After an afternoon carbo-loading we started at 9:00pm, near the front of a field of 53. The pace seemed very fast, and a group of 3 or 4 runners pulled away, leaving us in a group of 5 or 6. Running at night is not something completely new to us, but we usually keep to the better paths or roads, and this was really rocky and uneven, and most of all, fast.At first we were able to follow the lights up ahead, but after 2 or 3 miles they were no longer in sight and we were forced to do some navigation. I think we may have gone a bit off track in places, but we must have been more or less right because after 6 miles we came out on a brief road section where the first checkpoint was set up. We gave our numbers and pressed on behind a group of (Axe Valley) Runners who had opened up a gap of 100 yards on us, but kept stopping to check their maps allowing us to almost catch up.
This continued for while until they slowed a bit and we joined them. Although technically a race, this felt more like a long night-time training run, and apart from a mile or two in the middle we were always running with at least three others.
Nearing the halfway mark we still had the steepest climb ahead of us to 2000 feet. This was made more interesting and difficult by taking the wrong path (not my fault!) and having to negotiate hundreds of feet of boggy hillside including barbed wire fences and a stream or three.
The descent off the mountain involved a very tricky section where we dropped a thousand feet and a couple of the AVR team, and having reached the second checkpoint , and unaware of my well-deserved reputation for getting lost, the 3 remaining with us seemed to be quite happy to let me do the navigation. Luckily in most places the trail was fairly obvious and visibility was OK with our high-powered head-torches.
The main problem was maintaining a good pace without tripping or slipping on the steep rocky paths. Fortunately by the time we started to get really tired we were down off the mountain and the final 3 miles was on roads and finally the (seemingly interminable) towpath to the finish. By the time we finished at 12:39am (in joint 4th place, thanks to a sporting gesture by the two AV runners who waited for us at the end) we were on a real high.
What a great event, I highly recommend it! Maybe next year we can send an MNR team? It was an exciting adventure, and not exactly a walk in the park, but it was so well planned and marshalled that it was not dangerously difficult and would be achievable by most with a bit of preparation, common sense and plenty of determination. If it had been held a day later in the storm that blew in on Sunday it would have been a lot more challenging, maybe next year...
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3 comments:
Sleepwalker sounds like quite a fun event. I've done a bit of night running myself, but only down familiar lanes that didn't need the aid of a torch. Well done Lin & Martin.
A bit belated but finally the Denes Doone report is here:
Richard Said:
Sunday 16th September saw the Westgates and Lin & Martin at The Denes Doone run. This year it reverted to the old 10-mile distance – I have only done the 11.4 stretched distance before. Lin and Martin stayed over on Saturday night to cut the journey in half. Alcoholic drinks were entirely voluntary on a help yourself basis so no “tactics” were involved. However in retrospect it might appear that playing Leonard Cohen early on Sunday morning might have had an unsettling effect! Anyway I was keen to beat them as they had trashed me at the Grizzly. Having agreed we all knew how to get to Lynmouth, Lin and Martin went straight on at Wivey and we turned right. They might have had the honour of arriving first, but we had the rare privilege of seeing a weasel running down the side of the road.
On arrival at Lynmouth there were many familiar faces from SWRR. Yeovil, North Devon, Wells etc. We even parked next to Jane Mills. Race conditions were ideal and I set off at a steady pace maintaining a conversation with Stephen Sparks on Post Office matters. Don’t worry, I immediately came to my senses – it’s Lesley that does “sociable” – and clammed up. Lin and Martin were ahead of me and I knew that with all their thousands of miles of running this year that they would have lots of stamina and my only way to beat them would be to just give it my best and go past them and build up an unassailable lead, which actually worked this time. This is a wonderful run with some varied terrain and inspirational views so there was no problem with motivation. It really does feel good to get the pace just about right and track down people and pass them. Sweat was pouring off me with the uphill efforts and in the middle of nowhere a man appeared with a very welcome tray of orange segments! It felt great flying downhill twisting through the gorse and on towards the Abbey. Approaching the Valley of the Rocks I saw the red vest of Vicky Skelton ahead. Try as I did she maintained a healthy 30 second gap. In truth it would take an “out of sorts” young Skelton to be caught by an old git like me. Anyway I tried, thundering across the wooded bits over the railway and scattering pedestrians as I careered down the twisting, turning path into Lynmouth. A thoroughly enjoyable race. Shame all the wild goats in the Valley of the Rocks seem to have disappeared.
I was there as well!!! Had a slow but enjoyable race and yes I did spend a lot of time chatting, mainly to Jane Mills before she took off two miles from the end and left me to trail in a considerable time after her. I was being ultra cautious, still wearing a bandage from my Grizzly injuries and taking the downhills extra slow. Definitely recommended and it’s the 25th anniversary race next year.
Richard had to resort to plying us with home made wine the previous evening in his attempt to beat us at the Denes Doone - a ploy that worked very well.
It's about 10 years since I last did this race and it's a stunning, though tough route. The first few miles follow the river upstream through the Watersmeet Estate to Hillford Bridge and right from the start it was a struggle for me. I can't really blame it on my dual injuries - tendenitis in my left heel having appeared from nowhere to keep my dodgy right calf company - because although they troubled me all the way round it was just lack of energy in the leg department that I really suffered from. Perhaps it was just a race too many.........
Less than a week later and with both heel and calf firmly strapped we set off along the canal tow path in total darkness with 50 other runners to navigate 20 miles across the Brecon Beacons.
I have to say that I will be cracking no more jokes about Martin getting lost - he was a star navigator and I wasn't the only person who depended on him to guide me along the way. We made one slight detour which really wasn't his fault and we had a few moments where we weren't sure if we were on the right track, but overall it was a triumph in night time map reading.
The race was a great experience, vastly different from a day time race and we both enjoyed it, apart from perhaps the last mile or so back along the tow path which seemed really endless in the dark.
On Thursday evening only Phil, Dave Webb, Martin and myself braved the cold for a brisk run around West Chelborough from the Talbot. What happenend to summer? It was freezing!! We managed to fit in about four and a half miles before darkness fell, and then surprisingly our numbers swelled as Steve, Donna, Jackie and Dave Carnell joined us at the pub to give their excuses as to why they had missed the run.
Tomorrow Richard, Lesley, Martin & I will be making up the "Three Hares and a Tortoise" team, representing Maiden Newton in the Clarendon Way Marathon relay. Watch this space for an update on how we fare. A brief injury update: It's fine as long as I don't run.................
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