficient refuelling, insufficient footcare or illness/injury so avoiding the self-inflicted latter is always a good plan!]. Given there was a 15 mile gap to the next CP, Lis and Chloe provided some cheer (and water/fruit) at an interim CP, near the delightfully named Once Brewed – where else would the support crew have their pub lunch! The trail along Hadrian’s Wall was pretty undulating so we weren’t sorry to part company with it at Greenfield (CP3), and have a slight change of direction as we then headed south. A fairly uneventful next stage took us to Slaggyford, where we parted company with our Saturday support crew, encouraged the other woman in the race to stay with our gang (she’d already navigated wrongly several times), which she swelled to 4, Gareth having joined us earlier in the day. We donned headtorches and we headed into the dark and then after a great call from Rebecca went back into the CP to put our waterproof trousers on! Navigation was challenging in a number of places on this route, not helped in a number of sections by a total lack of path. Obviously this became tougher in the dark and this significantly slowed our progress, but we pootled on to Garrigill, mentally preparing ourselves for the most challenging stage, up and over Cross Fell, the medic support crew having warned us that the weather wasn’t going to be great! This stage was billed as 17 miles, and it was a challenge, the only upside being that we knew that we would have daylight again by the time we finished it! It started with a long haul up a reasonably wide track but into the driving rain and, once we got to the low cloud, poor visibility. We re-grouped regularly to make sure all were accounted for, and the conditions were then exemplified by us seeing a runner coming towards us; we were surprised to see someone else out running at that hour, and it took us all a little time to realise that he was actually in the race and had got so disoriented that he was heading in completely the wrong direction!! We adopted him into our gang. The highlight at this point once we had largely finished the climb was that we came across a three room hut fairly close to the top. The door wasn’t locked so we all went in to get out of the rain and put an extra layer on. After about 5 minutes, the internal door opened and a couple who had been sleeping came out to see what was going on. They kindly invited us in to the room they were in since they had a stove. After this physical and mental boost we headed back out into the cloud and it took us at least 10 minutes to find the route again! Finally we started to head downhill, although the low cloud hung around for quite some time. At this stage, as we continued on to the relief of the next CP, both Rebecca and I were beginning to have doubts whether we would be able to finish it, which she voiced and I internalised! Notwithstanding the fantastic sponsorship support from many friends and colleagues, I am embarrassed to say, at that point, I would have happily stopped at Dufton. However when we finally got there, there was no sign of weakness from Rebecca, and I used the time whilst she had her feet retaped, to reset mentally. The bowl of breakfast pasta and two cups of tea, and the arrival of our Sunday support crew in the shape of Nuno helped; and four of the gang set off more cheerfully with no rain and a clear path. Ute, the other woman in the race said she would catch us up – there are two versions as to whether it was the CP team who guided her to the wrong hill or whether it was Ute herself…. A few weeks earlier, Nuno, Rebecca and I had recce’d the last 20+ miles of the route, for which I take no credit, but paid full dividends. Once we had done the next climb up to High Cup Nick, with some further careful navigating from Gareth, we found our way to Cauldron Snout which was the start point for our recce, from where we had only a few miles to the next CP. We were sensibly cautious on the rocky drop down to the river, where one of Rebecca’s friends had come out to support us, and then had a mile or two of pleasant meadow to run along, before the next CP. Matthew having greeted us then kindly ran back to the (outdoor) CP so he could make us a much needed cuppa. At this point, Brian, the legend, Melia, joined us having started the 50 mile version earlier that morning. This is the same Brian who did the entire Pennine Journey last year, all 247 miles of it…. I am not sure how after my experience! 

We now were pretty clear that we were all determined to finish, so the remaining challenge was to make sure we did that within the 36 hour cut-off. We did know that the advertised distances, not least the last stage, were understated so we had to build in some contingency. Rebecca and I also knew that there was an unpleasant cross country hack across open moor to be done. As is often the case, it wasn’t quite as unpleasant as we remembered and we were soon on the long downhill road section to Westgate and our final CP. After more footcare for Rebecca, tea and pizza we left on schedule at 5pm giving ourselves 4 hours to finish, just as well since the billed 6 miles (which we thought was 10) was actually 12!! Familiarity and family helped us over this final stage , I just had to concentrate on not stuffing up the navigation, and we knew once we had climbed our final hill, we had a reasonably pleasant route to the finish some 35 ½ hours after we started!! I can also report some occasional hallucinations – the first time I have had that on a one nighter – mainly animals from rocks and discarded binliners, although I am still not sure about the fire engine I saw on the drive home with Nuno!

 After UTMB, this is the second toughest “100” miler I have done as reflected in the time taken. Part of the motivation for the race being organised was to increase awareness of the route and generate additional funding to improve the trail. At 13,000 ft, the elevation isn’t particularly significant but navigation is challenging; other than the Hadrian’s Wall section, a lot of the route is used infrequently and therefore there is no discernible path. That’s even the case on some parts of the Pennine Way which we used to go Eastwards to reconnect with the Pennine Journey route. So the toughness comes from a combination of limited entries, difficult navigation, challenging underfoot conditions, all exacerbated by poor (overnight) weather.

Notwithstanding the friendliness of the support crew and medics in every checkpoint, the camaraderie of the runners, and the food, not least the apple crumble at the end (!), it is not a route I would recommend. It was lovely to see Hadrian’s Wall, but there was too much navigational effort/absence of path and signage for the route as a whole to be an enjoyable event.

Congratulations to Rebecca for completing her first (hard core) 100 miler and finishing first female. Thank you to her for her company and for our support teams of Lis, Dave and Chloe, Nuno, “Uncle Mike” who camped out near High Cup Nick to see us, and various other friends and family who came out to support us. And finally a big thank you to all who have contributed to our MND fundraising, we are over £2,000 now.