The Spine Race 2024
1. 08:00 Sun, 0km: Making the start line
Wow, I couldn’t quite believe I was even there, all the stress, rehab and strength exercises, kit sorting, lugging the drop bag around, funny tummy the last two days … I stuck to my plan, walked at the back, gave it a little 5 minute run on the easy downhill.
2. 09:50 Sun, 9km: Already unexpected weather
On the way up the very first hill (Kinder Scout) I got overly hot. My decision to wear the OMM Core+ red hoody (top kit tip from Jon) and a coat, was all wrong. I had to stop and sort it out, given I had sweat running down my forehead and my glasses were steaming up, not something I had anticipated happening!
3. 11:45 Sun, 18km: Meeting Ray
After overlapping with another event going the other way for a little while, I just about managed to stay on track as we went off in another direction. I could see someone up ahead and I was catching them up as we climbed. As I drew closer I could tell it was an older chap; I thought I would just go past then checked my thinking … he was in front of me right now for a reason, after all!! As I passed he gave a very cheery hello, then I wasn’t really getting ahead. I decided to chat for a bit. Descending down to the reservoir at Torside, it turned out he was going faster than me, but only marginally and still at a power hike, so it was actually good for me to latch on and use him as an incentive to keep the pace higher.
After a little bit of back and forth as we stopped at different times for the toilet or to fix layers, I ended up settling down into travelling with Ray for some time. We formed a small group with us on that first day, and it was fun to have company.
4. 19:30 Sun, 54km: Making the most of random food supplies (two vans)
In some adventure races we’ve had the fortune to come across places selling food. Others, not so much. In the Spine you have the advantage of knowing exactly where you’ll be going and what might be there. With both official ‘welfare checks’ offering snacks and drinks, plus several people or groups making special provision for athletes coming through, there was no shortage of supplies.
Ray knew this part of the route really well, so I was getting a running commentary on what was coming up next, including two roadside vans. I ignored any of my normal qualms about bacon-related cross-contamination and ate a double egg roll at van 1 (on the move) and a halloumi roll at the luxurious container that is Nicky’s van.
I also started my (uncounted) tally of what was probably the most tea and coke ever drunk in one week. I figured the caffeine and warmth would be good for me, though it wasn’t helping my bladder. I also added sugar to every cup of tea – why not?
Shortly after Nicky’s we crossed the M62 on a surprisingly long footbridge – one of the most surreal experiences of the event as we emerged from the moors in the night, the traffic thundered beneath us and we trotted over in our little group.
5. 23:00 Sun, 70km: Cementing a relationship
Somehow we split apart from the others in the final few kilometres to checkpoint 1. I stopped to remove some detached tape that was now causing a blister rather than preventing one, and Ray waited. On this section we were really getting into the sort of chat I’d normally have in a team event. Life, work, family, relationships.
This is also where I learnt an invaluable lesson. The last 5km or so before every checkpoint would feel interminably long. ‘It’s only a parkrun’ … yeah, but one that takes an hour and a half on feet that are at their limit!
6. 01:00 Mon, 75km: Checkpoint 1: Hebden Hey – bit of a faff
My first experience of a Spine checkpoint. This one was probably the least slick of all of them, just due to the layout. The organisation of my drop bag worked well and I knew where everything was. I had my checklist of things to do and marked them off methodically. However, I was also up and down the stairs several times to visit the toilet, go to the medic, come back for foot supplies, return, go for food, come back for a bed.
We agreed to sleep for 90 minutes. My ‘original’ plan, in the summer, had been to push on through here and sleep at checkpoint 2. However, at power hiking pace I knew that would just be too long. There were beds here, although we had to get our sleeping bags out for them. Unfortunately, all the doors in a place needed a massive squirt of WD40 because they were constantly squeaking, and we should have chosen spots further away from where people were leaving. It felt like I didn’t sleep, but neither did it feel like 90 mins, so I guess I did doze.
Sadly, I was also feeling quite nauseous and only managed some watery leak and potato soup pre sleep and a bowl of cornflakes post sleep. Ray was faffing a bit, so I set off and told him to catch up.
C goal achieved
7. 07:00 Mon, 84km: Finally getting clothes right, nausea in the dark
Ray very promptly did catch me up. I suffered from being too hot again. Took red top off. Got too cold. Eventually, after some unknown hours of tramping I had the bright idea of trying my other warm layer (a somewhat untested fancy Patagonia micropuff thing). Bingo! This was perfect. From this point on, my default layers were an ancient waffle type Haglofs baselayer (courtesy of event planning for Open Adventure in Nov 2012), this puffer jacket and my waterproof. When it got cold I added the OMM top which was my ‘additional warm layer’ part of the mandatory kit. I never wore the mandatory baselayers.
This was my worst stage of the race for feeling sick. I did nearly heave at one point, and was struggling to keep up. Not wanting to lose Ray and a couple of others we had grouped up with, I kept forcing myself to move on. It got light around about a famous Brontë house. People were stopping here, but I was keen to just eat some sweets and continue.
8. 12:00 Mon, 104km: Long slog, punctuated by ankle niggles, blister pain and a micro nap at the triathlon checkpoint
This whole day was long, although it was the last time I’d be out making the most of all the daylight until the final stage!! The mini moments I remember were:
- Heel blisters getting worse, to the point of a wee cry, followed by the exquisite pain and then relief when they burst. Ray got me through all this with gallant stories of cycling end to end, and went to get me co-codamol in Gargrave, though I decided it wasn’t worth risking taking it (yet) (having never tried it before).
- The frozen ground gave no relief, and wobbling over grass fields was aggravating my ankle slightly
- We stopped for more coke and snacks at an honesty box by the side of a road
- I ate a sandwich and had a power nap in a comfy chair with a cozy foil blanket at the mini checkpoint run by the triathlon club. This had a remarkable effect on my sleepiness and got me through again until dark
- An Open 5 friend popped up to say hello and encourage us along 😃 and I remembered her name about half an hour later – thanks Sue!
9. 19:00 Mon, 129km: Probably over-zealous reply to welfare check
As night fell, Ray and I were making good progress, although I’d more than had enough of the tight squeeze through stiles, with their backup gates on springs that would conspire to knock you over the other side. We hatched a plan of how to use our half hour (max allowed) at the indoor checkpoint at Malham Tarn. Ray to prioritise a power nap, me to prioritise making and eating my dried meal (coach’s instructions – I hadn’t planned to do this, but went along with it!).
Before the big climb up here, just as I reminisced passing yet another Open 5 spot, we were met by a couple of Spine officials doing a welfare check. They told us there were just 3 people behind us (i.e. we were almost last!) and asked what our plans were. I thought this was some sort of test, to make sure we were compos mentis and safe enough to continue. So I proceeded to proudly outline our exact plan in blow by blow detail. We had every one of our 30 minutes accounted for. They were kind enough to nod and smile and send us on our way, but on reflection, I suspect they only wanted to know if we were stopping to sleep anywhere ….
10. 23:00 Mon, 141km: Head torch worries
After executing our plan at Malham Tarn and successfully getting contact lenses in (no, Ray, I didn’t need you to put a finger in my eye, just guide me to where it was going in the absence of a mirror!!) we had a couple of hills to climb in the dark. At this point Ray started having headtorch battery issues i.e. they were all going flat quicker than expected and between us we didn’t have the right cable to charge them.
Generally speaking, batteries weren’t lasting as long as expected due to the cold. My own headtorch was far less tested than I would have liked (due to curtailed training with the ankle issues), so I had no idea if the claimed 24h on the mode I was using was true. What I was actually getting was about 12h per battery. We went into team work mode, with me lighting the way on the uphills and Ray saving his for the faster downhills.
11. 01:30 Tues, 148km: Touching moment top of Pen Y Ghent
The ascent of Pen y Ghent was more exciting than I expected, with some minor scrambling up over some big blocky bits. Ray was definitely fighting the sleep monsters over here and wanted a rest in the wind break at the top. We sat down, huddled together for warmth and I contemplated the night as he rested his head on me. It was quite a touching moment, and shows how you can build bonds quickly when you’re working together on an event like this. After just 2 minutes he leapt up – but later told me he thought he’d had a lot longer than that!
We were having trouble with all our water freezing in our bottles, as well as the tubes and nozzles. One of mine fell out of the back of my pack and shattered on the concrete floor of a toilet block … which was a right royal pain. For all but the final leg I could mostly only drink from the soft flask that fitted in the surprisingly large pockets of my puffer jacket (this kept it just about warm enough not to freeze). But I now only had 1.9 litres of capacity including the spare collected from my drop bag; the kit list demands 2 litres. So despite all other bottles being unusable I also had to carry a random empty plastic bottle the rest of the way as well.
12. 04:00 Tues, 154km: Will we / won’t we stay together?
At some point, I felt Ray was flagging. With Doug’s urging in my head <make sure you do your own race> I decided to suggest to Ray I might go ahead. It all felt a bit awkward, but amicable. I said goodbye, and carried on. At which point he sped up. He said I slowed down!!! Amusingly we were now going the same pace again, whatever had happened. More awkwardness ensued (in my head, at the very least) until I asked ‘are we on again to get to Hawes?’ ‘Yes’ came the answer.
13. 07:00 Tues, 165km: Cam high road
The whole night we had to keep micro napping; the Cam high road went on a long time when so weary and on sore feet. The only thing keeping us on our toes were the random icy patches, which conspired to keep us off our toes.
14. 09:00 Tues, 175km: Checkpoint 2: Hawes – mild panic attack?!
Shortly after light, we made it to the second checkpoint, though as for stage 1 the last 5km dragged. I nearly cried at the kindness of the people in the shop when we went in to get a bottle of water. The stage had taken the best part of 30h and all I could think about was sleeping. I did the bare minimum, showered (I won’t go into too many details, but felt this was essential!!), cleaned my teeth (even more essential) and fell into bed for 3h. Shortly before my alarm I woke up on my front with my heart racing. This did nothing to calm my state of mind, and when I came down and found Ray already up and half ready, he urged me to speak to the medic. It went something like this:
Me: my heart is racing and, and, and …
Medic: let me see, it is only 86, it’s not that bad.
Me: breathe slowly whilst she listens to my chest with the stethoscope
Medic: your heart rate is going down by breathing deeply
Me: oh
Medic: did you eat and drink before sleeping?
Me: no
Medic: well…
So after what was probably a minor panic attack, I managed to eat something and I got some drinks in. I think it was here that Neil, who had been running with us earlier but had dropped out and was now helping, gave me a tube of his leftover High 5 tabs. They made drinking a pint of water much more palatable and I shoved them in my pack.
