Race report: Anglesey Coastal Trail Ultra-marathon 19/01/2014

Anglesey Ultra-marathon (or Ultra-marathon de le Somme)

At last- it had taken it’s time but this time it was going to happen. Those regular readers of the race reports might remember that last year I and a few other Striders travelled all the way to Anglesey in the snow to take part in a run that never happened.

This time though, was different; all that was forecast was rain, wind, and torrential rain and gale force winds. That could only mean one thing, camper packed, somewhere to stay ordered, wife, dog and running kit on board and away we went to Anglesey.  On finding our campsite I gave my trusty chauffeur for the morning the co-ordinance to find me as well as a list of instructions which included your 5 mins away from where I am staying (mat was staying with friends) what time will you pick me up? Well 6-30 Mat said which met with laughter galore from Nikki, phone call ended and off to bed I went.

Rise and shine Saturday morning and no Mat just a phone call. With words becoming very familiar with our good mate Mat, “I’m lost? Where exactly are you” .... Mat had followed his sat nav, ignored my instructions completely and ended up as the crow flies about 2 miles from me but hopelessly lost as he was trying to explain where he was. Anyhow eventually (7.15) the man arrived smiling like the Cheshire cat and we were off to registration. Being slightly late meant that we had to park about a mile from the start and run to registration. Great training for a 34 mile ultra I thought. However all packed we made it in plenty of time and bingo we were ready to go. I don’t know why I upgraded to the Ultra, I couldn’t remember, but I do remember that this race was firstly a payback for the cancelled race last year but also because of my complete whining to the organisers they offered me an upgrade from half to full marathon and someone must of persuaded me in to the next bit (Thanks Mat).

The briefing began with the customary talk about kit and rules and regulations plus a warning. The warning was about extreme weather and how difficult things were underfoot and to be exceptionally careful. Then came the bombshell, I had studied the map, but not realised that the ultra course was in fact, the marathon route but when getting back to the start another loop of the 10k course. This basically meant that we would run past the tents food and happy people whilst we set off on a huge monster of a 10k course. (The average time 1:41).

So all checked in and away we went, beginning the first loop of the mountain. This was some climb to get the muscles warming up as well as slippery and muddy. At this point I was quite pleased with my choice of footwear, Salomon xt hornets. They were giving reasonable grip unlike Mat’s err, road shoes!!! However, mat was to have the last laugh at a later stage of the race. The course basically navigated around the coastal paths past the lighthouse to the first check point. It was about here that people started giving up trying to keep their feet dry, the rain was torrential, the wind bracing the climbs mammoth and every runner in that race regardless of what distance they were doing knew that they would have to abide by the CTS endurance life’s motto of “NEVER GIVE UP”. As we approached about 10 miles, we were now filthy dirty and wet through. At this point (CP2) I noticed a rather worrying problem with my right foot. No not an injury, but a massive gash right across my trail shoes, they were basically falling apart and I had another 24 miles left to do, this equated to practically a marathon in one and a half shoes. Mat who had by this time slipped over and fallen approximately 3 times was also struggling with his shoes. I asked the guy at the CP if he had any gaffa tape I could use to repair my trainers. He said sorry pal I haven’t but what size feet you on? I said 8s, he said, oh I’ve got a pair of size 10s here. Of course it just so happened that Mat was a size 10 and now sporting a lovely pair of borrowed Salomon trail shoes. As we left the check point we joined a small bit of road before heading back across some cliff side mountains. At this point I heard a bit of a screaming laugh, it was Mat who had fallen and was in the process of sliding towards the edge of a cliff. I kid you not he was sliding in freefall and for a moment although laughing we were not really aware of the potential danger. Only later in the day on the way home whilst dissecting the run did we realise just how close he may of come to going over the edge. However, he didn’t he managed to stop in time and helped back to his feet by another runner we were on the way again.

As we made our way through the course we came across two runners running towards us. These two guys were pounding the streets like a couple of fresh daisy’s but were rather, could we say “hard as nail Military type men” they were actually leading the ultra. We thought that we must be near the turnaround point then? How wrong we were, they were actually 9 miles ahead of us!!

Still we carried on and now having a few of the faster marathon men behind us and running with us (in other words they had caught us up despite starting 45 mins after us) we had plenty of company. As I then approached a large downhill stretch of mud and rock and being quite steep I started to negotiate my way down, at this point with no warning, my feet went from under me, I actually landed flat on my back and began what was the most mammoth slide ever!! I was sliding down hill, getting faster and faster for somewhere between 50-100 meters, all I could hear was all these people behind me laughing, it was like I had gone sledging without a sledge. Yes it hurt my backside as it ripped my underwear right up tight but there was nothing I could do but laugh and join those laughing at me despite the pain in my never regions and now being so wet to the skin in every area.

