Sandstone Trail Challenge, 34
miles.
Saturday 12th May 2012
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| Alan, Giles, Jo and Mik - Whitchurch car park very early in the morning. |
I completed this event in 2011,
but only after I took a wrong turn (across the golf course)
at 32 miles and
managed to add another 15 odd minutes to my time, together with a whole heap of
pain and frustration!
So I was back in 2012, to get it
right!
This year I had company, in the
form of fellow Striders, Giles Hodges, Mik Escolme and Alan Pearson. This was Alan’s first venture into ultra
running, so he decided to ‘plod’ with Mik and myself, although, being such a
speedy runner on the road, I think initially it was tough for him to see Giles
disappear off along the canal.
It was an early start and the car
pool, provided by Mik, commenced at 05:40h as we had to register and park in
Frodsham and then be bussed to the start in Whitchurch.
Seeing 200 runners / walkers
aimlessly trying to find a bathroom in the centre of Whitchurch at 08:00h
didn’t bode well for their ability to navigate 34 miles north, but all sorted,
somewhere between 08:00h and 08:30h we were sent on our way. Like a mass of
migrating animals, we knew instinctively to head north, along the Sandstone
Trail and not to stop until we hit Frodsham Community Centre. The Trail is
marked with routine way markers; a yellow footpath arrow, with a foot within
the arrow and an S – loose this and
you had likely gone the wrong way.
It.s kind for the first few miles,
along a canal and across fields – I was very disappointed that the llama wasn’t
in his field this year – I’d told everyone who would listen about the llama. I
didn’t make him up, he does exist. Check out his mug shot in the very useful
guidebook to the trail by Tony Bowerman.
The first check point came at
about 6 miles, biscuits and a drink – Alan commented they were missing wine and
oysters! He was doing well.
The rest of it starts to blur into
one long day out of fields, hills, rocks, steps, more hills, lovely views (but
only for a second, as looking at your feet is so much more vital), mud, tree
roots and stiles. Lots of stiles, ever increasing in size type of stiles, 4
metre high stiles, stiles that whack your knees, stiles that laugh at you. I
don’t like stiles much. Kissing gates are the way forward.
We stopped for a picture at the
highest point on the trail – top of some hill, I don’t care for hills much
either.
However, I love running through
woodlands, there were lots of places we did this, the sun was shining, the
bluebells were out and lots of green shoots, it was fabulous. Although Mik wasn’t too keen on the tree
roots, they were out to get him.
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| Approaching the summit of Bickerton Hill |
We progressed well and were making
steady progress, but around 20 odd miles I was very grateful to Alan for
supplying me with some pain killers, these worked their magic on my calf /
achilles and very soon all was well again.
It was great to see Grant in
Delamere; we stopped for a chat (and a rest) and then resumed ever northwards.
Overall we didn’t see many people
on the trail but at 32 miles, the tree roots finally got Mik and down he went,
at that point a family out for a stroll appeared, Mik tried not to swear too
much when finding himself on the ground, looking up at the very trees whose
roots had finally snared him. Alan and I
just stood and looked at him, happy not to be running for a moment. Not even sure we offered to help him up,
sorry about that Mik. However, we carried on and ran a bit further, we were
nearly there, but there seemed to be a rather large hill between us and the
finish.
We then turned a corner through
the woods and there before us was the cruellest joke the trail could play on
us. A wooden stair case that went up (and up) the side of the rock; the steps
of despair. (I’d blocked them from my mind from the previous year) We all
swore, not loudly, but we definitely swore.
I went first, hanging onto the
rail, one step at a time – the steps felt like they were made for giants, not
little human legs that have run 32 miles. We all made it to the top, burning
legs, huffing and puffing, more from frustration rather than exhaustion and
then it happened. An old chap, out
walking his dog, looked us up and down and said “Shouldn’t you be running?”
I think I reminded him we’d
already done 32 miles, but to be honest that isn’t really what I wanted to say…
Mik and Alan showed great restraint.
I pointed out my error from last
year and as the guide notes clearly say “DO NOT CROSS THE GOLF COURSE” This
year I didn’t.
We scrambled up to the War
Memorial, had a quick look at the view and then descended down into
Frodsham. Realising we were close to the
7 hour mark, we tried to push on, the head was willing but the legs weren’t so
keen, so it was 2 minutes past the hour when we arrived at the finish.
Alan has now joined the ultra
running posse, Mik had ticked another ‘marathon’ off towards his pending 50,
Giles had waited far too long for the car key and I’d managed to complete the
Sandstone Trail Challenge without going wrong – good day all round.
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| Time for a photo at Rawhead trig point - The highest point on the Sandstone trail |
It’s a great race to do, local,
good support from the check points, well organised and hot food available at
the finish. Although you can follow the way signs, route descriptions and maps
are available and we all carried these with us.
A kit check wasn’t required for this race, however with recent events
and our running buddy John still missing; we were all very aware and careful
about our own personal safety and carried kit with us. We spoke of John many
times during the day; he was definitely in our thoughts.
Would I do it again? Yes
Would I recommend this race to
others? Yes and those that don’t want to do the full distance can support and
run between check points as it’s local enough to Sandbach to do this.
Best bit: Having good company and
finishing without going wrong.
Worse bit: The steps of despair,
no llama and sore legs the next day
Did I learn anything: Yes, the
cheapest single item you can buy in Tesco’s (so you can get cash back) is a
single mushroom.
Further details:
www.ldwa.org.uk - look up Challenge events for similar types
of “races”.
Jo
Well done Jo, great report.
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