15. 18:00 Tues, 184km: Scary / challenging / exciting blizzard
The surprise when I’d woken up was that the world had been transformed white whilst I slept. Blisters patched, taping done (Ray patiently waiting at my slightly frantic behest … I felt low in confidence and didn’t want to go out alone), we set off into the winter wonderland to ascend Great Shunner Fell.
This was one of the most memorable parts of the race. I was in turn;
- Frightened, thinking I would definitely not want to do this alone
- Alarmed as I was almost blown off my feet and my waterproofs wetted through
- Mentally challenged as I tried to keep us on the GPS line
- Intrigued to learn what snow patterns the hint of some slabbed path would make
- Excited to be out and succeeding in such conditions.
It was here I also got confidence that my layers were working underneath my coat despite being wet. I’d have been cold stopping, but was OK. The snowdrifts were thigh deep at points, and easily caught us out. I twisted my ‘good’ ankle on a rock hidden deep beneath the snow, but after a few deep breaths was good to go again. At the top there was a bit of faffing, another group caught us but then helpfully we could just follow their footsteps over the other side. I actually enjoyed this bit 😀
16. 21:00 Tues, 192km: Parting ways
After the descent, I could sense Ray was slowing a bit. He told me to go ahead on the downhill and not to worry and though he caught up in due course and we were still together, he was walking in a way that suggested an urgent need for more sleep (this was a good few hours after we left Hawes). He was also mentioning how much he disliked the contouring path, but I didn’t mind it, having imagined something much worse from his description! I don’t really know what happened – one minute he was right behind me as a hinged gate / stile whacked me over, and the next he just … wasn’t. I hesitated a bit, but there was no sight.
I reasoned we had previously had a good conversation about this and that I’d probably see him at the next café where I planned to eat and dry off a bit. Unfortunately, I had not realised the next café required a minor detour until I was up on the hill looking down at it … 😮 Never mind, I suppose I saved some time. It turned out Ray did stop and have some kip there, and all was well.
17. 00:00 Weds, 202km: The moors
Up onto the moors, the snow had stopped, the famously boggy and indistinct path was clear and easy to move on, and the stars were out. I rather enjoyed this section up to Tan Hill Inn, which appeared out of the dark covered in blue lights, like some kind of alien craft with underfloor heating.
I had more hot drinks and ate my savoury snacks which needed fingers out whilst I had a chance to do so in the warm, then set off again. I would have put an extra layer on here as my gloves, coat and walking pole straps were all freezing solid, but I’d had a meths leakage issue and my remaining baselayer was so pungent I couldn’t face it.
As I made my way in temperatures of minus 10oC I contemplated how eating a frozen Colin the Caterpillar chew was akin to cooking spaghetti, and that I must tell Izzy this when I got home.
18. 05:00 Weds, 214km: Changing batteries and the stars
I had been catching and passing a few people, and enjoying being out in the night. I did have to stop and change my headtorch battery and took the chance to sit down, be calm about it then just lie on my back and stare at the stars for a minute or two … they were quite something. I thought about how my mum would love to see this and had encouraged me to look up from time to time.
19. 06:00 Weds, 218km: Parma Violets and Love Hearts
After a cheery exchange with the team at the A66 underpass, I got to somewhere called Clove Lodge. Although I had been told in detail where all the possible stopping, food and water places were, I hadn’t memorised them or written them down. I think this was because I never quite believed I’d get here.
But here was a large open barn, with a trio of other racers, a kettle for more hot tea, and the opportunity to tuck into some Love Hearts and Parma Violets!
20. 10:30 Weds, 235km: The agony and the beauty
The sun rose as I got into Middleton-in-Teesdale and faced ‘just’ 8km to the checkpoint. Oh my, those 8km … My feet were in a mess, every step was agony, and despite having been great in the snow, I thoroughly regretted having put my not-very-cushioned Inov8 shoes on.
To counter this, I tried to focus on the scenery. We followed a river that started in a broad valley, but had some tumbling waterfalls and gradually got rockier as the aspect totally changed and the hills opened in front of us. I was helped by the fact I was joined by Geoff and admiration for our surroundings kept me moving.
21. 12:00 Weds, 242km: Checkpoint 3: Langdon Beck – actually hungry
I got my routine right here. After the checkpoint staff finally managed to defrost my laces enough to undo them, I ate, I drank, then I slept for a lovely 3h, managing to ignore the extremely loud snores of my roommate. Then I ate and drank some more before setting off into the night (again).
B goal achieved
22. 01:00 Thurs, 256km: Snow, moon, landscapes, alone time
This whole night must rate as the highlight of the race for me. There was not a cloud in the sky, the moon and the stars shone brightly and even on my lowest headtorch setting I could see where I was going as the moonlight reflected off the white canopy of the snow. I could even get a sense of my surroundings, picking out the shapes of the hills around, whilst the softness of the snow covering gave some relief to my feet.
Soon enough I got to High Cup Nick and had to just stop for a moment. I could see it all laid out beneath me, dramatic and brooding. No camera was going to capture this, and certainly not the one on my race phone! I tried to drink it in, to capture the image in my memory before setting off again.
Dropping into Dufton, I was anxiously looking for the checkpoint but nearly missed it. Yes, the lights were all on but there was no other indication! I also missed another café that should have been here, whether through it being shut or me not knowing where to look. After being hustled out 3 minutes early, I continued on.
23. 03:00 Thurs, 268km: Magic music
I was struggling to stay awake now and I had tried all the tricks to no avail. Suddenly it struck me. I couldn’t remember enough words of any songs to sing them all (’10 green bottles, hanging on the wall’ was getting rather wearing, even if I alternated with ’10 little speckled frogs, sat on a speckled log’). But what if I could get some music on my phone?
I downloaded the BBC Sounds app, looked for something that promised upbeat music (Shiny Happy People, any one?) and downloaded a few half hour episodes. There wasn’t a soul in sight, so the music pumped out of my tinny speakers, either from my bottle pocket, or my coat pocket when I thought it was getting too cold up there for battery life. Later, Jo Whiley did an actual shout out for Spine racers … thanks to whoever put that request in!
The tunes had an instant effect, suddenly I was marching at a good speed, up and over the tops and catching up a couple of guys who I didn’t even know had been there and were the only other racers I saw on the whole leg.
24. 06:00 Thurs, 278km: Chilli Noodles and joy
As previously mentioned, I hadn’t got a mental map of where any of the food stops were. One of the other racers told me we were nearly at Gregg’s Hut. OK – I knew about this one, it’s synonymous with noodles. After my only fall on ice in the whole race (bruised knee), we were suddenly there – what a joyful delight when I hadn’t been expecting them!
It was 6am and I’m sure they’d been up half the night, but the ladies on duty cheerfully served us. I checked the ingredient packets of the chicken flavour on offer, but could see no sign of chicken, so ate them along with a dollop of the chilli sauce. Yum!
I had a fairly quick turnaround and left the other two in there as I set off down the track, running and filming a cheery video to send to my coach.
25. 09:00 Thurs, 290km: Knee pain and a sinking mood
As soon as a high follows a low, a low follows a high and suddenly a knee twinge I’d felt at High Cup Nick kicked in with a vengeance. The further I went, the more persistent it got until this particular ‘final 5km’ became one long drag of worry. I knew the actual pain wasn’t too bad, but I also knew it was a long way still to go and it wasn’t a great sign. Not helped by the path being muddy and rutted but frozen solid, so the soft snowy joy was a distant memory from the night before!
At least I was met by my friend from Cape Wrath Ultra, Shane, who couldn’t be more encouraging.
26. 10:30 Thurs, 294km: Checkpoint 4: Lachrymation over a lack of lasagne
This checkpoint is at a place called Alston – famous for serving lasagne. Paulo (who had run with us briefly before) was there and approvingly tucking into two helpings, so it must have been good.
I spent too long getting ready for bed, queuing to see a medic about my knee but not really getting anything beyond what I already knew; it’s just one of those things, nothing we can do, carry on.
I got tucked up for a deliciously long 5h sleep, interjected with several moments of snapping my eyes open to check I hadn’t missed my alarm.
Upon waking and getting dressed, I was ready for some of that incredible lasagne. Imagine my consternation when I was informed there was none left!! None of the vegetable one, anyway. I had to make do with some pasta and sauce instead. Oh dear. I really did seem to be only getting about a 50% hit rate on the legendary culinary highlights of The Spine race!
27. 19:30 Thurs, 299km: Frozen hobbling despondency
Leaving the checkpoint, my main memory of the next section was pretty miserable. The ground was horrendous, rutted, bumpy and frozen solid. It looked like some tractors had been having a disco and what was worse, I was clearly passing some exciting Roman remains and couldn’t see a single sign of them due to the dark and my lack of motivation to investigate. My knee was also definitely adding to my woes.
The only thing that kept me going was the fact I could see the group of four headlights bobbing behind me – I was trying to put space between us – the racing urge hadn’t quite left me.
28. 23:30 Thurs, 312km: Not a castle, what a shame
Izzy had sent a text today reminding me that this day 3 years ago we had been out castle hunting. I then came across what looked like a castle in the dark to commemorate it. I was looking forward to telling her all about it. However, an extensive map search, some googling and satellite image checking after the event revealed that this fine monument was, in fact …. just a barn.
29. 00:00 Fri, 314km: Rasta Ralph to lift the mood
The route goes right through the backyard of Rasta Ralph. This man seems quite the character – you can find his videos of racers on YouTube. He filmed me coming in and then said my light was blinding him. I said his was blinding me! We both switched off and I complimented his bushy beard. He stroked it and clearly looked pretty pleased about this. After enquiring after my wellbeing he offered to give me healing, which was slightly alarming, but he quickly clarified he could do some reiki. I decided to settle for just another cup of tea (why not?), even if it came with goat’s milk and tasted funny.
There wasn’t room to fit two of us in amongst everything else in the kitchen, including many, many empty beer cans. He carried on drinking, I sipped my tea and we chatted about his ducks, the feud with the neighbours, the cats and panning for gold.
My mood much improved (thanks Ralph!), I headed onwards.
30. 05:00 Fri, 329km: Hadrian’s Wall tourism excursion
OK, the next bit was pretty cool, because now I was at Hadrian’s Wall! For some unfathomable reasion, I haven’t been before, and I was impressed with the construction and the sheer scale of it. As I got to the start, I double-checked the OSMap on my phone to check it out, and as I progressed I stopped to scrape the ice off the information boards with my gloves and have a read. My advice – never walk by an info board! Anyone who ever goes anywhere with me will know this.
At the first toilet block I thought I’d get a quick 40 winks, but the welfare checker woke me up after 5 mins thinking he might have missed me. I tried again at the next one, which was actually much better as there was a corner to lean up into under the sinks. No need to even take your bag off. 10-15 minutes later I was ready to go again.
