Ultra 45 Hardmoors 55 Recce
The Weekend after the Palermo Marathon was to be a double Ultra weekend. Saturday a 55 Recce and Sunday a Hardmoors Osmotherley Trail Marathon Recce.
I picked David Cremmins up pretty early Saturday morning and drove over to Cold Kirby (North York Moors) The route started with running a few road miles up to High Paradise Farm to pick up the Hardmoors 55 reverse route, back through Cold Kirby (refuelled at the car) to Helmsley taking notes along the way for the new race route description. It was a pretty cold day and stopping often to add notes to my iphone then sprinting off to try to get warm turned the run into a huge interval session. Once at Helmsley we had a quick coffee at a cafe and set off on the 5-6 mile journey repeating the route but in reverse back to Cold Kirby and the car.
Towards the end of the run it started to get dark much to Davids delight! He had just bought the Petzl Nao, a pretty expensive headtorch which corrects the amount of light emitted (or should I say lumen's) to the amount light there is already available (streetlight, other headtorchs )Apretty powerful headtorch. David jumped at the chance to wear it and he acted like an excitable puppy!!! On arriving in Cold Kirby we bumped into Gerry Orchard (Osmotherley Phoenix organiser) (lives n Cold Kirby) he invited us for a coffee at his caravan (his house is being rebuilt at the moment) I forget the exact number but he has ran over150 completions of the Lyke Wake !!!! (the Lyke Wake is a tough hilly 42 mile route across the North York Moors from Osmotherley to Ravenscar)
The route is beautiful and a pleasure to run on and no I'm not bias ;0)
Oh just to prove Ive been stretching between runs ;0)
Ultra 46 Osmotherley Trail Marathon Recce
The Following day I met up with David C, Garry Scott and Mark Dalton to run the Osmotherley Trail Marathon Route ( The Osmotherley Trail Marathon route is the first Trail Marathon of the Hardmoors 26.2 series) I had run this as an ultra by sticking a couple of miles on twice before. Once on my own and the second time with Garry Scott. The second time while out running the course we could see some oppurtunities for improving the route. So we were back again to get elevation data and exact mileage plus a feel for the course.
There had been some pretty heavy downpours during the night before and the course was pretty wet and
muddy in places which slowed us down but we had a great run.
Garrys skin's tights kept working their way down so in the end he took them off and ran in his underwear until 8 miles later we reached a strategically parked car (Mark's) at Lords Cafe and he put his waterproof trousers on (it was a very cold day) I changed my top for a merino wool one and we set off over the Cleveland Hills. Dropping off the back of Cringle Moor I took a decent a bit too quick which left me hobbling about at the bottom after I felt a twang in my calf.
Several hills later we had ran out of food and were bloody hungry. Darkness yet again came upon us and I ran across Carlton Bank without headtorch ahead of the others to preserve my night vision. David had put his new headtorch on at the first available oppurtunity and belittled Mark's and Garry's headtorches power.
(we'll get the last laugh don't you worry won't we lads ;0)) )
The day had been a good one and we covered 28miles in total and ascended over 4000ft
Pictures courtesy of Garry Scott
Ultra 47 Frostbite 30
The Frostbite 30 was a new race for 2012. A 30 mile circular race open to solo runners and relay teams. Set around Nidderdale in Yorkshire (slightly outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park but by far an equal of any of the areas found in the Yorkshire Dales.) T Rob Jarman was the race director and what a fantastic job he did as well! A really well organised event in a stunning location.
I picked David up and drove through to Pately Bridge (the race start) I met up with Garry when we got there and had a chat with Rob as well as various other runners including Andy Norman and Sarah Booth who both looked vibrant (young love and all that ;0) ) We piled outside for the race start..
I wasnt taking any chances. My knees and calf was taped up with Rocktape (this stuff performs miracles!!) I was wearing Compression calf guards and warmed up/stretched before the event (My calf had been giving me a lot of pain throughout the week and was I very unsure if it would hold out for the duration of the race.)
left to right David C, Garry Scott. Me, Andy Norman
Pic nicked of Sarah Booth ;0)
I took it very steady for the first couple of miles. Strangly I felt strong on the climbs and had a great run through the first 14-15 miles. The views throughout the dale where breathtaking but underfoot there was quite a bit of ice which made progress a little slower.
The route was well marked and several hours later I found myself pushing hard to get in under 5hours (my original target was 6 hours) The last mile was tough and seemed to drag on forever. Eventually I reached the finish with Dave in 4hrs 59 mins taking joint 20th place, Garry had ran fantastically and came in just over 4hrs and only narrowingly missed 3rd place!
I caught up with Rob and had another chat before searching for a chip shop which may be open, and of course all 2 of them where shut!
The Frostbite 30 is a great event and I truly reccomend it for 2013!!
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