As we approached the next checkpoint, we came across something else I didn’t recall seeing in the brochure. This was the sea, and it was on our pathway, in other words the tide was in and meant we had to run through the sea up to our knees, the water was freezing but it sort of served as an ice bath for my tired legs.

Soon we were to do a bit of a loop and head back ourselves to where we remembered seeing the two military men. As we did so, I recognised a few familiar faces, 3 in fact. It was our running friends from our internet forum that Mat and I frequent. They were running the marathon and were in fact in a similar position to when we saw the two military guys. I am sure if they were writing their own race reports now, they would not be saying that they came across two Military looking fresh as daisy types that they recognised as Paul & Mat. It would probably be something like, they recognised a couple of wasted looking old men filthy dirty that looked like they were crying lost hungry and wanted to be at home watching TV instead!! However seeing them and stopping for a little chat made our day and we took some pics before moving on.

Before long we were at the checkpoint and met by some of the half marathon runners whom had started a long time after us and had about 5 miles left to run. At this point we had done around the 20 mile mark. It was now that I was starting to moan a little, well a lot really in fact I’m convinced I could have made Mat cry as I started whining about why had I bothered entering the Ultra instead of the Marathon. As we approached the next Check point having now been running through what I would describe as rivers, I was informed by the marshal that we ran the possibility of not making the Ultra Cut off time. It was once said to me that this is a good time to pull your finger out. With Mat feeling a little worried and me sensing that he had ran with me the entire race and ran the risk of being kicked out I urged him to go ahead. However, he refused and insisted on dragging my sorry butt to the checkpoint where our fate would be decided. The last 6 miles to this check point were as tough as the race got. Having been 23 + miles in we entered some of the toughest climbing on the course. We climbed to the top to be confronted by a very very rocky path down the other side. At this time my legs were cramping and I was fighting losing my shoe, we had about 2 miles to go to the checkpoint and I had had enough. I knew this was going to be a struggle but the conditions were killing me. Freezing cold, hungry and completely shot I wanted to give up. The difficulty was that I was to run the last couple of miles to the final marshal who said, “well done guys, you have made the cut off” I asked about what would happen if I gave up and would I get a marathon time? She said unfortunately not, but not too worry as many had dropped out at this point. With her saying this and a bit of encouragement from Mat, I knew that was it, I was off and nothing was going to stop me. So off I went heading for that last 10k, the difficult 10k with so much climbing, as we approached the mountain rescue people, we were informed there was only about 30 mins of daylight left, NO we would not be giving up, we had come this far and now even Mat was complaining about being tired. We kept at it until reaching South Stack and the final checkpoint. Checked in we were told we had about 2 miles to go and off we went, with my foot practically now out of my trainer on we went over the devastating climb that had nearly cramped me out only an hour or so ago. As soon as we hit the top we knew we were going to do it, we were going to finish this tough Ultra. We could see the tents below and a couple of runners behind made us speed up a bit more to ensure we were not the last home.

Before we knew it “bang” we were there at the tent being checked in and grinning from ear to ear as we cheered a couple of our friends over the line. We had succeeded, we had completed the CTS Ultra Marathon. This was tough for different reasons; I had trained and trained hard as part of my training for the Hardmoors 55 in March to conquer this race. At the start line I felt really good to go, I had sorted my pre race and my race diet out. During the race I always felt quite strong, but the weather? The blustery freezing wind, the torrential rain, the mud underfoot, the rock the hills the slipping and sliding, you name it it had it and that’s what made it so tough. On a good day, in nice kind weather this would of been a tough race, in the conditions we had to endure, it became complete endurance and another milestone on the clock that made us really happy to complete. Over 20 % of people didn't complete it and pulled out on course due to the conditions or not making the cut off time.

What I liked about this race?—The course, nice course and very challenging.

What i disliked about this race?- The organisation was quite good and I'm sure I'm not the only one that after enduring like we did on the race, we got a generic T-shirt and a Generic medal. Nothing to say that we had conquered the ultra, we got the same goodies as if we had done the 10k or marathon, I felt this Ultra demanding recognition. 

For more information on the Coast Trail series, click here.

Paul N.