31. 08:00 Fri, 339km: A beautiful sunrise
As I left the wall, I was joined by Warwick, who wanted company. No problem. We chatted on and off as we laboured on, the sunrise being quite spectacular as we passed through the woods. I thought what a great mountain bike trail this would make, if it wasn’t a footpath in England and therefore not allowed.
Our hopes were raised then dashed thinking we could see Horneystead Farm, only to find after consulting the actual map that it was another sodding 3km away.
32. 10:00 Fri, 347km: The haven that is Horneystead Farm
OK, this place was the real deal. Doug advised sleeping here rather than the checkpoint, if I needed it. I did. So I took a big mug of the most amazing vegetable and barley broth, with a buttered roll, then curled up in an armchair with a fleecy blanket over me. Warwick took the bed; I decided he looked as if he needed it more. People came and went but I was out of it. My alarm went off 35 mins later and I awoke to more broth, a satsuma and the bleak reality of standing up again. I was glad of Warwick’s company for this particular ‘final 5km’ to the checkpoint (especially as it was 8km long).
33. 14:00 Fri, 355km: Checkpoint 5: Not the rapid turnaround I had planned
“Be kind to your future self” Doug had impressed upon me many times. Accordingly, at checkpoint 4, I had sorted just the things I needed for what I had planned as a quick pit stop and put them all in one bag at the top. I didn’t even originally intend to take my shoes off – just charge things up, eat, drink and set off on the final push.
Sadly, I decided I needed to at least inspect my feet, and the sight was something to behold. Some degree of maceration was setting in and the medics said I needed to wait and let them dry out so they could see what was going on.
Hm. “Be kind to your future self”. I thought about what I could do in this regard, and settled on two portions of veggie sausages and mash, and extra drinks.
My feet now being inspect-able, the medics agreed to help me by taping up all the blistering. This isn’t in their remit, but I was struggling to cope and couldn’t see what was going on. Mike, who had been fantastically friendly and supportive all race and seemed to appear everywhere, even sent me ‘officially’.
There was not a lot I could do but sit and wait while they cut and snipped bits of fleecy web (something I had never heard of before this event) and tape with which to artfully cover my feet. Jon (someone I had met at Clove Lodge, way back when, in some other time) gave me a pair of thin toe socks surplus to requirements.
I forced my feet back into my shoes, cursing that they weren’t a size or two larger. The speed of exit down the drive was … like a snail. A snail with blisters.
34. 16:30 Fri, 356km: A rescue phone call
At this point, and due to a possible misinterpretation of a text, Doug got a rather emotional voice message from me, which he responded to post-haste with a phone call.
That call could not have been better timed nor more welcome; he told me how well I was doing, how I had been overtaking people, about some of the messages I was getting sent on the tracking app and all in all a general pep talk. Somehow afterwards I felt better, and I knew I had some nice uphill to come (my knee was fine on the ups).
35. 22:00 Fri, 372km: Drug addled mistakes
It was after this I decided to give those co-codamol I’d been carrying from Gargrave a try. The foot pain was really something else. MISTAKE!!! I didn’t realise it straight away though.
As I went on, I struggled with drowsiness, putting it down to, well, having been out a long time without a lot of sleep. It wasn’t my usual drowsy o’clock though, and this was worse than I’d expect given what sleep I’d had (vs other experiences in adventure races).
I decided to try the music again, or some spoken word just to get myself out of my own head. On top of a windswept hill, my phone pinged ‘out of credit’ … whaaaaat?!! This had the positive effect of jolting me out of my stumbling stupor, but only added to the stress. Clearly all the app and programme downloading, sending a video and voice message had maxed out my £60 credit on expensive data charges. How had I been so careless?
Descending, I found someone called Allan coming towards me in a panic. There were three places we had to leave the obvious fire road, go on some little parallel track, and rejoin the main track further down. He was quite out of it, so I led him through and told him to stay with me. He kept asking if we shouldn’t go this way or that, when the route was quite obvious. He didn’t, or couldn’t keep up though – as I turned to encourage him along I realised he had stopped some way back and was seemingly not moving. I debated what to do because I needed to look after myself as well at this point, and decided to push on and alert the next welfare crew.
Some bushwhacking ensued on the final diversion where the path did not exist and eventually I got to the mini checkpoint.
36. 01:00 Sat, 382km: Sharon and crew to the rescue
The crew here sat me down, told me Shane (the Cape Wrath friend) was willing me on, gave me a kiss and handed me good tasting food that I wasn’t expecting! They said ‘if you’re stopping at the church, don’t forget to message HQ’ … oh no … I confessed in a panic to my phone credit predicament and they launched into action to save me.
Despite my tiredness and stress, they had me on the wifi in no time. I had never topped up before – I needed my own number and didn’t know it. HQ were called, my number procured. Next hurdle – paying. No, I didn’t have my card on me and yes, the card details Google Pay suggested were one that was expired. Sharon rescued me with a loan (duly repaid!) and I was on my way.
I couldn’t be more grateful for the kindness of this little group.
37. 02:00 Sat, 382km: Peaceful church pew interlude
I had got a message from Doug – if you arrive after midnight, sleep in the church. So I did. It was the only time I had to dig out the sleeping bag I was carrying, but it was quiet, I was on a long pew cushion and the sleep was great. 90 mins later shoes back on, out the door and another co-codamol dose.
I was fired up as we had to meet a minimum speed limit over the next three sections due to worsening weather. But as I went up I got all drowsy again. Someone passed me at quite some greater speed. What was going on?
As light broke I felt no better, which was weird. Then I tripped over something and was sick, out of nowhere. Suddenly the realisation dawned, the drugs were having a bad effect and the slightly out of body experiences were related. At midday it was like a switch was flicked – I still felt tired, my feet still hurt, but it was normal tired. Thank goodness that was over.
38. 12:00 Sat, 403km: Best bit of the cheviots: skating on the flagstones. Worst bits: cold, foot pain taking over all thoughts
The path over the cheviots has a lot of flagstones. These were often covered in a layer of ice, topped with a wet puddle. Going round them was too much effort, and I soon perfected a technique of a sideways skid across every one. It was quite fun, and I liked the feeling of the icy water on my sore feet.
What I didn’t like so much was being wet through and barely warm enough. I decided on the spur of the moment to eat my dried meal at Hut 1 in an attempt to close down the bad drugs and keep down the counter acting good drugs administered by the medic for the sickness.
Hut 2 I got much encouragement and more tea and sweets. In between I was filmed by the media team – about 3:45 – 5:10 in the video below + finish at 6:10 if you want to see how it ends!
39. 16:30 Sat, 416km: The final final 5km
I knew about the extra hill at the end, that was fine. But as I came over … the countryside seemed to roll on forever. WHERE WAS THE FINISH?
At some point someone came running towards me with a dog. Who was this? WOW it was one of my friends, Toni, who lived near-ish, had been tracking me and sending jokes all week. She gave me the best words of encouragement and I marvelled at the fact her dog wasn’t off chasing goodness knows what, Uisge could learn a thing or two.
After she left me to finish her long run, the final final 5km hit me full force. My feet were screaming at me and I was annoyed with myself for being late. I had told Izzy to expect me in the afternoon, and had hoped to break with tradition and be on time for once. This was probably the only point in the race where I thought “I’ve had enough, I could quit now!” But not seriously. I bit down on my buff to bear the pain and willed myself onwards, the kilometres counting down agonisingly slowly. Even when I attempted a walk/jog it didn’t help it to go any faster.
40. 18:30 Sat, 423km: The finish: Kirk Yetholm
Rounding the final bend, I could see the archway and the relief that waited … what a strange feeling not to be running euphoric with a second wind … this has never happened to me before! I couldn’t see Andy, Izzy and Uisge but there were so many people and they were ushering me to ‘the wall’.
This is what you do in this race, you kiss the wall of the hotel. I had frankly forgotten all about that! I got there, at which point the troops arrived and I collapsed on the bench, with Uisge giving me the sloppiest welcome. I had done it.
A goal achieved
Reflections
The run up to an event is rarely perfect and 3 months of uncertainties over my ankle didn’t help. I had to change my goals and do what I could, given where I was. On the whole I think I did that – I executed the plan just right, until the last stage when the painkillers and a lack of focus likely lost me a few hours. Going faster on stage 2 would help avoid the situation whereby I slept most of the daylight hours and walked all night!
Some people have asked if it was the hardest event I have done. I think it was the most painful, but not the most difficult. I’m sure you can tell, the state of my feet really affected my enjoyment of the event and are the thing that made it mentally tricky. If I could crack this, it would change my perspective on doing something like it again.
However, I got to the end, which is never guaranteed even if you’ve managed it before. There are other things to do and experience, so the answer to ‘Would you do it again?’ is ‘Maybe, but not right now!’.
Thanks
Massive thanks to everyone who helped get me to the start line and helped me along the way.
Coach Doug, invaluable and I’ve already told him what I think of him. It was partly his fault I chose this race in the first place.
Partner Andy, working with me to fit in training and doing his fair share of the cooking.
Physio Graham for his endless patience and honesty, plus everyone else who weighed in with help this time around interpreting MRI results and advising on the relative risks of taking it on.
Friends for listening to my woes, training with me, keeping me sane, sending me messages and telling me what Roman things to look out for – Izzy, Judyta, Scott, Vicky, Robert, my mum, my dad (for the latter, obviously).
People who I ran with, people at the checkpoints and sometimes people who did both! Ray, Neil, Ian, Grant, Paolo, Geoff, Warwick, Jon, Shane, Mike, Sharon and many others who I don’t know the names of.
Anyone who used the messaging system whether I knew you or not – it makes a difference!
Hokey Cokey Roseland Swimrun
We’ve had our eyes on the Mad Hatters races after hearing great reviews and meeting the organisers at other events, so when we saw a new long course being proposed we signed up! This was so many months / years ago though that it kind of crept up on us 😮 Luckily, we had actually done some fun swimrun adventures and a local event a few weeks before to get in the mood. We also combined it with a holiday in Cornwall exploring the coastal path and attractions at a more leisurely pace to make the trip definitely worthwhile.
The course was a linear one, starting at Portscatho and winding its way 35km along to Mevagissey.
By the time we got off the coach to the start, we were already late and were ushered to the line without ceremony and waved off! Izzy was straight out of the blocks as we dodged round a few people to get to the water and start swimming. Neither of us has done ‘enough’ swim training lately – though Izzy has done more than me and has even made it to a swimming pool! The effect of this is that we are even more closely matched than usual with Izzy definitely having a faster start, so she led off.
