Race Report: Sandwell Six Towns 30/08/2015

I ran this event last year with several other striders. This year after a week off I opted to enter late and up my mileage for August which following this run would top 200 miles for the first time ever. 

A plea to see if any of my running buddies were having a go soon got a response from fellow strider Craig. This was good as the last time I ran a distance event with Craig was the Sandstone ultra and we had a bit of a giggle as well as Ice creams that day. With Craig using the event as training for the Round Rotherham 50 and me just using it as a miles on the clock/ chalk another off the list we opted to just go and have some fun.

 
On the day I bumped in to several other running buddies many of whom were taking the event on for the first time and were worried about getting lost. I registered at the desk for the outrageous fee of £6-00 and was charged an additional £1 for my laziness of having to enter on the day. 

We set off with no big fanfares, whistles or starting guns, just an “enjoy your day” from the organisers and about 75-100 runners and walkers were off. As we got going Craig and I adopted a very nice Polish lady who Craig ran with last year. Not because she enjoyed our ompany or thought us great, but simply because she kept getting lost at every turn!!! Soon we got in to our stride and started knocking the miles out. The run is really strange, it’s a combination of some outstanding natural beauty, slums, people with alcohol problems and the most amazing hidden treasures of our countries greatest industrial heritage you will ever see. I actually said to Craig that one year I would do this as a walker so I could read the wonderful inventory provided by the organisers and spend some time looking at the great things to see. 

One of the best moments of this run is without doubt the run through the Netherton tunnel. Netherton, in the English West Midlands, is part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, (BCN). It was constructed at a 453–foot elevation, the Wednesbury or Birmingham level; it has no locks. The total length of the branch canal is 2.4 miles (3.9 km) and the canal tunnel is 9,081 feet (2,768 m) long.

You need a torch to be doing this, and Craig and I picked up a couple of runners who thought they would be ok with a couple of what looked like candles. So we escorted them through the tunnel with our great Chinese Cree torches and on to checkpoint 2. At this checkpoint which stood at 10 miles we were quite surprised to see how far up the field we were. We were certainly in the top 10 and with very few people ahead of us we thought it a real change to be so far up the field despite insisting we were only there for fun. 
Having refuelled and thanked the wonderful volunteers we set off again with a climb passed a magnificent chimney and again accompanied by our 3 hr 5 marathon running but poor navigational lady we got a shift on. Having gone through some housing estates, some pretty run down fields we were greeted with a fantastic view across the city of Birmingham. I never realised just how industrial a city it is. It really was a pleasing thing to see from above and the weather was holding nice for us too. If I had a sketch pad with me, some crayons and an easel (oh, and I could draw) it would have made a lovely picture. 

Back on the canals again we headed on what we knew would be the most torturous part of the journey, a long drag along the canal whereby we started to pass the walkers doing the shorter 18 and 14 mile events. The drag went on for about 4 miles until we reached the final check point at approx. 21 miles. This was an opportunity to take a final bit of water and get moving again to the end. This stretch of the canal runs almost parallel to the M6 and was to be the last stretch of canal that we were too use.  

As we left the canal with just 2 miles to go I was now really struggling with my stamina, the amount of long runs this month had started to take its toll. Craig encouraged me along despite struggling himself and we remembered last year that we had indeed gone wrong with the last mile and ended up going through hoardes of people at the fun park at the end. This year determined not to go wrong we read and read the instructions until we were sure we were going in the right direction. This itself took us a good 5 mins and allowed a couple of runners to get passed us. However, all we wanted to be sure of was that we did not get it wrong and made our way back correctly. Eventually the last mile was nearly complete and we ended up back in the Sandwell Park along with its fun day and headed for the finish. We crossed the line to a round of applause and handed in our tabs. 

We were told we had just missed out on a top 10 spot coming in joint 11th and with 5 of those women we were joint top 5 men. Although none of this really mattered as we had had such a nice run out it was pleasing to have our photos taken with our certificates and enjoy a cup of coffee in the tent. Along with any other meaningful athletes Craig and I then popped next door to the Cider bar for a half of the most horrid scrumpy known to man. 

Our time out on the road was a couple of minutes over 5 hours and this was 22 mins quicker than last year but most of all we had a great day. 

This is a great challenge with extremely friendly and committed volunteers whom raise a few pounds for charities super value.  Very similar to the canal canter that a few striders are down to do in a few weeks which still has places available. 

For more information visit the race website.

Enjoy

Paul & Craig