However, this was the Bolton Hill Marathon and having done this once before on one very cold March morning in 2014 I was pleased that the organiser (Phil Eccleston) had moved it to the sunny delights of June.
The marathon is a lovely event and all profits head towards the Bolton Mountain rescue coffers. Entry is cheap making it great value and with a tshirt, medal and wonderful organisation coupled with such a friendly feel.
I left nice and early opting for the car instead of camping the night ass it was local, I arrived to find a good couple of Hardmoors family members Dave and Angela attending the event. With a few more marathon junkies meeting up and having a chat the atmosphere was really nice.
Having registered and picked up my number the promise of “wall to wall sunshine” was somewhat a bit of a dream. Having only turned up with a striders vest and a pair of shorts I was beginning to worry about being warm enough up high on the fell. I started to discuss the values of staying warm on the hills with a few hardy souls before remembering that I am of course a southerner of Portuguese decent meaning that I am actually really “nesh” and would probably freeze to death. Therefore I opted to buy a long sleeve base layer from the mobile running shop that the organisers had arranged. Suffice to say that the running shop done a good trade in base layers for the optimistic sun worshiper like myself.
I opted to run the race with fellow Hardmoors runner Dave Cook from York Postal harriers. I last saw Dave on the Hardmoors 55 and like myself Dave had visions of running the 110 but had had to pull out due to injury.
As the start got underway the course was quite simple, across the park and run up the hill for about 3 miles to go over whats known at Winter Hill where the huge BBC transmitter is situated. We got off nice and gently and started to pound the hill climbing up the steep lane bit by bit and on the way up to the top. Once we hit the top of the hill and having ran across some soft fell we headed for a lovely stretch of downhill all be it on the road. Very soon we were hitting the second checkpoint and I had a little giggle with the race directors wife Melissa having put 2hrs 10 on my estimated finish time. The next stretch saw Dave and I running along an old cart track over by Rivington pike. This part of the race was extremely technical with large boulders and rocks along the path needing an element of technical navigation. As we ran on the weather started to warm up and heat up a lot. This meant I was to make a beginners error and hit the Electrolytes by the cup load at each of the next few check points. As Dave and I ran on chatting away and enjoying ourselves we found ourselves encouraging other runners that were struggling including a young couple who were doing their first marathon together. As we reached approximately mile 12 and a steep decent we then headed off along a sort of track which was an out and back for approximately 2.5 miles. This was a slight change of plan to the original route due to some vandals but did mean we got to see other runners coming back towards us. Recognising many including my good friend Wona who was busy chatting away to some other gentleman, as well as another running pal Caroline in her 100 marathon shirt whom was clearly out in front for her age group we pushed on.
The route then took on some lovely scenic woods and a run alongside the reservoir before hitting a small bit of road. With Dave having a bit of a wobble I waited whilst he dosed up on some pain killers and then we set off again. We shortly ran past the world famous Rivington Barns café before heading left and up over a hill back towards the Pike. This was some hill and some climb. It was at this point I had my wobble. I started being sick and struggling to breath in the heat. A less experienced Paul would of jacked it in there and then, but, now with the experiences I have had in Ultra’s I knew if I kept going, allowed myself to be sick, took some time out, I would see my way through it. The worst place to be feeling like this was of course on the hill climbing stretch that we were doing. Eventually having reached the top of the steep hill and trotting on a little more, being sick as I ran, I eventually hit the last checkpoint. With some water taken on board we climbed the last big hill back up towards Winter Hill before starting the last 2.5 miles back to the start. Now I was feeling good again and Dave and I started to push forward for home. Very soon we could see the giant chimney in the park at the start. The problem with spotting such a land mark is that it just kept getting further away !!! Eventually we saw the last couple of marshals before heading over the park and to the finish hand in hand like a love struck couple.
Last year I finished in 5-45 so was pleased to see 5-13 on the clock at the finish. It wasn’t about the time though, I don’t care about that, it was about the company the wonderful atmosphere of running with friends and simply enjoying my running. I felt I could of gone faster if I wanted, maybe of cut 20- mins off, but then that would probably take away a lot of the enjoyment.
I would thoroughly recommend this event to anyone who would like a challenge, a marathon and a great bunch of people to run with.
I have opted to take a few weeks out now to deal with my knee injury so off to do some marshalling for the next few weeks.
www.Hillrunner.co.uk
Paul N.