The race route took us in and out (and shook us all about) at some ‘interesting’ spots, including places where we had to scramble up the rocks, or use a rope to get safely down the steep slope! On one swim exit we got shouted at to go around even though we were aiming for a perfectly good looking lump of rock 😉 Another entry had a stunning little exit through a rock channel before we were out into open sea.
On the first runs, Izzy was off like a hare, showing the benefits of her interval training, so I concentrated on just keeping up and heavy breathing, no ability to chat at this stage! After the first couple of swims we started alternating, just to give the other a break, though the one behind was always getting cold as much as resting. We then kept whichever order we emerged from the water in on the run as we wound our way along the cliffs through the bracken, grass and wildflowers. It felt like a race where we really worked as a team to keep us moving through at a good speed.
As we had discovered on our mini recce trip of one small part of the course, the runs were best described as ‘undulating’ … which is to say they kept going up and down a lot: I recorded 1300m in 27km of running for the day. However, none were too long and only one had us so hot when the sun peeped out that we were grateful to get back into the water, my squealing at the shock causing some consternation 😀
My watch had a meltdown after the last event, so I had taken the opportunity to upgrade and was loving the mapping feature, helping us stay vaguely on course when there was any confusion, although it did bleep a lot to tell us to take obvious path turns.
Several of the swims involved swimming out and round a point. At the briefing we had been told that the sea was going to be very calm and perfect conditions. As it was, there was quite a swell pushing and pulling us around, which had me thinking this Cornwall lot were hard as nails describing this as ‘calm’ – they did admit later the predictions had been slightly out!
At one moment, I was leading and definitely aiming for the yellow flag. I couldn’t understand why the marshal had put it on the ground and wandered off, but was trying not to faff. Eventually realised after Izzy yelled at me that I was aiming for a lovely patch of yellow lichen on a rock instead! Likewise on another swim, I had to practically tug the cord to get Izzy to pause and agree to turn left 😀
The long 2km swim at the end had the following navigation instructions: ‘Swim out to the paddle boarder, turn left, don’t go too far out because of boats, and not too far in because of rocks. Follow the coastline until you see a beach with a flag’. We were chugging along, no beach in sight, no idea what we were aiming for but keeping the coast on our left and looking for a beach … after about 1500m we found a kayaker, who proceeded to try and educate us about currents and the tide, where to aim and the fact that he ‘didn’t think us two would make it’. This had the effect of me slightly tersely asking him to just tell us where we were supposed to be going, at which point we shot off noticeably faster 😀 . Apparently, if you’re local, you just know to aim for the colourful house on the cliff when you round the corner 🤨 !
I was still shivering after this epic when we got to run through tourist throngs in Mevagissey, swim to a small beach and ascend a very long flight of steps and up a steep road to the finish line.
Delighted to finish 5th overall and first female pair behind 4 male pairs. Even more delighted to find at the end that the sun came out, stone baked pizzas and amazing brownies from the Parent-Teacher Association were on offer and we could all lounge around outside meeting old friends and making new ones (including a large white dog that took a shine to Izzy for a while!). Many thanks to the race organisers, all the marshals and safety crew and everyone else including competitors who made it such a great day.
I really recommend this race if you want stunning scenery, a challenge and a taste of an Ötillö World Series type race in terms of length and difficulty. I also recommend that you do a proper amount of swim training in preparation else, like me, you will have difficulty putting a jumper on the next day 😀
Photo credits to James Street / Mad Hatter Sports Events – or me, if marked as such!
Scurry Events – Yellowcraigs Swimrun
This was my first actual, in person race since … March 2nd 2020! Izzy originally signed up to do this with Andy, it didn’t run last year due to sea conditions. And so this year it came round, and I was the substitute partner, and it was so much fun 🙂
I actually was quite nervous beforehand, being totally out of practice with the whole process of preparing for a race day. We have a bigger (longer, larger field) race coming up, so it was actually perfect timing. It was also so good to be doing a swimrun race on our local patch in East Lothian. We do a lot of training there and it has so much potential.
The route for this event was largely an out and back, with a long swim to start with and an ascent of North Berwick Law at the far end.
With an easterly wind, the sea was quite rough. Despite doing a number of swimrun training sessions already this year, we hadn’t done anywhere near 2km in one go and we were both cold enough for the bum shake by the time we eventually got out 😀 Was fun to do such a challenging loop out to Fidra and back though.
The run and short swim to North Berwick was uneventful. The next part was unmarked, but I had gone through the route on Google street view, so we made a beeline to the bottom of the Law. Here we got mixed up in some other ultra event, but we zoomed to the top, with me doing my very best to keep up with Izzy.
It came sooner than expected, we turned around and raced back down! The final swim before the finish line was only half the length of the initial one, but we were chasing down a male pair who had just overtaken us, and also trying to make it back before risking getting swamped by the line of amassed swimmers doing the aquathlon.
Checking out the second last swim – thanks to Tim Chad for this photo 
Approaching the final swim, bracing for the cold and the chase!
We stormed out and back and made the final sprint for the line, delighted to be back racing again 🙂
Whatever way you look at we were on the ‘podium’; 3rd overall, 2nd females, 1st pair!
Thanks to Peter for putting on our first local event, which all went smoothly, to Andy for taking some photographs to record the occasion and to Izzy for being my swimrun buddy! Next stop, Cornwall!
UTS 100km – the race that almost was
Snowdon range – saving that for the second day!
UTS (Ultra Trail Snowdonia) 2020 was postponed, hung in the balance, reduced in size and, with a week to go, cancelled. I was gutted, but almost certainly less so than the race director who had done everything he could to salvage something for the race this year.
I was all trained, tapered and ready to go. My dad was expecting me and it wasn’t breaking any rules, so I went anyway. My plan was to split the 100km route into two days so that I would neither miss two nights of sleep nor trash my body to quite the same extent. I was fortunate in that my Itera-teammate Chloe was on hand to help with road support and to join me on a couple of legs.
Day 1
The route is a figure of 8, crossing over at Pen Y Pass, so I started there instead of the real start in Capel Curig, and set off on the slightly longer and lesser known (to me) part of the route at about 7:30 after a nights’ sleep that resembled a pre-race one. There was immediate faffing with shoelaces, taking photos of the already incredible views and going slightly off route. The ‘red spot’ path was easy to lose! Eventually I was on track and summited Glyder Fawr alone before descending the scree slope to Y Garn, having a natter with a very chatty lady and heading to a much busier Ogwen.
The day was hot and I was pouring in sweat as I went up to the gap near Tryfan and I knew I was way off schedule already. I still had to stop and admire the goats showing off though. I managed a trot down the other side and I felt like a celebrity as I found Chloe waiting with the chair out, dry robe ready to keep me warm, water, snack replenishment and a sandwich all ready to go! After a rapid turnaround we set off together up Pen yr Ole Wen.
I was grateful someone else was finding the way and knew where we were going as this bit was largely new to me. The views coming across the ridge to Pen yr Helgi Du were amazing, and to top it off we found a group of wild Carneddau ponies as we descended. They were totally unconcerned by our presence. At the bottom I was pleased to see that leg had been done to target time, waved goodbye to Chloe and set off on what ought to be an easy loop with little climbing.
Pen yr Helgi Du
A few minutes in and I found my Camelbak was empty and I had only a 500ml bottle of water. Hmm. The sun bore down and my motivation flagged. The Llyn Cowlyd Reservoir was beautiful but the path was rocky and I was thirsty! I was missing Chloe’s company and feeling sluggish. I refilled a bottle at a stream that was ‘probably OK’ and again at a flowing bit in a bog that was ‘bit brown, but probably OK’ and again at a fast clear river that ‘looked clean but was low down, probably OK’.
The run through the forest was awesome and I remembered someone saying how good this part would be at the end of the race. Unfortunately, just as I reached what looked like civilisation, I was faced with another hill! Torture! This whole section was a mental test that took significantly longer than planned and after analysis, was still an outlier compared to other sections. I feel I need to come back and check it wasn’t just due to terrain but also to some element of heat exhaustion / dehydration.
Llyn Cowlyd – looks stunning, but was a long slog round suffering from the effects of the heat!
Eventually I jogged into Capel Curig where Chloe and a food bag of rehydrated Vegetable Chipotle Chilli with Rice were waiting for me 🙂 I charged up my watch a bit, got my lights sorted, ate and gathered myself for Moel Siabod. Chloe was despatched to the YHA to see if she could check me in and to confirm what latest arrival time would be. I was confident of the next part having done a lot of it before. My tummy was warm and I felt good again as darkness fell and it got cooler. Although I wouldn’t make it back to the YHA by 10, I thought surely I would make it to the last road crossing in plenty of time for Chloe to pick me up and shuttle me there if needed.
I hiked up Moel Siabod at speed. As the light faded, the stars and a thin crescent moon lit the way. I delayed putting my torch on and was just getting used to being out in the dusk. At that moment I put my foot firmly on what I thought was a nice solid white stone in the bog. Like something out of a horror movie, it sunk into a decomposing dead sheep and I screamed 😮 Balance restored, light on, I made it to the top and texted Chloe. She said hostel open until 11 but I was not checked in – should she see me there or the road? An extra hour should be plenty, but I said road ‘just in case’.
It was tricky to find the right direction off the top and I was getting cold from standing around. Soon enough though I was flying down a lovely grassy ridge path. This was amazing running! I would be there in no time. Shortly after, I got to a tighter part of the ridge and the path had disappeared. I was working my way along when a shape loomed out of the dark. I swore and then realised it was someone in army gear, followed by two more, creeping about in the dark with no lights. ‘’I didn’t expect to see anyone up here” I said … and got no reply. Had I just blown their cover?! Maybe the mouse I’d seen earlier had been just as shocked by my own presence.
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- Finally entering the forests above Capel Curig. Lovely run down until the final surprise torture hill…
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- Up on Moel Siabod in the dark, pool reflecting the rock’s shapes.
The next section was interminable as I picked my way down rocky outcrops interspersed with boggy bits. The distance was more than I expected, the whole thing was taking forever and there was no phone signal. I had to deploy mental energy to keep moving in the right direction and not panic as time slipped through my fingers. Eventually I got to a bridleway that I knew, but it was harder to run down than I remembered or imagined! I finally got to the road to find Chloe at about 2240 … wow. She’d been worried, but thankfully had spotted my light bobbing down the hill some time earlier. We flew up to the YHA, checked in, filled a dehydrated dinner and dessert bag with hot water and I was left in my room.
I sat on the floor, peeling off clothes interspersed with forcing down mouthfuls of dinner. I didn’t really feel like it, but thought it was important to eat. Due to being covered in suncream and salt I decided to also shower and dry myself on a spare buff. Good move. Into bed just after midnight and I couldn’t sleep as my tummy staged a revolt … still not sure if this was a result of dinner, dodgy water or just over exertion!
