From Petra Bijsterveld…
On the weekend I ran the 108 mile Montane Summer Spine Challenger South, along the Pennine Way from Edale to Hardraw. The start was at 8 am on Saturday. As per the forecast the weather turned out to be very mixed, whilst we had some lovely sunshine there was also plenty of heavy driving rain accompanied by a nasty cold wind. As there had already been a lot of rain in the preceding weeks the underfoot conditions on the moors were beyond boggy, and more like one might expect on a winter event. At least we didn’t have a named storm as an uninvited guest this time, like we had on the Northern Traverse.
There were plenty of highlights for me, like the sunset on Saturday over the reservoirs on my way to Stoodley Pike, a Sunday sunrise at Ponden. Going through lovely fields full of buttercups, long grass and contented cows or curious bullocks. Buying snacks in the Gargrave Coop and sitting on the pavement in the sunshine eating them. Meeting lots of lovely runners and volunteers, spotting Spine race legends in real life. Having my nutrition and hydration completely spot on. Finding out that 2 minute micro-naps really do work! Having no foot problems at all. The lowlights were the total mud and bog fest, having to battle unseasonably chilly and wet conditions and feeling cold despite wearing even more than the mandatory kit. Towards the end of the race, on Sunday evening, I deviated from the course after Fountains Fell and took the shorter and lower route to Brackenbottom and Horton (which is sometimes activated as an official diversion by the race, but had not been) rather than going over the top of Pen-y-Ghent via the scramble, as I felt unsafe tackling that on my own in the hideous weather conditions. I obviously incurred a time penalty which is totally justified, speaking to some other runners they had also felt unsafe and like me had hoped the diversion would be put in place, yet I was the only one taking that route. Always a bit of a rebel I guess! I ended up having to change into my emergency dry base layers in the toilets in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, using my emergency spare socks as gloves, and wearing my emergency foil blanket in between all my layers, in order to tackle the final 16 miles to the finish. Thankfully I had finally found some company for the Cam Road as it was a very tough trudge in the dark and fog, together we battled pain, exhaustion and sleep deprivation. I had struggled with acute IT band problems since late on Saturday, was reduced to hiking from Hebden Bridge onwards and struggled on descents especially, and as the miles went by the pain had reached very uncomfortable levels indeed. It varied between agony and what I called ‘agony cubed’ depending on how long ago it was that I had taken painkillers. Towards the very end my back was also giving me problems again and I was leaning over to the left, the same issue which had caused my DNF on the Northern Traverse. After leaving the Cam Road the final miles across the moor down to Hawes were so slippery that I fell over at least five times and I had a total sense of humour failure as a result with a lot of four letter words being uttered. Eventually I reached the road, as there is an end to every hellish thing eventually, and I ‘enjoyed’ walking in the early morning through the fields into Hawes and through to Hardraw despite having to stop in every field to stretch my back out. I reached the finish at 6:19 and was given the medal that I had been focussing on for so many hours. And delicious tea and hot buttered toast. I was 19th out of 35 women and 58th out of 95 overall finishers. The legend that is Hilda Coulsey came to collect me at 7 which was wonderful! I wasn’t in a fit state to drag my heavy bags onto the train. I have already started writing my blog but it will take some time as there is a lot of detail and I also want to wait for the official photos. So for those amongst you who like to read more there will be a blog post in due course.
1 22:31:02 Rupert Allison (new CR)
12 31:05:00 Ursula Sullivan 1st woman
58 47:19:17 Petra Bijsterveld
157 started
95 finished
62 retired