From Andrew Merrick…
My plan for this year was to take on three final ultras before hanging up the Hokas and treating myself to a new hip.
The plan didn’t start well due to the organisers of the Moors Traverse going bust a few weeks before the race was due to take place, so that meant just two left.
I had never done a Spine event so thought I ought to give it a go, particularly one that starts and finishes in Yorkshire….
So I booked a spot in the Youth Hostel a few months ago and set off on the train on Friday lunchtime feeling decidedly nervous. I realised it had been 3 years since I had done a 100 miler and I knew I wasn’t in as good a shape, so I thought I would base a plan on 36 hours for the almost 108 miles of the route from Edale to Hardraw (a village just North of Hawes), if nothing else, the mathematical simplicity appealed. Well…. it had done, until a good friend and epic ultra runner suggested I was being somewhat aggressive with my timings based on previous years, which, needless to say, I hadn’t looked at. It did cause me to reflect …. and also consider moving my 8:30am Monday speed awareness course. However, the “route card” was already laminated with a number of pretend check points to give me a sense of progress… Most 100 milers have a CP every 10 miles or so, the Challenger South has, in their language, 1.5.
I bumped into a few other likely candidates, and we created a self-appointed Idiot’s corner on Sheffield station waiting for the train to Edale. Registration was painless enough with hardly any queue, and I had remembered a bag for life to capture the items that I had decanted from my various bags. Fortunately, they didn’t want to see everything so I had plenty of time for the walk to the youth hostel which was far enough away for me to want to find a way to get a lift back to the start the following morning. Having checked in, I then had plenty of faffing time to pack my bag, and my drop bag, properly. It was bit of a tight squeeze to get all the compulsory kit into my 12l vest, but I used my belt for all my food and drink powder so all good. An early dinner and morning lift secured, I headed back to the dorm to lie down (sleep would be too inaccurate a description).
We were greeted with a blustery squally morning, as we headed to the start courtesy of the father and two brothers of Howard who was doing a “re-sit” this year having dnf’d trying to accompany one of his brothers the previous year… I was happy not to get to the start until about 7:30 and made the right choice to put the waterproof jacket on from the start, where it stayed for almost 24 hours.
Other than real or imaginary check points I keep an eye on progress by setting my watch to a 5 mile lap, and try to ensure I eat enough by getting 45 minute reminders, the latter becoming quite annoying towards the end of the race…. Given the blustery conditions, I didn’t always feel my watch buzz the 5 mile updates, so was relieved when I scrolled a few watch screens after 90 mins (the second food reminder) to see that I had done about 6 miles already. My plan was to try to keep below 100 mins for each 5 mile stretch and try to build up a bit of a buffer which I could then spend at the CP if I was to try to hit the 36 hour target.
Bleaklow moor, which comes in the first 15 miles is borderline unpleasant at the best of times but add a head wind and squally showers into the mix it was definitely not fun…. The only good news was that the weather wasn’t inducing much thirst, just as well since, having been encouraged to carry 3 litres of liquid, I had gone for half that, safe in the expectation that there was always water provision after 16 miles at Torside reservoir. This turned out not to be the case. I still had my “emergency half litre” intact after our next moor, after a pretty steep long climb up from Torside, and was about to visit the burger van at the top of Wessenden Head, when we bumped into some family members of a competitor who were very kindly providing water to anyone who was in need. So fully refuelled I set off for our next landmark, the legendary Nicky’s cafe (think ship container with the back third kitchen and the rest seating), who are brilliant Spine supporters and even had flat coke available as well as water. I had resisted the urge to pre-order a burger but by this point (33 miles in) my left hip was starting to get grumpy, so I decided a cup of tea and mars bar might help a mental re-set. I concluded that as well as pain relief, minimising running was the way forward, so I set off in happier spirits for the 13 mile stretch to the check point deploying the ultra march tm I had some very pleasant company for most of this section, including Rin (short for Catherine, who knew?) whose watch had given up navigating so needed to keep at least one fellow competitor in sight… We chatted away, passing Stoodley Pike, a highlight for Rin, dropping down into the valley and then a big climb out until we eventually reached the CP a couple of miles above Hebden Bridge. To access the CP it isn’t enough that it is at least a mile off the actual Pennine Way but it is also at the bottom of a set of very slippery stone steps (Rin made the schoolgirl error of going first and nervously looked behind on more than 2 occasions as I slipped my way down). I had a plan to ensure I didn’t get too comfortable but I was there for the best part of an hour without doing much more than drinking some tea, eating soup, attempting some vege chilli and cleaning my teeth (always a route to ultra happiness), as well as restocking my bag until the next check point for the remaining 64 miles.
I parted company with Rin at this stage ( I concluded I was in danger of being dragged along), and left a little before her, head torch now ready for the night stage. My simple plan was to just keep going through the night stage and see where I was and how I was in daylight. My next landmark was Top Withens by which time I had had to deploy the head torch and ask one of the various support crews that were out and about to turn my rear red light on. We were still waiting for the promised dropping of the wind so it was pretty chilly at times and hard work when we were into the wind. After Top Withens, I knew we would get to Cowling next although I had completely forgotten some of the terrain between the two, but certainly not the moorland immediately south of Cowling, which was the scene of my third sense of humour failure (Bleaklow and CP steps) – navigating boggy moorland in the light is challenging enough, but this was properly unpleasant, I was not alone in falling over more than once as three of us traversed across broadly in sight of one another.