Day 2
After a few hours kip I forced myself out of bed and ordered a breakfast roll. It was a bit dry, but needed and washed down with a cup of tea. I stepped out of the door 15 minutes later than planned and immediately decided to put a waterproof on after all.
First ascent was Y Lliwedd – I have done this the other way a couple of times in recent years. Going up was OK and just needed confidence in scrambling up when the path temporarily disappeared. Along the ridge I think it was easier route finding in this direction, but the wind was blowing and the rain was persistent. It might have helped that the fog hid some of the worst drop offs as it was harder to see what was coming up and how high up I was! I made it off and texted Chloe and some friends who’d been enquiring after day 1 (no reception at the hostel!).
Again, stopping made me get cold very quickly so I set off doing something that might even have resembled running and was soon passing lots of little groups heading upwards looking warm and toasty in short sleeves … Eventually I was taking off a layer as well, as I ran through Nant Gwynant and on to the path round Llyn Dinas. This was one of the longest running sections so far! I was greeted by the crazy dogs, Chloe and dad at the end of the Llyn with unexpected snacks and encouragement. I also put in an order for coke and crisps at the next stop!
Up a small hill and down through old copper workings, the landscape here was quite different and interesting. I was warned about slippery rocks by a chap who we’d talked to at Capel Curig the previous day but had completely forgotten me! Dad met me coming up for a quick wave and Chloe also came out and ran along the fisherman’s path into Beddgelert. The soles of my feet were getting sore by now and my running was distinctly slow.
The fisherman’s path into Beddgelert. Feet were getting a bit sore here, but miraculously felt better a few hours later.
After a refuel we headed up the steep and wild slopes of Moel Hebog, with Chloe coming along and the dogs tugging at their leads and getting impatient. At the next bwlch they diverted back to warm up and I carried on alone, not seeing anyone else on the hills all the way to the finish. This was also a section I had done the other way a couple of times and I think was also slightly easier this way. However, despite having upgraded to a heavier weight waterproof I was getting distinctly chilly and eventually decided to put on my spare baselayer. Very unusual for me! It made an instant difference though and I was glad of it as I slowed right down going over the ridge of Mynydd Drws-y-coed. I slid a lot of this on my bum as the rocks were very slippery and I wanted to stay alive…
I could see my dad and Chloe parked up far below, and was feeling significantly better than I had at the start of this leg, including my feet. I bounced down the hill and was met with more crisps and an apple. My dad wanted me to call it day and finish the last bit the next day, but I knew I would definitely not want to start again then and I also wanted to complete the challenge now!
I sensed he was worried, but I was determined to push on. There was a bit of extra pressure as he would now be picking me up from the finish and didn’t want to be out driving too late. I went clipping up the Rhyd Ddu path on Snowdon with confidence, munching on my new supplies and arranging some on-the-go watch charging. As darkness fell and I ascended, I remembered with dismay that fog and headtorches do not mix. Hm, what to do? I carried on for a while, searching out the worn rocks of the path and moving ever upwards. However, I was soon tripping over stuff and still had a way to go. I had to solve this problem.
I fished out my backup torch and held it low at arm’s length. If the angle was right, this gave me 2-3m of usable light, which was a significant improvement. I managed to wedge it in my belt and felt like I had some sort of groin laser, twisting my hips from side to side to scan for the path as needed! There is a short ridge section near the top, where again I had to always remind myself that this was a very popular path and the ‘right’ way would also be smooth worn rock with no grass.
There was no queue for the summit of Snowdon 😉 , so I popped to the top and then started my way down. Texting my dad before losing signal again I gave a shortest and longest estimated time and then paid attention to finding the turn-off.
Snowdon Summit Selfie!!
The route down was on the Pyg track which I have not done recently, but again is a well-used route. I expected this to be easy to follow … but on sections where natural rock outcropped it was easy to lose the path. I could be just 1 or 2 metres from it and not able to see it. I started paying close attention to staying on the worn rock again, sweeping a few metres either side when I strayed from the path. I felt panic rising as I stood on a particularly large slab having no idea where the path had gone to. The added pressure of getting down within the time bounds I had set when people would start worrying did not help. It was moments like these I had to push down the negative emotions and find clear thought and logic to get back on route and not wander off down a boulder field.
Soon enough the stretches of clear path got longer and then I could see the youth hostel and carpark lights. Unfortunately they were a very long way off and the distance didn’t seem to be narrowing at any speed! This descent was not as breezy as I might have anticipated, but I made it back to the car with 4 mins to spare to my latest arrival time ..phew!
Back home my feet screamed in pleasure as I took my shoes and socks off. I downed a milkshake and fell into bed, where my feet felt like they were on fire whilst my top half shivered! My tummy was fine though…
Despite missing a short section on day 1 I had covered over 100km and 7000m of ascent over some tricky terrain, so I eventually fell asleep tired and satisfied 🙂
Reflections
I was super pleased with how my body held up – a couple of bruised nails and small blisters plus tired legs for a few days, but little else. I could even go down stairs normally and was not ravenous. I had protected my feet better than when I did a different version of the race two years ago. Significantly, I also ate better, taking advice from the training camp last year to heart! More than once I heard the voice saying ‘you might not want to eat, but can you?’. This was one area I had been able to practice a lot and I was so pleased it paid off. It also seemed what I’d managed to do was adequate for the legs, even if I had not been able to go to the mountains.
I’ve not really raced all year apart from a few virtual club events and have travelled a lot less (i.e. not at all), obviously! It’s been interesting having such an unbroken length of consistent training with no races and thinking about the effect that might have had on both how prepared I was and how much stress my body has been under.
I also learnt plenty for the race – not least that I need to go a lot faster on some of the early race sections if I will make cut offs. Course familiarity, marking and race day adrenaline will help with that but I have earmarked a couple of sections for repeat practice, should I be able to. This should also help my feet get more used to rocky running – the Pentlands are covered in too much grassy heathland!
Can’t quite decide whether I preferred the sun (views, dry rocks, dehydration) or the rain, fog and wind (not too hot, feels more wild, can’t see a thing).
Many thanks to Chloe for all her support with food, water, company, photos and lifts, to my dad for support and lifts and Paul for helping with the maps.
Michael the RD has designed a tough technical course, with awesome views on the right day and plenty of challenges both physical and mental. Fingers and toes crossed we can go ahead for real next June!
Open 5 – Yorkshire Dales, Cracoe
Well, I am extremely out of the race reporting habit, despite managing a few races like Malta swimrun, Marmot dark mountains and some local trail events! Maybe I will come back to them, but I didn’t want to miss a write up of this year’s Open 5, not least because it is one I have been looking forward to for some time … more on that later!
This event was relatively close to my mum’s house, so I went down to stay with her. Lucy was otherwise indisposed and despite asking a couple of people, I ended up racing solo. I actually put a bit more effort into preparation than of late, checking maps from previous races in the same area and making sure I wasn’t about to make the same mistakes as 2018…
The weather was somewhat ‘wild’, and we drove through some big puddles to get there. A bit of rain and wind doesn’t phase me though, and I have raced in worse! After some careful map study, I had a plan and set off.
This race was unusual in that we had to bike/run/bike because the run was at a remote transition far from the centre. Pre race emails said it was about 20 minutes direct there. I was dubious since even Google suggested it would take the best part of 50 minutes. I thought I would ‘play it safe’ by going round the road at the bottom anyway, picking up a couple of out and back controls on the way.
After the first one I took a shortcut back to re-join the road, which was already a mistake as it was slow going, muddy and full of gates. Then I hit the river … well it was a river where the road should be. I walked a bit with my bike on my back, then rode a bit … and decided any more controls were out of the question. 1h25 minutes later I got to transition. I wished I had gone over the top – off road and uphill but probably more ride-able, given the circumstances!
Hey hum, the run would be better. But it took me a while to distinguish the first footpath from the river. And then I ‘ran’ along in quite deep water for a bit. Eventually I emerged onto a road and headed to a control in Goredale Scar. I found a couple of guys looking everywhere for the control. I was slightly adventurous peering over some rocks and found it, but wasn’t about to risk getting it – until a chap called Adam bounded in and leapt straight over 😮 So I decided to follow – but with a helping hand!
Off to my first run control – I found the path!
That was very adventurous. I was running well and was soon looping back to transition. I made a mistake missing the giant cliff I had to go round at Malham Cove, which was my first run mistake. Then I wasted the best part of 10 minutes trying to cross the river to get onto a path to another 20 pointer – I gave up in the end and missed it out. Another time when being in a pair might have been helpful …
Then the last control wasn’t where I expected . Along with group of other people we wandered back and forth over the bridge, bewildered. It had been moved from an island to a tree; we were told that at transition, but where was it? By luck, I found it just down the road, but I think it was not quite where the map suggested (on a permissive path rather than the public footpath).
Argh so much time had slipped through my fingers at the end. Back on the bike and I had another plan, doing a loop round on the hill with wind at my back.
So again, I tried to make conservative decisions, I really did. (Can you see where this is going yet?). I missed one out and back and then a second. As I did this I said to someone passing – I haven’t got time for that … I got a funny look as he stopped to peer at the map. Later I realised that was the way I should have been going…
I was looking forward to going downhill with a tailwind all the way home.
Unfortunately I turned out there was also some uphill (details, details) and some slightly tricky navigation that had me doubting my course. The descent down Threshfield Moor was a delight, interrupted only by the occasional drainage channel.
As I popped out onto the road something nasty happened with my back brake and I was already out of time. And now I had 5km into a headwind. EEK. A male pair overtook and I slipped in behind, clinging on for dear life. I was still over 22 minutes late. That might be a record for me…
So, my tactics were all wrong again, I wished I had done the off road hill option at the start and the shortcut at the end, although I did not regret getting some fun mountain biking in. With so many penalty points I was only good enough for 3rd.
However for me, the main event this weekend was my 20,000 CAREER POINTS! I’ve been working towards this for ages, just scraping over last year earning my 20,001th point. I join only three others who have racked up this many, and had my ‘first ever Open 5’ map at the ready – though it was actually an Open 5+ involving a swim to a control and some ghyll scrambling. Wait, not so different after all 😉
Big thanks to James
Many thanks to James and all of his team at Open Adventure for all the fabulous events over the years. I have been to so many different places, had a whole heap of adventures and made new friends. I still miss my winter monthly dose and the opportunity to do something better ‘next time’ – a year is too long! 😀 Until next time!
Itera Scotland 2019 – part 3
Foot stage:
24.7km trek / 8h55 / finish time 15:55 Thursday
A bit of a false start to this stage as we set off down the road the wrong way – transition wasn’t marked on the map in quite the right place!! That’s our story anyway, and we’re sticking to it.
