Marathon des Sables

Hi,

A short blog post regarding my Marathon des Sables attempt. In March 2009 I will be entering the 24th Marathon des Sables, which is a foot race covering 151 miles (equivalent to 5 1/2 regular marathons) through the Sahara desert in South Eastern Morocco run over 6 stages (7 days). In addition to that, I'll have to carry everything I will need for the duration (apart from a tent and water) in my rucksack (food, clothes, medical kit, sleeping bag etc). Water is rationed and handed out at each checkpoint. The longest stage is approximately 40 miles long and the temperature can get up to the high 40 degree Celsius!

It's a little different and I've been asked several times why I'm doing it. Well there's not one single reason, more of a collection of smaller reasons including:

• I've been into my running for several years now and enjoy the challenge each new difficulty of event brings.
• I saw a TV programme on it (Jack Osbourne Adrenaline Junkie) and the MdS looked an incredible challenge with a fantastic comaradarie amongst the other competitors.
• Two work friends, and one uni mate were interested in entering also, and this was to much of a coincidence for me to let it slip by.
• I'm hoping to raise some money for the Red Cross by attempting this challenge and so hopefully benefit some people in need

If you're able to help with a donation then that would be much appreciated. All money goes to the Red Cross as this event is completely self funded.

Cheers

Andy

2008 Lincoln Spires and Steeples Challenge

Hi folks,

The Lincoln Spires and Steeples challenge is a race along the Spires and Steeples heritage trail from Lincoln Castle to Sleaford. It's mostly a flat off road, and roughly marathon distance (26 miles). This was the inaugural event, so I was part of history!

Quick results below
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Time
3:51:53
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This was a great weekend. I'd never been to Lincoln before and so Lauren and I got up early on the Saturday and travelled down to Lincoln to see some of the sights. It was a quick tour sadly though due to having to leave the car at the finish in Sleaford (so I could get back from the end of the marathon the next day!). Lincoln Cathedral looked very impress, and for some reason Lincoln seems to be associated with Tea as there are many bizarre tea shops and retailers near it in the cathedral quarter. There's even an old windmill in a housing estate! Well worth a visit.

On the Sunday I got up early, drank most of the orange juice in the B&B before other guests got up, and headed out to the start. At the start the atmosphere was good, and as the announcements got underway it became apparent that navigation on the route may be needed as it wouldn't be clearly marked, the problem being that for runners they simply had a sheet of paper with abbreviated directions on... well they didn't exactly make much sense to me! So I looked for local running clubs with the thinking that they would know the route and I was surprised to see that the small town of Sleaford had two running clubs, Sleaford Town Runners and Sleaford Striders! I was keen to get the inside gossip on the rivalry between the clubs, and decided that the less serious and more family oriented Sleaford Striders would be my honorary running club for the day.

As the whistle went we had an easy start running down from Steep Hill to the canal to follow that for a while. I chatted with an Irish chap who was running with a backpack because he had no support crew / system, and so needed clothes to change into at the end! He was a marathon veteran of over a 100 and so I knew he'd be OK. Irish Chap wasn't a local resident however, and my new club of the Sleaford Striders were nowhere to be seen. Up ahead I could see some Town Runners (TRs), but they were going at a fair pace, and I suspected they were only doing the half marathon route, and so it would be a very bad idea for me to keep up with them, so I just plodded along keeping some unmarked runners in my sights.


Thankfully with it still being reasonably early in the race there were generally people in sight and so at one really tricky point I was able to follow someone (just) who knew the way to the first checkpoint in Branston. Leaving Branston I managed to catch up with two TRs (members of my arch rival running club for the day). It turned out that the chap was a rather mean guy (Idiot Runner) who took pleasure in non-locals getting lost and had been trying to lose me between checkpoints. His attitude was one of "do your homework, know the course and print a map out, I'm a canoeist not a runner so I need all the help I can get", mine was more of, "It's billed as a run, not a navigational challenge, and you've joined a running club, are at marathon standard, and have been controlling your pace with your partner based on heart rate so that makes you a runner as well as a canoeist". I'd say in my years of running, he managed to claim the prize as the first runner during a race I've met who was a prat, luckily there's not many like him. His partner in crime turned out to be a nice lady (TA Runner) who was a teaching assistant.