When we eventually got to Cowling, I took a few minutes for another slight re-set including putting my headphones on to listen to the Scotland Haiti World Cup game – happily a 2am kick-off which gave me a couple of hours of “entertainment” as I headed to Lothersdale and beyond, seeing no-one apart from the occasional support team, but buoyed slightly by being on home turf. I was hoping that the impending dawn would raise my spirits, but by the time I eventually got through to Gargrave at about 6:30 am (having briefly stopped en route at an honesty shack and paid the requested 50p by card for a cuppa – trying some hula hoops was a mistake) I was not in a good place at all. Lis surprised me just as I came into Gargrave, at which point I explained I might not be leaving. She watched feeling powerless to help (I subsequently reminded my elder daughter that her mother had seen me in a worse state on the Hardmoors 110) and concerned as I sat down in the bus shelter trying to decide what to do…. I called in to the Safety Team and told them I planned to stay there for about an hour, and Lis had in the meantime confirmed that the Co-op opened at 7 (a well frequented Spine shop). As I sat in the bus shelter, a very supportive local had a chat which definitely helped, told me about the nearby water point and noted my race number so she could monitor progress. At 7am I presented myself at the Co-op with a plan to acquire the largest possible coffee and a kitkat – I was really struggling to eat any of the food I had with me, which I am sure wasn’t helping. I was then attracted to a sausage, cheese and bean bake (mainly by the beans) and sat outside the Co-op in the sunshine eating it whilst also sorting my kit for the next stage, since I had decided there was to be one! The waterproof was removed, head torch, headphones etc stowed, I was still about an hour inside my 36 hour schedule and concluded that I had nothing better to do with my Sunday than make “project 36” a reality. As I left Gargrave about 7:30 I was approached by a support crew member to check I was ok – I assured him I was, and within 30 mins my body and mind both believed this as long as no running was involved.
I was deploying full ultra march tm when I bumped into Val Kerr who had very kindly come out to wish me well, and kept me company for a while; Alison Eagle appeared too, which was lovely so I was in a good place as I mentally prepared for the steep sections of the climb up to Malham Tarn and CP 1.5. Over tea, banana and a jaffa cake there, I had a lovely chat with the organiser of the Howarth Hobble, who also then threw into the conversation that I was 16th. This surprised me more than somewhat, but it gave me further encouragement before the two big remaining climbs (Fountains Fell, and Pen y Ghent), on the 11 mile stretch to Horton. I was still trying hard to stick to my 100 minute “budget” and by working the flatter and downhill sections managed to stay within it on both these sections. This was despite a very slow ascent of Pen y Ghent which required concentration when fresh on my previous recces, and was definitely cautious going with 90 miles in the legs…. I was beginning to find the steeper uphills hard going by this time but the ultra march tm was still working reasonably well and project 36 remained on track. I was met by Spine crew in Horton which enabled a loo stop whilst they kindly refilled my bottles. I thought it was a good time to take the banana on board that I had carried from the honesty shack pre Gargrave. Petra had reminded me in the previous week just what a slog the finishing section was. In my dopey state I had convinced myself that the distance was 108 miles and the last section was 13.5 miles; 15.5 miles and 110 are the real numbers albeit 111 according to my Garmin.
I was still in a pretty good place as I set off, although I had forgotten how much climb there was on the first half of this section, and however well prepared I was, the Cam High road with its endless climbs directly into a headwind did test my resolve…. However, project 36 was still a source of motivation, and I celebrated every “under budget” 5 mile section. As I turned off the slightly incongruous stretch of tarmac and eventually was heading down towards Hawes, I caught sight of a fellow runner (if that is the right word), the first one I had seen since before Malham when I had re-overtaken Rin and her buddy for the day. As I approached, he almost stopped and asked me how far we were from the finish, I shared the very unwelcome news that it was about 6 miles – his facial expression and grunt gave me a strong sense that he wasn’t going to find that fun.
I kept going pretty well until I reached a grassy section – the summer route being slightly different to the winter, as I had discovered before Gargrave in certain places that means more (wet) grass and less (easily marchable) road. Neither my body nor my mind enjoyed the wet slippery largely grassy slopes but I kept moving, swearing gently, until I was onto the gravel that signaled that I was getting close to Hawes, albeit still 3 miles away from the finish. I had enough energy left to just about follow my watch to ensure I went the right route through Hawes and on to Hardraw helped by a couple of shouts of encouragement. One final left turn off a busy road meant I was ¾ mile away with a flat section to the finish, where I was welcomed by the Spine crew, Lis and some fellow competitors. The crew were great and had no one else to look after once I arrived to the extent that they held my beer for me, always a feature in my end of race bag, and even offered to take my shoes off….
The race T shirt features Stoodley Pike on the back so Rin will have a lasting memory of a challenging couple of days. Project 36 was duly achieved in just over 34 ½ hours 🙂