We finally set off up the right path, with me still munching my breakfast and Chloe managing a lot of ankle pain. At transition we had been given information that teams were taking 3h to get to the rafting from the start of the kayak. Andrea and Jon had calculated that if we could just motor this trek, taking opportunities to jog the flats and downhills, we had a chance of making it after all.
The first part of the final trek had some incredible views, including this waterfall
We got into a rhythm, being smoother and helping each other with snacks and drinks and kit adjustments to minimise stopping time. Although this was the stage we had targeted for doing the long course over the Five Sisters of Kintail, we were again short course, but the route here did not lack spectacular views. The path was easy going and we made good time.
As we had to head off-piste it got harder, but I was on fire. I powered up past the waterfall with Andrea and was springing ahead on the downhill to find the best path for Chloe and Jon, whose ankle was also now sore. I thought we might make the rafting after all, and expected the second half to be easier.
As we crossed the road past the Cluanie Inn it felt we passed into a different stage. Andrea and Chloe were able to speed walk whilst Jon lagged behind and me somewhere in between. I tried everything I thought I could to get us back together and moving at a better pace. Near the first ‘top’ Chloe needed to stop and change her socks before she got blisters from the accumulating grit inside. She wanted us to go ahead and she would catch us, but we refused.
I was hopping about on the inside, worrying about the time and sensing it just slipping through our fingers. But I did not want to snap or stress anyone out. Andrea took some of Jon’s kit and we got moving again. But now we had to either go the long way up a bit more hill and further on a path, or cut across.
We followed a team taking the direct line, through peat hags and rough ground, down to a river that proved too deep to wade. As we walked along a bit we were about to decide to stuff it and swim, when the other team found a spot to wade only up to mid thigh level 🙂
The path when we re-joined it was good. The weather had turned glorious. I wanted to run down the other side but could not cajole this out of everyone. As we got to the road, we walked when we needed to run. Chloe’s partner appeared on his motorbike to say hello. It was emotional for her.
It was just before 16:00. The guy in transition told us people were making it to the rafting from kayak put-in in about 3.5h and we might just do it. We got out fairly quickly, though not as fast as the team that arrived with us. We walked down to the river when we perhaps could have jogged. We faffed about getting in and setting off.
Trying to get ready fast at final transition to kayak
Kayak stage:
2.8km total portage / 1h35
6.2km walk / 2h15
26.5km total kayak / 5h / finish 04:20 Friday
Although we were going down a river now, this part wasn’t straightforward either. There were some mini rapids – we nearly came out on the first set but got a lot better at coordinating and steering through the second! Unfortunately there was some more portage where Andrea and I were working our hardest to get through whilst the tendons in my wrist complained loudly and Jon and Chloe struggled.
Back on the water I was asking Andrea “where is the urgency in the other boat?”. She had no answer. We decided to offer a tow, but it was refused; ‘we are keeping up fine’. On the roller coaster of emotions I was now dejected as I knew we would not make it, our speed was just not there. We soft paddled and kept together as we made our way along Loch Garry, with Chloe and Jon falling asleep and hitting each other with their paddles.
As we neared the end of the loch everyone was hallucinating as it got gloomy. The trees formed strange animals and carvings and it was hard to keep our eyes open. I’m not sure we had warned Chloe enough about this!!
Jon suddenly came alive saying we might just make it, but we couldn’t. We arrived at 20:26 – 26 minutes too late.
Later, on the way home, I spoke to Chloe about this. It turned out she wasn’t aware of the urgency – she thought we were home and dry and there was no rush. She also believed they were keeping up, not realising we were waiting. Clearly something had gone wrong with communications and I went over this a thousand times after the race. I take responsibility for not getting us there in time. You could lose 26 minutes anywhere – the nav error on the bike for one. But I also felt I should have understood what was happening better and either found a way to keep everyone motivated and focused or established a shared agreement to give up on it. Learn and move on!
Missing the rafting prompted a slight hypothermic meltdown in Chloe. This was caused by a combination of being wet, tired, not moving, the disappointment of missing the rafting and then being told we had to walk 5km and wait until 90 minutes were up before we could continue. It was all too much and she ended up inside the bivvy bag with Jon, putting on every item of dry clothing she had. Whilst Jon and Andrea looked after Chloe, I shivered and got the kayaks ready for transport. Thanks to the marshals here for helping, and the team who provided some hot water.
Finally we set off, trudging into the dark in search of food in Invergarry. Unfortunately, Invergarry is not a hot bed of food options and by the time we arrived just after 22:00 and stumbled into the pub, we were greeted by a barman who declared he could give us tea and crisps, but he was shutting up in 20 minutes just in case we thought we might fall asleep in the corner. A team arriving after us were given equally short thrift as they had takeaway teas shoved in their hands and were told to leave.
We made the most of what we had, then decided we had to sleep. As luck would have it, we found a road bridge over the path where it was dry with a smoothish surface. We got into pairs into two bivvy bags, set the alarms for 20 minutes (or not) and went to sleep.
As I spooned Chloe I was violently shaking with cold. I was still in my shorty wetsuit, still damp. I became aware of Jon and Andrea talking about it being time to get up. This was just about my worst moment of the race. I really had no notion of whether I was asleep or awake, and kept looking at my watch, unable to decipher what it was telling me. I got my bag back together and trailed behind in a daze as we made our way back to the water.
It turned out later that Andrea’s watch had misted up so she couldn’t see it properly setting the alarm, and I had managed to set the timer for 20h instead of 20 minutes 😮 . We had slept for an hour and a half.
The rest of the kayak was an uneventful paddle down to and along the Caledonian Canal. Chloe taught us some crazy round involving fish and chips and vinegar, dustbins and bottles of beer, which we executed very badly. After a couple of ‘easy’ exits and portage round the locks, we arrived in Fort Augustus and gladly abandoned the kayaks for the last time!
In transition we had a nice corner spot. I found my second of three ticks of the race attached near my eye … and we assembled our bikes ready to go. It was late in the race and despite any rules, people seemed to be sleeping where they fell on the paths outside the door.
Episode 4 – Official Film
Bike stage:
61.7km / biking / 6h25 / finish 13:50 Thursday
Despite faffing with lights, the darkness had lifted by the time we got away. This stage was actually the best mountain biking we had done all race and one of my favourite legs.
I was keeping an eye on navigation in the woods as we followed the ‘Great Glen Way’. At some point we ended up on the high walker’s route, which added a climb and some technicality. On a normal day it would be my preferred option, but I’m not sure it was what we needed at that moment!
I think at this point we were all a bit tired and fractious and were not riding harmoniously. We stopped for 30 minutes of kip somewhere, and again for our first café 30km from the end. The wasps were out in force and we did not hang around, thanks to some speedy service.
The final descent was one to savour, swooping down from high ground it went on and on and was a delight to ride. It landed us in the centre of Inverness, where we negotiated the crowds through the final few hundred metres on a section we had checked out before we left. I’m glad we did as we could weave our way directly to the finish line.
We were greeted by race directors with medals and miniature whisky from Glenmorangie. Jonny was there to do some facebook live videos and make sure we got some pictures! We all made our way over to eat pizza and relax over a meal for the first time in five days…
Episode 5 – Official Film
Reflections
On reflection, this race was not as straightforward ‘fun’ as the one I did in Wales. The rafting deadline loomed large all race and we were under pressure to make the short course, with no room to correct for any miscalculations. It was so disappointing to miss it anyway after all that focus! To play to my own strengths and favoured sports I’d have loved more mountain biking and less portaging 😉
Team dynamics were also very different, with somewhat more conflict and less cohesion. However, racing with that little sleep under such difficult conditions isn’t exactly conducive to harmonious socialising. Everyone laboured under different hardships ranging from sore throats, diarrhoea all race (!), swollen ankles, blistered mouths and feet and who knows what else.
Having said all that, we resolved any issues and made it to the finish line together. We did really well, finishing 12th overall thanks in large part to our early strategic decisions. I learnt a lot and we achieved a lot, though it is still hard to take it all in! Some of the places on the trek stages were incredible and it is amazing to think how crazy some of the race was and what we went through with those kayaks. An unforgettable experience!
For my own part I was delighted to escape with ‘normal’ 5 day race swelling, a single blister and sore tendons in one wrist. All subsided quickly. Worse, was picking up a probable flu virus a week after finishing, which I still haven’t been able to completely shake! The race reminded me how much I do like adventure racing after several years of swimrun focus. Maybe I should look for another one to do … 😉
Many thanks to John Ovenden and support from Lochland Runner, to our live social media updaters Andy and Jonny, everyone who sent us motivational trail mail, the race organisers under Open Adventure banner James, Tom and Paul plus a special one from me to my physio Graham who over the last 10 months somehow helped me rehab my hamstring tendon sufficiently to take part with no pain.
Finally, thanks to my teammates Jon, Andrea and Chloe for being up for going on such an epic journey!
If you like numbers, this is how our race shaped up in totals – distances, times – yes, there is a spreadsheet! You can see our route here, just select our team on the right.
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- Each stage with total time and distance, plus time of day we finished
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- Total time and distance spent on each discipline
Finish line photo
If you missed part 1 – it’s here! And part 2 – here!
Photo credits to Chloe (team photographer!), Rob Howard from Sleepmonsters and Photogractif. Team videos by Jonny Collins.
Itera Scotland 2019 – part 2
Foot stage:
13km trek / 8h45
2h sleep
26km trek / 10h36 / finish stage 16:50 Wednesday
And so we set off up our first big mountain. Everyone was tackling An Teallach. I haven’t been there before, but it turns out it is big, scrambly and has vertiginously steep sides! We were keen to make the most of remaining daylight. As we ascended it got windier and colder. Soon I was wearing all of my clothes save one emergency thermal jacket, including my waterproof trousers. I also had my first ‘moment’ as I felt woozy and incapable of climbing a mountain. This time handing over some kit to packhorse Andrea and taking a couple of gels worked wonders.
It got dark and then Chloe had her ‘moment’, finding the exposure bringing back some difficult memories. We pulled together and made slow but steady progress until we were onto the boulder field, clambering down to the track to the bothy everyone had spotted on the map earlier. We hadn’t slept for about 45h by this point and tempers frayed a bit as we all badly needed some rest. I was worried we would find the place full, but there was only one way to find out.
It was indeed busy, but we found space on the wooden floor and crashed out for 2h, with Chloe opting to brave any midges in the more spacious outside quarters 😀 .
Up we got and we decided to go for at least one of the long course controls. It wasn’t significant extra distance, though it was significant extra climb. It was also intriguingly named ‘tennis court’ and I am a sucker for funny place names.
