Waiting for news

Been a quite couple of weeks on the racing front , but some good quality sessions and a few days of skiing have kept the legs going . A fairly tough crash skiing a narrow escape with no broken bones but very stiff after being knocked out even wearing a helmet ! looking forward to seeing whether I have a place in Badwater 135 ultra marathon , a race firmly on my to do list http://www.badwater.com/.

Next race is the Thames Ultra 100 on the 3rd March so less than two weeks to go http://www.centurionrunning.com/thames-path-100-2012/tp100-2012

Badwater

So pleased to be ready now to enter the Badwater ultra marathon an innovational race that is a milestone for many ultra runners from the first time I read about this race some 5 years ago I knew this was the one I wanted to do . Having carefully practised with many races in heat and cold distances from 5k to 145 miles I ready for this one

described by the organisers

...

Covering 135 miles (217km) non-stop from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, CA, the Badwater Ultramarathon is the most demanding and extreme running race offered anywhere on the planet. The start line is at Badwater, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere at 280’ (85m) below sea level. The race finishes at the Mt. Whitney Portals at nearly 8,300’ (2530m). The Badwater course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000’ (3962m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 4,700’ (1433m) of cumulative descent. The Portals are the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Competitors travel through places or landmarks with names like Mushroom Rock, Furnace Creek, Salt Creek, Devil’s Cornfield, Devil’s Golf Course, Stovepipe Wells, Keeler and Lone Pine

...

It is a real privilege to be able to be considered for such an event and so looking forward to finding out if I am able to compete on Monday the 16th of July 2012

Olympic Torch

Very pleased to have been chosen to be a torchbearer for the 2012 games a great privilege and fantastic news it will be on the 1st June on the leg from Bolton to Liverpool
More news as I get it
http://www.london2012.com/olympic-torch-relay-map

Frostbite 50

After a very eventful journey nearly 6 hours to Whitby for the start of the Yorkshire Ultra a 50 mile off road ultra (actually 51) with 4700 ft of climbing http://www.adventurehub.com/Home.html .

An 8 am start at least gave us ( Rich Brown , Nick Holt & Guy ) a chance to get some sleep after our journey , the start was fairly cold around 2 degrees with a stiff wind blowing from the North Sea . Starting from Whitby Abbey the route took us along the very scenic undulating coastal Cleveland Way to Robin Hoods Bay . After check point 1 we followed a very pleasant cinder path for about 4 miles only spoilt by being bitten on the bottom by a dog and being told to F off by its owner when I complained ? .

RAVENSCAR

After the cinder path we turned inland with a short steep climb towards the radio mast at Ravenscar . Then crossing the A171 check point 2 over onto the North Yorkshire Moors towards RAF Flyingdales were the terrain of the moors was extremely challenging with mud and knee deep water slowing our earlier progress we made a 20 mile loop with checkpoint 3 in the middle visited twice and then re tracing our steps towards Whitby Abbey and the finish .Overall winner came in 8.40 second shortly after with Rich Brown third in 8.55 me in 4th in 9.10 a massive 2hours 20 improvement on last year ( it did help not getting lost )Nick and Guy in in 11.35 well done to all the finishers in tough conditions

FLYINGDALES MOOR

COAST TOWARDS WHITBY

Garmin connect link http://connect.garmin.com/activity/145437785

Anglesey Coastal Trail

This weekend was my first major race of the season the http://www.endurancelife.com/event.asp?series=54&location=135 endurance life coastal trail marathon a trail Marathon over 27.5 miles on a particularly windy Saturday morning around the rugged north coast of Anglesey starting from Holyhead with the first major accent over Holyhead mountain . Followed by a quick decent to south stack lighthouse , then following the coast path to Trearddur Bay then continuing along the coast to Rhoscolyn . The course then turned inland through some muddy paths before rejoining the coast path at Trearddur Bay then following it back towards South Stack and a particularity sapping climb back over Holyhead Mountain

and steep decent to finish at start . Very stiff racing for second and third place with me just piping Richard Heath to second place by six seconds , I have ever raced that hard for position in a trail race we swapped position 4 times in the last 5 miles !

Sunday was the 4 Villages so I had a number thought I would give it a go and to my surprise ran 1.26.45 to all in all a good weekend . Good training for the Adventure Hub Yorkshire Ultra nest Saturday http://www.adventurehub.com/Ultra_Races.html

Christmas Break

A bit of a break from running with two weeks of ski touring in France made a great change . Been back running for five days and feeling bit better on legs with 70 miles covered with some good quality running .Big plans for this year three weeks till Anglesey costal trail marathon then week after is Frostbite 50 a race I particularity looking forward to.

Beacons Ultra November 21st

My recent trip to the Brecon Beacons for the Beacons Ultra http://www.beaconsultra.com had been a success with a tenth place on what is a hilly off road 46 miles in 7 hours 21 mins about 20 mins of my best time around this course always great to Martin & Sue Like of Likeys the best on line outdoor shop http://www.likeys.com/ a video of the race here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S2h93LYbNU Its me at the start of the film