In the “Summer Holiday” between the Marlborough and Osmotherley races, I decided to have a go at the Bob Graham Round. Again with Wil Spain, we decided to go for an unsupported round. Due to the lack of preparation, it was also pretty much an unrecce’d round (actually it was un- a lot of things…)
We had intended to set off at midnight, but arriving into Keswick at lunchtime we got bored of eating fish and chips and decided 4pm would be a better time to start. There was some logic in this as the weather was supposed to deteriorate at 10am, but the reason nobody really sets off at this time would become obvious later on!
We started well, in hot weather, and the navigation was relatively easy (we will blame the slight detour leaving Keswick on Wil’s excitement). Up and down Skiddaw, Great Gable and Blencathra and into Threlkeld, we were about 20 mins up on schedule and feeling good. We hardly stopped, filled up water bottles and set off on leg 2. Now we felt like we had started, and I really enjoyed the good running and short sections between summits on this leg. We were still slightly gaining time on the schedule as it got dark, and all was going well.
After a few hours in the dark however, Wil was starting to feel pretty rubbish. He probably drank some bad water, something certainly disagreed with him and a great deal of vomiting occurred. At Dunmail Raise he tried to keep going, but decided he would have to give up and ceremonially handed over the map. It was very unfortunate that Wil stopped, and I realised at this point that I would need some luck to get round on my own. Although I was feeling ok, I had recce’d nothing from Dunmail onwards, and am not really renowned for my map reading at the best of times. I stayed ahead of schedule for a while, but the darkness, wet ground and navigation slowed me down. Thinking about it now maybe I did not feel too good either, I cannot really remember anything from Dunmail to Wasdale, and according to the GPS I was all over the place – going round in circles at one point!
It took me ages to get round Scafell, and at Wasdale I was overtaken by a big group doing the BG – Dark Peak I think. They had set out a few hours later and were much quicker than me up Yewbarrow. I was now knackered, but tried to keep up with them for a while. The weather got really rubbish at some point, I was moving slowly, getting very cold and fell asleep on my feet a few times (once worryingly near a big drop!). At Pillar I decided to call it a day and head down. At this point I was actually very cold, quite far from where I needed to be and not really sure how to get there. The GPS had filled up with water and died long ago, but looking at the route at home it turns out I went down to Buttermere. I remember thinking I was running fairly well, but that I was very confused and not really very well about the brain. I finally found the road a few miles from Honister, and hitched a lift in a warm car to Keswick in time to see Dark Peak finish. I also owe Rob Little with my life for the purchase of lifesaving chips!
Anyway, now I have recce’d most of the route I will be ready for next year (not that I can remember it but nevermind)! Unsupported, Unprepared, Unfinished, but Undetered…
Race 6 – Osmotherley Phoenix
A fortnight after the BG attempt I was in Osmotherley ready for the next Vasque series race. This was the sixth race, half of them done after this one! Osmotherley is close to my parents’ house, so this race was the only one so far I had run parts of before. It was 33 miles, and I hoped to get round in under 6 hours.
At the start I met Chris, who was looking for about the same time, so we set off running together. The weather was good and the terrain very runnable, but not many uphills for a rest! The bucket drop checkpoint caused me some confusion, but I really enjoyed the first section of the route, past Lord Stones Café on Carlton Bank and along the old bike route towards Clay Bank. The later section through Chop Gate and Hawnby to the finish seemed to take a long time in the rain though, and we ended up finishing 20 minutes over 6 hours. A bit disappointing, but it was nice to run around where I grew up and I will definitely be back next year, hopefully quite a bit faster! Excellent W.I. cake stall at the end of this one too.
Race 7 – Downland Ultra Challenge
The Downland Ultra Challenge was part of the very impressive-sounding “Downland Running Festival” on Sunday 27th July. Arriving in the village of Clayton, it looked a lot like the villages around the Marlborough race, but this was probably just due to being in the south again, and the sunshine. There was no space at the campsite so I ended up camping on the start field. A few others were camping there too – including fellow grand slam hopeful Karen. After a few beers and some sticky toffee pudding I was ready for the race the next morning…
The 30-mile route along the South Downs Way was an out-and-back, which meant we got to see how far behind the leaders we were at half way. I had gone off too fast yet again (its fun!), but was about where I should have been by the turning point, and still feeling reasonable. It was really hot though, I felt very dehydrated during the third quarter of the race and slowed down quite a lot - I don’t know how the people who were not carrying water between checkpoints managed to stay alive! After drinking gallons at the middle checkpoint on the way back, things got a bit better again. I caught up the people who got past me before and felt good over the last bit past Ditchling Beacon. Spurred on by the “Danger – Steep Descent” warning sign, I (sort of) flew down the last bit in the hope of finishing in under five hours, but as I turned onto the playing field with 30 seconds to go things did not look so good.
Five hours and forty-five seconds - Ah well!
Seven races down, and I’m still looking forward to the next ones. All my limbs still appear to be attached (touch wood) and I think I’m ready to tackle the Devil, although maybe I won’t feel like it at 4:30 in the morning…
