Cardington Cracker, or Cardiac “a” Cracker
Well you pays your money you takes your
chances they say. I saw this race advertised in
the FRA website and thought
that sounds like a good race to do. It also meant I could take the camper and
do a bit of camping as well. All sounded good, until I asked a couple of other
striders to join me, the moans were evident with a “you must be XXXXXX (please
insert missing word) joking” to a “ yeah, nice run that”.
Soon, Steve Pepper had also decided to do
it as a charity run and then Giles was replaced by Mik and we were joined by
Jon Tatham for the complete Striders contingent.
I arrived in the most wonderful village of Cardington the night before, having not been too well all week. As I looked around all I could see was hills hills and more hills. Now don’t get me wrong, mill Hill is a Hill, but these were proper Hills. So after the customary glass of French, I got to bed in what was a freezing night. On awaking, I got up got the dog walked, shivered a bit and headed for the start of the race to meet with the others. They were not long in arriving and I started to doubt myself to even complete the course nevermind finish in such and such a position.
I should mention at this point that this
was categorized as a grade A fell run, I believe that to be the toughest. The
distance is 9 miles although I clocked a little over, the elevation is 2650ft,
which is sort of high very high. My goal, was a) finish and b) don’t finish
last. However once again looking around there were a lot of very fit looking
people, you know the sort, the ones that look like they have missed a few good
meals from down your local Chinese Takeaway or Indian and have never seen a
glass of red wine. Anyhow, I convinced myself that I too looked as fit as they
(although a recent Jason Bulley Déjà Vu marathon photo of me topless proves
otherwise) and got ready to take off.
We headed for the start, were given some information about safety and not running over any crops and we were off. When the chap shouted go it was like a mass breakout from prison run with 200+ people setting off like Usain Bolt for the first style. I was a bit taken aback by this and opted to gently stroll flat out but get well and truly left behind. Off we went further with a little bit of uphill running to gently limber up, through some water and freshly laid treacle sorry I mean mud and up some really steep hill. I thought phew that was tough, my running app kicked in to tell me I had covered 0-38 miles in 5 mins. This obviously annoyed some lady of the royal hunt who told me to turn it off in a very posh accent. I duly obliged and lesson learnt in fell running, turn running app off. So I thought that hill was a little steep but nothing could of prepared me for what came next. It was a huge hill and the chap behind me (yes there was someone) said this was the first of 3. I kid you not, I had to scramble up it on all fours, it was so steep I was scared of falling backwards. Then as I nearly got to the top the marshall told me to hold the rope and he would pull me up. Like a stupid idiot I spent a few moments looking for the rope before realizing he was pulling my leg.
At this point I realised why some in our
club called this the cardiac a cracker, I kid you not my heart felt like it was
splitting the walls of my chest. At this point I looked back down the hill to
see no one. I was in last place, a gallant last with the person in front of me
pushing off in to the distance. Now those of you that know me know that I
don’t’ and won’t give up when maybe, some (especially Mrs Nicholls) wish I
would. So I started running along the ridge pumping out some real quick miles
until I managed to get myself at the back of the pack. When there I was made to
feel better by a runner from another club who told me that the field was really
fast this year as he was faster than last year and last year was 18th
from last!! Oh well, I've chosen to do it on Olympic fellrunning qualification
day.
I kept going overtaking a good few people,
ok 2 counts as a few and they were both good people they told me so until I
came to the next of the two big beasties. This hill I kid you not would be a
black run in a ski resort and there I was trying to get up it. Again on all
fours until I reached the top and again looking back I could see no one behind
me. With my heart begging me to quit but my head refusing to do so I pushed on.
Again going downhill and using my skills developed from the club mountain goat
Mr Brumby I actually found out that I was quite good and quick going downhill.
Again I had past at least 5 or 6 people going down the hills. Eventually I
reached the last upward climb, and just up the top I could see a very tired
looking Mr Pepper and thought, I wonder if. So that was then my target, catch
him if I could. There was about 2 miles to go, I was pretty much dead on me feet,
my thighs and calfs felt like they were going to pop out but seeing Steve
brought out the competitive nature within. I kept moving forward, by this time
I had blisters on my feet the size of golf balls, I was treading through more
treacle and just kept going.
Eventually I came down a hill and could see my
wife and my friends along with Mik. This could only mean one thing I had
survived the ordeal, I was nearly nearly there and only about 10 seconds behind
Steve… Would I catch him? No I ran out of road, or field if you prefer. But my
goals were completed, goal 1) I finished- Goal 2) I was not last, nearly last
but not last.
Perry sent me a text to say congratulations
and would I be signing up for next year? I have to say this was the toughest
run I have ever ran, not slightly tough, it was real tough. But in a sadistic
way, I really really enjoyed it. The scenery is to die for, gorgeous gorgeous
gorgeous, the organizers were pretty good it only cost a £5 note, that is a
full £34 cheaper than my next run the Anglessy Half Marathon Ultra!! Some of
the running is only ever seen in a calendar of photos, so all in all an awesome
experience...
For more information, visit the website.
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