We were all somewhat muted to start. I was slow as we ascended and also stopped to put protective gaffer tape on hot spots developing on my feet. I wasn’t up for blisters like those I experienced during UTS… There was some ‘debate’ about which way to get to the top, slightly confused by some hints we got at a briefing. In the end, Andrea took off up a gully, with Jon chasing after to check it out and Chloe and I gingerly bringing up the rear. I was afraid of scree or scrambling at the top, and as it was we were holding onto grass as we climbed. Not the most secure, but it was OK in the end.
As you will see later, going for this control was possibly a strategic mistake in terms of race position. However, it was also one of the most memorable and amazing parts of the course that we did – so this time I am happy that we got to experience this regardless. The ridge walk was incredible, and the ‘tennis court’ itself looked like someone had just come and sliced the top off the mountain.
One of my favourite pictures – on the ridge with tennis court second blob along in front of us
On the descent I came alive a bit and even ran. Or maybe jogged. Further down the views of the river cutting through Gleann Bianasdail creating swirling rock formations with waterfalls and pools looked very inviting. I’d like to go back to that and explore. The beauty was only marred as my ‘usual blister’ underneath my little toe burst causing every step to be agony for a while.
After negotiating ‘paths not on the map’ and a slightly sarcastic comment to another team about my ability to identify a graveyard (sorry), we finally arrived in Kinlochewe.
Rachel doing a grand job at midge central, checking we were all in the tent for the required time
This was the first time we had access to our tent at a vaguely sensible time for sleeping, and we had to put it up and stay in it for 20 minutes anyway. We got ourselves ready for the next stage then all clambered in for a couple of hours kip. I wondered if we should have more, or less? But it was too complicated to think. As the rain hammered on the roof, and a French team swore at the midges outside, we drifted off. Not the best sleep, but we needed it.
Stones on the beach as we rejoin a path
Episode 2 – Official Film
Bike stage:
69.3km / biking / 7h40 / finish 05:10 Thursday
We set off just after 21:30 in the dark. It was now obligatory for us to short course this stage. Before we started we had hoped to do more than this here, sketching out a couple of different options. But course changes and our slow speed meant it wouldn’t have been sensible anyway.
After leaving all the map reading to Chloe and Jon on the foot stage, it was my turn again. I confidently took the first turning, with Andrea stopping to check the map. As we waited for her to catch back up she appeared, a bit shaken from a fall as she had tried to adjust her lights. We were all tired.
Peering at the map, I had in mind ‘just follow the double track alongside the loch for about 5km’. I was trying to prove myself by navigating swiftly and keep us moving. Mistake. We passed a junction and hesitated. ‘It says cycle trails this way’ someone said … and I pushed on as that was just a footpath and we wanted the track, right? We were going up and up in a forest and it didn’t feel right. But I stubbornly carried on, not wanting to faff about. As the distance came up, we emerged from the forest. I looked properly at the map and immediately realised my error. We should have taken the path ARGH.
Jon went to investigate a possible joining path and we dithered, eventually turning back on ourselves. I thought it would be quicker just to descend at high speed to the junction, but the team were lagging behind. My adrenaline and drive to fix this was not matched! As I agitated I was annoyed with myself – not a mistake I’d have made in the daylight, and quite costly, maybe half an hour.
It was slow going along the path and I was now doubting myself about where to look for the right turn. Then there came a horrible noise from my bike. Clank! Clank! I stopped, turned the pedals. Clank! Clank! I spun the wheel without the pedals. Clank! Clank! It seemed to come from my bottom bracket but the wheel was the only bit turning. Chloe and Jon came to help – concluding it must be a disaster with my hub. Then we suddenly spotted an extremely large nail embedded in my tyre and hitting the chainstay on every revolution …
We got it out, and Chloe put her thumb on the hissing hole. By the time Jon produced a magic bung gun it had sealed, but we whopped it in anyway. With much relief we were on our way.
Nav was tricky and now I was very careful. There were many paths not marked on the map but once we got onto the Coulin Pass it was straightforward and easy going. I had run this in the opposite direction many years ago on Celtman! But remembered little!
At some point it started raining. And then it was like riding under a shower head. We were on a road by now, and my new coat did an admirable job of keeping me dry, but it was still a bit epic. Near Strathcarron we happened upon a pub with umbrellas outside. We stopped to get extra layers on, but the lady who ran it waved us inside. She had already closed and hadn’t heard about the race before a team stopped to talk to her, but was encouraging us all to make use of the toilets and the back room to warm up and change. What a lovely lady!
Shortly, we were back ascending on a fire road before going over a high point on a rough track. I was feeling optimistic because it was all downhill back to a road from here, and despite being rocky and muddy it was mostly rideable. We went in pairs; Jon and I going ahead a bit, then watching the lights of Chloe and Andrea catching us before we set off again.
The riding came to an abrupt end however, as the path got narrower and harder going. We were forced to walk again, tripping and stumbling as we pushed our bikes on through the dark.
We had made a calculation of how much time we needed from the end of the next trek to get to the rafting on time. We thought a generous 5-6h, and by calculating backwards as we stood on that dark wet hillside, I knew we needed to be starting the next trek right about now…
When we emerged on the road all somewhat the worse for wear, we felt the need for a team hug before we could get moving again. About 10 seconds later Chloe’s light went flat (she was having a nightmare with batteries all race!) but we swapped things around to get us all legal and going again.
Second castle of the race, looking splendid
More road, pausing at Eilean Donan castle and quickly locating the control by looking closely at the map and reading the description instead of heading straight to the castle (we had seen a team searching there for a long time…)
Next transition was difficult. It was now light, but raining, and we weren’t allowed indoors with our kit bags. We dismantled the bikes outside first. I found a seat clamp on the floor and asked the team if it was one of ours. “No!” said everyone. I wasn’t so sure. Jon and I checked – it fitted Chloe’s bike perfectly, it was next to her box … we quietly put it back on and headed indoors.
Teams were getting crotchety with each other as bags were moved and they rummaged around in them. I had to go back and forth for things I forgot first time, and despite instructions I am sure some people were using the showers in the toilets as I queued for an age just to relieve myself.
Before long though, we were ready to set off again on foot for the final trek.
If you want to go straight to part 3 – it’s here! If you missed part 1 – it’s here!
Photo credits to Chloe (team photographer!), Rob Howard from Sleepmonsters and Photogractif
Episode 3 – official film
Itera Scotland 2019 – part 1
It has taken me a while to start this report – to let the race sink in and to get over the dreaded lurgy sufficiently to have energy to write!
We were number 26, Team Lochland Runner – Andrea, Chloe, Jon and myself. We started the week well by managing to arrive in Inverness only 5 minutes apart. I had come up with Chloe and we had chatted the whole way, making wild guesses about what the course might hold in store.
The weekend was spent registering, getting maps, going to briefings, planning, sorting out kit and most importantly – eating! Pizza! Tensions did rise a bit as we fully grasped the scale of the kayaking element relative to everything else (though we had been warned) and there was a bit of drama when all our buoyancy aids failed the ‘test’. Luckily, we were 4 of many and plans were put in place to hire some out to us.
As we pored over the maps and route book a couple of key things became apparent. There were time cut offs for both a canyoning stage on Tuesday afternoon and a rafting stage at 8pm on Thursday. Both carried significant time penalties and we wanted to make them both. The rest of the race was planned around this, using the information given about likely leg times and our own experience to estimate what we thought we could do. Our plan was always to short course, but we did hope to do some of the long course options such as extra biking near Applecross and the Five Sisters trek.
After an early alarm on Monday morning, we all found ourselves on coaches heading for Dunrobin castle. It was a slightly midgey and cool wait with some confusion over the actual start time. Oh, just me? OK then!!
Episode 0 – official film
Run and kayak stage:
5.1km run / 35 minutes / finish 09:05 Monday
19.4km paddle / 3h25 / finish 12:45 Monday
The 5km run through beautiful woods and a gorge got us nicely warmed up before we jumped in the kayaks for our first taste of the sea – this time on the east coast. We were headed for Glenmorangie Distillery. The journey was fairly uneventful, apart from our first experiences with the right-veering kayaks. I developed some sort of combination of right sweep strokes and missing left strokes to keep us vaguely on course.
Bike stage:
77.7km / 4h35 / finish 18:10 Monday
We had decided right from the beginning to do all of this leg short course. The only temptation to go longer was the fact that this would mean we were riding on roads most of the way to the next transition. Pleasant, quiet, low traffic roads; but tarmac all the same. Our rationale was that we needed time in hand to get through the next kayak stage and make it to the canyoning before the cut off.
We shot off like hares, and Chloe had to get us back on track at a more sensible pace.
Transition was a bit chaotic as we had arrived earlier than expected and the marshals hadn’t quite got a system sorted. We had beaten the first long course team in, but they were gone before you could say ‘that was fast’. As it was, I got a shock to the system as Andrea whipped us all into transition shape and we were in and out a lot faster than I had experienced in similar races. She’s raced with some top teams though, and deemed us too slow! We had a lot of information to take in before we could leave, with course changes to the kayaking adding in more distance and extra portage in order to keep us nearer the mainland in forecast strong winds.
Kayak stage:
18km total portage / 9h
46.1km total kayak / 11h10 / finish 15:55 Tuesday
We paddled off on a loch heading west into a glorious sunset. The scenery was magnificent. Although adventure racing novice Chloe was pondering whether she liked ‘AR’ yet due to the lack of adventurous biking so far, she did have to admit that as we stopped for the first portage in the dark and rain, that this wasn’t an experience she’d have had otherwise…
The changes meant this leg was going to take longer than planned. There was an optional run up Suilven which we had originally considered, but we decided now it was best to press on and make use of any time saved later in the race. Doing this plus the short course bike turned out to be a kayak-leg saver, though we didn’t know it at the time.
Snack and water bottle refills in the dark and rain on the delightful road portage, somewhere on the west coast
The first portage was only a taster of what was to come. A we inched towards the coast, we lugged a pair of 30kg kayaks, plus portage trolleys and kit over rough rocky ground in the dark and rain. We were being careful not to drag them. At times we were ferrying the kit separately in relay, with all four of us coming back to carry each boat the next section and trying not to twist our ankles on boulders or to disappear thigh deep in bog as we staggered blindly forward. When we could, we used leashes attached to the front, Andrea and I pulling our boat like shire horses over the heather. As some of the long course teams overtook us we took note of their technique …
When we reached the road it was bliss to put the kayaks on their trolleys and roll them along. In no time it seemed we were getting back in. We had half hoped for a sleep but we were wet and the two of us without dry suits got cold very quickly as soon as we stopped moving (and this was despite me wearing a shorty wetsuit). We got back in, quite literally for me as I lost my footing and was dunked, seeing my paddle nearly disappear down the river.