As the next couple of miles wore on Idiot Runner slowed down dragging TA Runner with him, and I took the opportunity to tag along with Irish Chap and realised my route instructions had fallen out of my pocket! Now I really was in trouble if I lost sight of people! Luckily Irish Chap was rather good at running, reading and navigating and managed to get us to the halfway point in Metheringham.

After the halfway point Irish Chap had to stop for a short while and so I looked round in desperation to join another group, and the only one in sight was Idiot Runner and TA Runner, so reluctantly I joined them again. As the miles wore on there were some interesting sights to be seen. Naturally there's loads of churches on the route, but we also passed an RAF airbase and the Dorrington Demons caught my eyes as being the best thing on the route with an interesting history also!



Idiot Runner tired after Dorrington and TA Runner, another runner and I were left. Thankfully TA Runner had recc'd the final 10 miles of the route, so my plan was to stay with her. As we crossed yet more farmers fields though the toll of running on dried uneven ploughed fields and a strong headwind took its toll and I could feel my strength begin to fail. This was frustrating to say the least as I'd been putting in a fair bit of tough training involving hills in the Peak district, so I'd hoped the flats of Lincoln would be "easy" in comparison. At the 23 mile marker I had to let TA Runner and the other chap go, and by 24 miles I was reduced to run walking.


Psychologically it was very hard having to walk sections, as obviously I started beating myself up thinking if you can't even run the whole of a flat marathon in Lincoln, you've got no hope in the MdS. Looking back now I wonder if I had needed to eat more during the race?

Anyway, I eventually got over myself and managed to start running again for the final mile and cross the finish line. A lady in full mayoral chains congratulated me and seemed very impressed that I'd travelled from Stockport. Rather bizarrely the results have not been published online for the events, and in my daze I forgot what position I got, so all I know is the time from my Garmin!

Anyway, a big thanks to the race organisers, and to Lauren for coming along and keeping me company before and after the race. Overall I think the last 6 miles gets a little boring, but the rest of the route is excellent, well worth a try.

Cheers

Andy

Hope Moors & Tors Challenge Fell Race Special

Hello,

The Hope Moors & Tors Challenge is a 20 Mile fell race starting in the village of Hope and taking in Cave Dale, Mam Tor, Hollins Cross, Edale, Grindsbrook Clough, Jaggers Clough and Lose Hill. All in all, tough terrain!

Quick results below

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Position Time

45 out of 95 4:16:03

Split times (Course route)

1 - 39:41 2 - 50:45 3 - 1:04:03 4 - 1:15:12 5 - 1:51:12 6 - 2:41:34 7 - 3:07:30 8 - 3:34:33 9 - 3:51:03 10 - 4:16:03

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On the morning of this race I nearly had to pull out of it due to the horrendous rain that was lashing down as I set off from Stockport. The road under the bridge near Furness Vale was flooded quite deeply and I had to turn back. Before taking an alternative route to the start I rang the organiser, the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi, I'm struggling to reach you due to the flooded roads from the heavy rain, I'm just wondering if the race is even still on?

Yorkshire man: *said with confusion* err, yes of course its still on.

Me: What are the road conditions like where you are?

Yorkshire man: I've had reports that its a little wet on the roads, but nothing major.

