Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Spartathlon Build Up

Spartathlon Start
With just over a week to go ,  and feeling ready for it after ring o fire  , lots of short races with a PB of 35.37 at Hoylake 10k and a couple of good finishes over 5 miles in cross country series .
Flying out next week on Wednesday with start at 7am on Friday morning live tracking on the the web Sparthalon  will be going for a finish inside the tight timescale of 36 hours for just over 150 miles should be a good test .
Hoylake 10k 2012


Thursday, 13 September 2012

RING O FIRE



This is a new race taking in the very scenic and demanding Isle of Anglesey coast path in three days with stages of 32 miles on day one 64 miles on day 2 &  35 miles on day three organised by a new team , they certainly had a great idea Race Web site the forecast looked good and headed of with my brother in law Rich Friday morning driven by our support crew MJ

Day 1 Holyhead to Amlwch 32 Miles Start at 1pm



The race started in Holyhead and the first day was to Amlwch were we would stay overnight on the town hall floor our bags being transferred there by the organisers . The first day was a part of the island I was familiar with and I new it would be a fairly tough one with one water crossing getting feet wet very early

Water crossing 
Following the coast round the island I ran with Jason who I had ran with a little at Haworth . After getting a little lost at the power station nothing major but a few mins missed the other Rich caught us and continued to drive the pace all the way to Amlwch were we enjoyed the luxuries of ultra running a Shower at the sports centre a curry at the local indian and a night on the floor of the town hall

Overnight Stay 

Day 2 Amlwch to Aberffraw start 6am 64 Miles 




Beaurmaris Sea Front

This was always going to new the most scenic day taking in some very remote and stunning coastline , nice early 6am start I ran hard for the first 10 miles staying with Stuart Mills and Tom Payne who were first and second on day one these two guys are very experinced  and talented runners and it helped me to focus on them to get a solid start to the day, Letting the two guys slug it out from the first checkpoint i concentrated on my own race very pleasant scenery to the second checkpoint at Red wharf Bay then feeling strong pushed on to Penmon Point lighthouse it was great to see my my support crew here ( finaly got out of bed ) and get bottle of coke it really is the wonder stuff that keeps you going .The route around the coast to Beaumaris was a little tricky and involved wading nearly neck deep in water to keep to the coast as tide was high at this point after Beaumaris we made our way inland towards the Menai bridge it was sad to see Stuart returning to the CP after pulling out due to sickness . The running now became a little testing with not so many hills but lots of mud , long grass , beaches with big stones and sand still enjoying it and determined to finish in daylight I finally made the check point in 13 Hours and 4 Mins with no problems feet still in good order .

Day Three Aberffraw to Holyhead 35 Miles 6am Start .

Start at Aberffraw (no we have not been drinking all night )




 After a fairly good nights sleep woke up feeling OK and thought I would give it a good push , Running with Tom whose navigation skills were as poor as mine we seemed to run backwards and forwards trying to find route great days running and after Silverbay the views were fantastic . we made good progress through all the checkpoints Tom pulling away after the final checkpoint the final tough section was over the top of Holyhead mountain and then a tough drop down to the lookout station and then back up and over to finish . Great three days of running and hats of to Q and Bing the organisers,  they put on a great event to rival many of the big UK events and £100 entry it got to be bargain of the century ( Enduracelife anglesey marathon is £49.00 )Filling up fast so get in quick enter here RING O FIRE


Sunday, 9 September 2012

Leadville 100







This one was the big one for the year it was always going to be a tough one not sure how i would cope with altitude something new . Travelled over with Ross arrived in Leadville a couple of days before race start a bit of a shock the whole altitude thing out of breath climbing the stairs and headache every morning . Did not really bother me much in the race the support was fantastic with the streets lined from the 4am start rich through to the finish  The legendary "Race Across The Sky" Leadville 100. One hundred miles of extreme Colorado Rockies terrain — from elevations of 9,200 to 12,600 feet. l
The 100-mile out-and-back course is in the midst of the Colorado Rockies. Low point, 9,200 feet; high point is Hope Pass, 12,600 feet.
COURSE PROFILE SCARY 


 Majority is on forest trails with some mountain roads.The trail was fairly tough but with some sections were it was possible to pick up the pace . The first sections to the 50 mile point went well then slowed a little to finish in twenty seven hours results it was always the plan to go for a finish this video of 2011 race is fantastic and worth watching 



July

Late June was the Verdon Canyon 100k , a fantastic low key event as tough as hell but fantastic improved on my previous two finishes with a sub twenty hour finish find out more about this great event here Trail Verdon


Race Start 4AM
6am coming out of canyon 

June 2012

its been a busy few months and I have neglected my blog a little catching up I had a great month in June with being a torch bearer for the 2012 games a great experience .It was then strait of to run Hardmoors 110 as part of relay with Bob Steel & Lucy C what a great day finishing in 17 hours . A Pb over 10 miles at Llandudno 1 hour and 20 seconds was a bit gutted by the 20 seconds

Monday, 4 June 2012

Anglesey Ultra





Adventure Hub Welsh Ultra This 100 k coastal ultra on the Anglesey coast path started close to Holyhead taking an out and back route to ???? . The race started at 8 am and by that time the sun was already cracking the flags there were 32 starters for the Ultra and around 10 for the Marathon . These coastal races are tough as there is little or no shade on these hot sunny days . The terrain is rarely flat with lots of steps and steep slopes to contend with.
 
Cameas Bay
I decided to set off hard to see who would stay with me and soon found there was some stiff competition but kept pushing  at the halfway point the eventual winner (Dan Doherty ) was 40 mins ahead but I was in a second and felling good if not a little sunburnt , I felt good on the return despite being chased by a bull !! finishing in second in 11.56 with Dan in first 10.47 and David Mitchell third in 13.21  full results 
Carmel Head




Monday, 21 May 2012

Salomon Lakes Trail Race 20th May 2012



The Solomon trail race was a tough half marathon starting from Keswick and following the shores of Derwent Water then climbing to falcon crags and following the opposite shore back to the start in Keswick 
A finish time of 1.40 was 4th overall and 1st Veteran 

Results and trail info  results

From the marina the first section leads through woodland trails alobing