Finally we were back on the sea, now all the way across the country and on the west coast. This was near the Summer Isles; apparently a mecca for paddlers, but we couldn’t see anything except the dark hulks of land mass and the occasional shooting star.
Taking the risk of heading to the spot where the strobe light of a team in front had disappeared, we landed safely at the next headland, only to be greeted by a new form of portage hell. We couldn’t make progress over the bushes, so opted for the river. As it we ascended it progressed from merely rocky to mini rapids that I wouldn’t want to walk up, even without a kayak in tow. We had to anchor ourselves on rocks and haul them up in stages. We eventually gave up, clambered out on the other side and were lucky to find a path where the going was ‘easier’ before hitting the road at Achnahaird, scene of some of my childhood holidays.
It was not over yet though!
Another long sea crossing awaited. Although we could now see the various islands, we were being battered by the wind and waves. The boast continuously turned right, which was getting tedious. Our instructions were to head to within 100m of Isle Martin where a boat might indicate the turning point. I was facing a mutiny as the team got cold and fed up seeing us paddle past the place we were heading to on the other shore before we could turn and go back up.
AJ and I haul a kayak up a hill with no path. This was the portage that broke the camel’s (or our) back!
Crossing the ferry line at our best estimate of a right angle, we neared the far shore and turned straight into the wind and tide. I was only focused on our landing spot when Andrea announced we weren’t moving anywhere. “It’s just perspective”, I said. I was wrong. We decided after another 15 minutes of fruitless paddling to head straight into the shore and see if we could walk along. Even getting there took an humongous effort and I started to panic. When we arrived we were faced with large unwalkable boulders. We considered taking a penalty if needed and getting the boats straight onto the bottom of the track marked on the map. We were desperate. But the wind suddenly dropped, the white horses disappeared and we leapt back in to paddle round the shoreline and say hello to some waiting cows.
Jon demonstrates solo portage style. See how far away the sea is?
Only to face even worse portage hell!! We must have only been in purgatory before! Where did they find this stuff? This time there were rocks, it was steep and it took all 4 of us to climb the first section. Then it was heather and uneven ground up a hill, as we dragged and swore. I practically threw ours over the fence at the top. Well, ‘threw’ is an exaggeration. We bumped down the other side for what should have been an easy downwind paddle to transition, but was a race against time to get to the new canyoning cut off (though it had subsequently been extended). It didn’t feel easy. And I still couldn’t steer us in a straight line.
After some face pulling and head shaking at Paul, a hug from James stopped some close tears from me and we were so glad to abandon those boats…
Many of the following teams got stuck close to where we did and were transported by coach from Ullapool incurring a hefty time penalty. Our choice to short course early and get through the kayaking combined with a bit of weather luck had bumped us up the standings.
Canyoning:
We all wriggled into full wetsuits and headed up the hill for a fun interlude of canyoning, including a jump which had preyed on Andrea’s mind, an abseil down a waterfall and another where we dropped into a pool off the bottom of a rope and something I forget the name of but involved not quite whizzing down a wire and having to pull yourself over with the danger of getting your hands munched! I battered myself here and there on the way down but it was refreshing.
Me abseiling the waterfall. Quite cool.
The transition was the best of the whole race – a great big barn with loads of space and places to sit 🙂
We had to be out before the time cut off if we wanted to consider any of the long course. As it turned out it might have been better race-wise if we had had this choice imposed on us, but we didn’t and I am not renowned for my cautiousness!
And so we set off on foot into the dying embers of day 2 (Tuesday).
If you want to go straight to part 2 – it’s here!
Photo credits to Chloe (team photographer!), Rob Howard from Sleepmonsters and Photogractif
Episode 1 – official film
Team Lochland Runner – Itera Top Tips
Team Lochland Runner all got together for a training weekend recently. Included on the itinerary were sharing our top tips for expedition adventure racing and planning our strategy! Chloe is new to expedition events, but we have all been in different types of races and can always learn from each other.
I thought I’d share these in case you’re interested in the kinds of things we’re thinking about, or are looking for inspiration! Let us know if you have any questions or other top tips you would share 🙂
FOOD
This is one we talked about many times! I for one like to know where the next meal is coming from and don’t go anywhere without snacks. However, in an expedition race you have to think about what will keep well in your kit bag for a week and make sure there are savoury items on the menu. We may also need to take opportunities that present themselves on the way. We’re just concerned about how well-endowed the race route will be with handy cafes! Since finding hidden cafe gems is one of my special skills, I will have to make sure I don’t spend the pre-race weekend researching detours …
With me being vegetarian and Chloe vegan, it is an extra challenge to think of good ideas and this is still a work in progress. Knowing that hot water is usually available in transition, some of our savoury ideas so far are:
Instant noodles, instant mashed potato, cup a soup, couscous, rice cakes, oatcakes with peanut butter, meals from Tentmeals, Firepot and Summit to Eat (I can vouch for at least one of these being very edible…), German rye bread, flavoured cooked rice pouches…
Sweet things are easier as we can use gels and bars and energy drinks in moderation. Lochland Runner are also helping us out here with Born products. Variety will be key!
FEET
… or more specifically, blister prevention!! Everyone has their own theories on this. Our consensus seemed to be:
- Get shoes and socks off feet quickly in transition to let them air
- Have crocs or similar to wear in transition
- Either talc them or moisturise them
- Treat hotspots quickly en route with either Compeed or gaffer tape
- Avoid woolly socks (I find tight fitting, quick drying compression socks work well)
- Stay hydrated
- Have a spare pair of running shoes to change pressure points
- Take sterilised scalpel blades and wipes to burst any big blisters that do appear…
Jon gets his feet up and has a power nap – an essential adventure racing skill
CLOTHING AND KIT
Our discussion about this was more general, as we have to use what we are comfortable in and have tested well. Ideas we shared were:
- Take shoes for paddling, especially if there is any portage or walking involved (which we now know there will be!)
- Take two different pairs of shoes for running. If one pair are a bit bigger it can help with swollen feet later in the race
- Expect to be cold … colder than you expect! The effects of tiredness, night time and low food intake will all affect how warm we feel. I am still surprised how many of the photos from the race in Wales feature trousers and waterproofs …
- Have spare brake pads for your specific brakes
- Have enough battery power for your lights
- Pre-pack food into bags that will last about one stage so you can just take one out in transition
- Have a heavy duty waterproof bag to shove your backpack in and strap down on paddling stages
- Pre pack clothing into clear, labelled bags like short sleeves, long sleeves, shorts, trousers
- Pack as much as you need in transition bag, but no more! The more you have to rummage through or choose between, the longer transitions will take
- A tick remover per team is essential – they just love the damp Scottish heather and bracken. You need to keep checking and get them out within 24h to minimise risk of Lyme’s disease
- Caffeine tablets of some kind might come in handy as you pull your fourth all-nighter in a row!
- Take lip balm, you will not regret it
GENERAL STRATEGY
Well … I obviously can’t reveal too much here, it’s top secret 😀
However, my advice is to definitely discuss this and make sure everyone has the same idea about what you’re trying to achieve. You also need to be realistic about your collective abilities and what to expect from the course so that you can make smart decisions. Although you can’t predict what will happen, having a basic fall back plan and common goals will help make decision making easier.
I’d say things to think about include:
- Any aims for finishing position in the field
- Long course / short course
- How much sleep to expect, when and where
- Pacing and degree of ambition for different stages
- Towing and kit distribution
- Navigators (lead / back up and in different disciplines)
- Transition process (what order to change, eat, sleep), including ‘checkout’
- Team roles
Finally, always keep an eye on the details and don’t forget about your hairdo – no washing for a week with plenty of rain, sweat and river or sea water mixed in! I always go super short – I’d better go and get booked in for a cut 🙂
Itera 2019 Team Introduction
This year my main race will be Itera Expedition race in Scotland in early August. It’s for a team of 4 and we’ll be on the move for 5 days, trekking, mountain biking, kayaking and possible other modes of transport or activity that have yet to be revealed! Here’s a wee introduction to our team and our thoughts about the race.
Team Name: Team Lochland Runner
Team Members: Rosemary Byde, Jon Ellis, Andrea Davison, Chloe Rafferty
Team Information:
We are supported by Lochland Runner, who supply innovative brands for sports like trail running, swimrun, OCR, and orienteeering.
I raced with Jon in Itera Wales – but one of our team members was Paul McGreal who is otherwise occupied this time round (he’s one of the organisers)! Andrea is an Open Adventure regular, has expedition race experience and is making her comeback. Chloe is our secret weapon … she runs events company LoveSwimRun, lives in North Wales and can often be seen out in the mountains biking, climbing, running or swimming.
The most important thing in forming our team was making sure we had similar goals and expectations and that we all have a similar ethos and approach to working together. We’ll be putting that to the test with a training weekend later in June 🙂
Special team skills include engineering, mountain leading, sewing, an obsession with detail, a love of maps and more than one person trained in optimising solutions to problems! As the race goes on, I am sure we will discover many more talents amongst us.
Personalised team map buffs! Can’t think of anything much cooler than that.
Why did we choose to do this and what are our expectations of the race / Scotland?
The Scottish highlands are a wild and beautiful place and we all want to experience more of it. We know we are going to the perfect location for an epic adventure that Paul, Tom, James and the team are sure to deliver. The anticipation and excitement are already growing.
Whilst the rest of us have done similar races before, this is Chloe’s first time. She’s alternately terrified and excited and can’t wait to race as part of a team. Although the effects of sleep deprivation and how to stay fuelled as a vegan are on her mind, she has been primed for special ‘visual effects’ (sleepmonsters) and someone has promised to carry emergency flapjack supplies 😉
Even though it is the first week of the new school year, Andrea is making her expedition race comeback before she gets ‘too old’! Sleep is on her mind too, as she doesn’t want to miss out on the memories.
However, Jon and I clearly remember the fun, camaraderie and amazing landscapes we moved through last time and nothing was going to stop us entering again …
We’re all relishing the challenge and anticipating the sense of achievement we’ll get from doing the event. We’re going to be pushing ourselves and it has been the motivation for some of us to increase our training, pick up new skills or reacquaint ourselves with old ones. I for one know that whilst I still soldier on with hamstring rehab for running, my mountain bike is seeing significantly more action than recent swimrun years have afforded!
Our expectations are that we will finish mid pack. The most important things are for us to work hard, help each other, make the most of our collective abilities and never stop trying until we get to the finish line!
Finally, one person has already mentioned the dreaded ‘M’ word … we’re all hoping that we’ll be moving too fast for any midges to catch us for breakfast!
Testing out buff and making sure it was one of ‘mine’!
Planet Byde 