Me: OK thanks, I'll try and get through (privately thinking Yorkshire man must think I'm a right wimp now)

Thankfully when I got there it turned out that whilst it was raining in Hope, it was nowhere near as bad as I had experienced getting there. The course is a figure of 8 shape centred on Hollins Cross and starting and finishing in the South East corner (Hope)

For this event we used dibbers to check in at each checkpoint. After checking in at the start we all lined up. The course had a cut off of getting to Edale in 1.5 hours, which I thought was particularly tough time limit and was a little concerned about breaking, so there'd be no daudling in the first section! The whistle went and we were off. The first couple of miles were a little bunched up, and stiles don't work to well in grouped race conditions, thankfully they were also quiet flat. I knew the climb up Cave Dale would be an early test from my experience on the Bullock Smithy, what I didn't expect was to meet my fellow Bullock Smithy Cave Dale companion Bernard on it! What a coincidence! We had a quick laugh as we climbed and then I pushed on.

After the tough climb I came across the first checkpoint and dibbed in. After a flat section which provided a welcome respite, I came to the next checkpoint at the foot of Mam Tor. The climb up Mam Tor was tough, and I pushed a little to hard I think looking back. The field was starting to thin out now, and I ran down to Hollins Cross making use of the downhill to up the pace. After dibbing in at the centre of the figure 8, I headed North West. The path was a little confusing, and I pushed harder to keep up with two guys in the distance as to lose them would mean wasting time reading the map. I reached Edale and dibbed in. It had taken me 1 hour 15 minute, but the cut off had cost my energy levels dearly. I gobbled some biscuits down and jogged off in a more casual fashion feeling more relaxed now that there were no more cutoffs.

My happy feelings quickly evaporated though as I came upon Grindsbrook Clough for the first time in my life. On the map its marked as a main footpath... the reality is that it starts of as a nice easy trail, then starts to climb and gets more uneven, then starts to go over large rocks and climb fairly sharply, and finally the foot path disappears and is replaced by a slope of boulders and rocks that you have to climb up on all fours! Throw in a swollen stream from the rain and you get the idea of how tough this section was! I was glad to get to the top and dib in at the checkpoint!

The course then turned East along the Kinder plateau as we ran along the cliff face. This was tough going to with the odd smooth large boulder. It looked a little like Mordor from Lord of the Rings due to the peat soil and the rocks which where a dark colour. This was the longest section, and it felt like it lasted forever. My body was definitely on a downward spiral by now due to the terrain, and I slowed down to preserve what reserves I had, as there was still a tough climb to come!

Dibbing in near Jaggers Clough I was glad that the route continued downhill. The stream in Jaggers Clough was a mess with the stepping stones under a couple of inches of water from the stream. I was running really low on water by this point though as the Sun was now out and there'd been no water at the last two checkpoints due to their remoteness. I made the cardinal mistake of following another runner towards the turn off near Clough farm, but the chap in front picked the wrong route, and I like a lemming followed and so added about a mile onto the course! Running up the driveway to the Youth Hostel whilst everyone else was running down was pretty embarressing I tell you! Thankfully there was loads of water and biscuits at the checkpoint so I stocked up for the last big push.

Leaving the Youth Hostel we headed towards Hollins Cross and began the difficult climb. It was pretty sheer, definitely no running up the hill! After getting to the top and dibbing in, I noticed Mike from the Bullock Smithy was with me and I had a brief conversation between the big gasps for air! It didn't get any easier as we headed towards Lose Hill. Another tough climb and disappointing to see Mike and his companion blatently cheat on this section as the checkpoint has one stile before the top of Lose Hill, and they took a shortcut after it instead of following the directions to the very top of Lose Hill.

Finally though I was on the home straight, though by now I was running on fumes, and struggling to get a pace faster then a zomie ambling in some 1950's B movie. I was glad when I eventually found myself on the main road going through Hope with the finish line in sight. Dibbing in at the finish was a huge relief, as it had been a tough 20 miles, and my pace to begin with had been too quick and I doubt I could have carried on much longer.

Overall this is an excellent race taking in some spectactular scenary. I really enjoyed it and was pleased with my performance. The tomato soup at the end was particularly refreshing! :) A big thanks to the organisers!

Cheers

Andy