I found out about the inaugural Golden Fleece Circuit via the LDWA (Long Distance Walkers Association) website. Many of their challenge events are open to runners as well as walkers and are usually very pleasant, scenic events that are exceptionally good value for money.
This one was being organised by the South Cave Scout Group in memory of a recently departed and very highly regarded leader, Bob Gunby. The event was held in South Cave, a small picturesque village in the East Riding of Yorkshire. As the race was due to start at 8:30am this meant a very early start. I set off from Sandbach at 5:30am to make sure I arrived in plenty of time to park up and collect my race card.
After a long but uneventful drive along the M62 I arrived in the village of South Cave around 7:45am and was directed into the car park of the cave Castle Hotel. I was glad I'd arrived in good time because the car park soon filled up despite it being quite generously sized. I quickly collected my race card from the race HQ located a few minutes walk away in a nearby church community centre. The race had two options - a 16.5 mile "short" route and a 26.5 mile "long" route. Outside the race HQ there were lots of walkers milling around. As it turned out far more than the organisers were expecting. In fact it was difficult to spot any other runners amongst the sea of cagoules and bouyant facial hair.
I'd made a quick decision in the morning to run in shorts and a t-shirt as the weather wasn't forecast to be especially bad. As more and more entrants gathered I started to feel very self-conscious. I couldn't see anyone else wearing shorts and I seemed to be the only one not wearing multiple layers. I was starting to worry that perhaps I'd seriously under-estimated the route. I was chancing that the organisers wouldn't do a throughout kit check and so hadn't taken the full set of waterproofs and first aid kit (?!) that the race regulations had specified.
Before long the chief cagoule wearer climbed atop a fence post and welcomed us all to the event. His speech soon took an unexpected turn when he announced that due to far more entrants turning up than originally expected, there wouldn't be enough patches to go around. Cue a couple of well-meaning Boo's. Walkers do like to collect their patches and woe betide anyone who gets in the way of this. After a quick run through the rules the race started in unconventional fashion when a voice from the crowd bellowed "Well can we go?" "Aye ok, off you all go then". A typical low key start for the kind of event which didn't even come with a start line.
After a long but uneventful drive along the M62 I arrived in the village of South Cave around 7:45am and was directed into the car park of the cave Castle Hotel. I was glad I'd arrived in good time because the car park soon filled up despite it being quite generously sized. I quickly collected my race card from the race HQ located a few minutes walk away in a nearby church community centre. The race had two options - a 16.5 mile "short" route and a 26.5 mile "long" route. Outside the race HQ there were lots of walkers milling around. As it turned out far more than the organisers were expecting. In fact it was difficult to spot any other runners amongst the sea of cagoules and bouyant facial hair.
I'd made a quick decision in the morning to run in shorts and a t-shirt as the weather wasn't forecast to be especially bad. As more and more entrants gathered I started to feel very self-conscious. I couldn't see anyone else wearing shorts and I seemed to be the only one not wearing multiple layers. I was starting to worry that perhaps I'd seriously under-estimated the route. I was chancing that the organisers wouldn't do a throughout kit check and so hadn't taken the full set of waterproofs and first aid kit (?!) that the race regulations had specified.
Before long the chief cagoule wearer climbed atop a fence post and welcomed us all to the event. His speech soon took an unexpected turn when he announced that due to far more entrants turning up than originally expected, there wouldn't be enough patches to go around. Cue a couple of well-meaning Boo's. Walkers do like to collect their patches and woe betide anyone who gets in the way of this. After a quick run through the rules the race started in unconventional fashion when a voice from the crowd bellowed "Well can we go?" "Aye ok, off you all go then". A typical low key start for the kind of event which didn't even come with a start line.
The route set off through the village but soon we soon found our way onto footpaths and bridlepaths. I'm sure the views were terrific on clearer days, but the grey misty haze that hung in the air meant the Wolds held back their scenic splendour on this occasion. The first checkpoint went past quite quickly as many people chatted away through the first few miles. The manned checkpoints had a pleasant selection of squash, tea, coffee and cakes as is typical on LDWA events. Before long the short and the long routes split and the hills started.
I made the mistake of following some runners in front of me rather than trusting my own navigation, so had already ended up a good mile over the measured distance. I then made the follow-up error of trusting a local chap who assured me that "this is my backyard I know all the routes around here." Two wrong turnings and another mile or so of unnecessary running, I'd ditched him and began to trust my own map reading ability. A couple of other runners had already warned me of the stings-in-the-tail to come. Yes, you did read that right. Stings. These came a couple of miles from the end and were quite brutal climbs, made worse by being caked in wet mud. It was very much a case of one step forward, two steps backwards at times.
As the route wound its way back into South Cave towards the finish, I'd somehow managed to clock up nearly 29 miles. I kept reminding myself that I would have had another 71 miles still to go had I been Jason battling his way along the Thames Tow Path 100 at the same time. At the finish, I got my final stamp on my race card but no sew-on patch (Booooo!) There was however a nice selection of home-made cakes, hot and cold drinks and a bowl of vegetable stew - all free with which to replenish spent calories. At only £9 to enter it is impossible to criticise the event for being poor value for money.
Would I do it again? Well I'd certainly like to see the surrounding areas in clearer weather as it's not a part of the world that I know particularly well. But I'd make darned sure I only ran 26.5 miles next time.
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Michael
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