23/24th August 2014- Ridgeway Ultra

Me and Chris got the train to Tring and we're picked up by the organisers and taken to the start. After registering we waited in the sun for the midday start. The race started from Ivinghoe Beacon and we we're off, in a minor panic (from other runners) on the first descent, I lost Chris and didn't see him till the end of the race.

Coombe Hill (12 miles in)

I got into a good rythym early on, walking uphill and running flats and downhill. But it did feel discouraging when my legs started to feel tired before I'd even done 20 miles, but I carried on. The Ridgeway path was quite easy to follow and so wasn't a problem that I hadn't reccied the first half of the race.

Over Fields. Brian Layton winner of the M60 category

We had about an hour and a half of rain (including some hail) but apart from that the weather was pretty much perfect. After a tiny navigation error costin#g about 10 minutes, I made it down to the Thames and followed the trail into Streatly as the light faded about 9 hours done.

Running by The Thames

After a good feed and and kit shuffle (drop bag at Streatly) I headed into the second half of the race with headtorch on. A good march up the first hill got me going again and I was buzzing from the refreshments at Streatly. After several miles me and a few others went wrong, missing a turn which cost us about 20 mintutes after putting ourselves right, which was a bit annoying as I had reccied this half of the route.

Blurred, probably how I felt

Each checkpoint was great with all sorts of food, drink and hot drinks and in the early hours they would keep me going as I would struggle to keep my eyes open towards the end of each section between checkpoints.  Checkpoints we're usually about 9-10 miles apart but the furthest apart was 13 miles and I was really struggling to stay awake and then the sun rose as I was dropping into Ogbourne St George and this gave me the boost I needed.

Morning Sky

After the last long climb to the final checkpoint me and a guy called James walked the last section until the last downhill into Avebury which we ran, coming in just under 21 hours in 20:55. Chris came in at 22:38 and his mum, dad, Emma and I cheered him into Avebury. After 86 miles, I can safely say I was rather exhausted and in need of some sleep.

Finisher's Chris and I