To the end, to the end, I'll journey to the end. In summary The Northern Traverse is a non-stop race from coast to coast, mostly following Alfred Wainwright's famous route from St Bees on the Irish Sea to Robin Hoods Bay near Whitby on the North Sea. Competitors have to be self sufficient between checkpoints, which are up to 55km apart, carrying food, water, appropriate clothing and everything else needed to keep moving (if possible) or at least safe. The key figures are 300km (186 miles) and 6500m ascent. The biggest new challenge for me, on top of the distance, was that it would take me through three nights (the leaders would manage it in around two days, and the last finishers would take more than four). The longest ultra race I've done took me into a second night, but I didn't have to sleep. I knew that wouldn't cut it for this one, but not how things would play out - where would I sleep, how would I deal with being so tired? This is going to end up being a ...
The Cheshire Circuit First Known Time I completed The Cheshire Circuit route, going clockwise and including the optional ascent of Old Pale, in 24 hours 59 minutes. To the best of my knowledge, and that of the route organisers, this is the only known completion. Strava link here verified on Fastest Known Time site My only deviations from the route were minor re-routing around farms to avoid cattle, and some navigational mistakes - mainly overnight around fields and going up Old Pale. I was tired and not thinking straight. All these deviations added time and distance, and none offered me any advantage. I did it "supported" - with people giving me drinks and food and swapping clothes here and there. I didn't have anyone running with me as a pacer. The latter stages overlapped with a race, where I caught up with a few people so I got the benefit of a bit of company which was nice. The idea When I got into running a few years ago, completing the Sandstone Trail in...
I had another go at the Summer Spine Challenger race last weekend, here's a very self indulgent write up that i feel the need to get out of my system... It's about 108 miles from Edale to Hardraw along the Pennine Way... Initial thoughts - I bloody love this race! I started running kind of seriously in 2018, and did a first ultra. Since then, roughly once a year, I've done a big challenge which has stretched me further than the previous. This year, my challenge was to go back to the toughest race i've ever done, and do it better. That's putting myself under pressure, which i think i needed. For a race to return to, this is the one for me. I've been obsessing over it for so long, the Summer Spine Challenger somehow brings loads of my favourite things into a weekend. The Plan So, no plan survives contact with the enemy, blah blah, but i'm still going to have one. Last time, i finished in 41:17. This time, I wanted to achieve a better time. Training...
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