Hardmoors 110 - 29 May
Saturday 29th May saw the start of the Hardmoors 110. The race covers the whole of the Cleveland Way from Filey to Helmsley, with a few extra Hardmoors miles thrown in for good measure.
Commencing at 8 am in Filey, competitors have a time limit of 36 hours to complete the 110 mile single stage trail race, visiting the seaside resort of Scarborough, the old smuggling town of Robin Hood’s Bay, Dracula’s Whitby, Staithes, Runswick Bay and Saltburn, before passing through the beautiful Cleveland Hills and the North York Moors before finishing in the market town of Helmsley.
Report by Dave Allen
After a couple of very pleasant days relaxing in Filey, I was picked up by my crew support, Sergeant Jono Baker and his trusted Lieutenant, Billie (dog) and ferried down to Filey Brigg for an 8.10 am kick-off on Saturday morning. It quickly became apparent that it was going to be an absolute scorcher of a day, which was a bit of a concern as I have previous for blowing up on very hot runs. I’m far too much of a pasty Northern lad for that kind of palaver.
The early stages of the race were absolutely brilliant, through Holbeck Hill CP and on through Ravenscar, just loved it. My good mate and training partner, Tom and I had set off together but very early on there was some ebb and flow to our respective pacing. This was exacerbated by my attempts to shake off a particularly noisy runner in the pack, who was treating us to an array of coughs, throat clearances and nasal honks. Absolutely no disrespect or ill-will intended, but I found it very distracting, and pressed a little harder to pull away. Having grown engrossed in this sport, I had not kept in with Tom, who had dropped a back a little. Sadly, our paths would not cross again for the remainder of the race.
The entire coastal section was lush. While very warm, the heat was never too overpowering, and Jono made it his business to intercept me at every possible opportunity, making sure I was refilled and well-fuelled all along the way. From Scarborough to Ravenscar to Robin Hood’s Bay to Whitby to Runswick Bay to Staithes to Saltburn – it was just flipping brilliant. I felt pretty strong but was mindful to not over-commit myself too early. I had come into the race with a basic strategy: average 5 mph to Ravenscar, drop to 4 mph to Saltburn, and then drop again to 3 mph to the end. In reality, I managed to keep moving close to 5 mph much deeper into the race than I had planned, which bought me valuable additional breathing space for the second half.
I met up with Matt and Jill at Skinningrove, where Jill joined me as support runner. Having Jill with me gave me a major boost of spirits and energy, and we gassed away all the way to Saltburn, where Jono met us with a large portion of fish and chips, which I absolutely wolfed down, leaving precious little in the way of leftovers for the dogs, much to Billie and Lily’s chagrin. After clearing the CP at Saltburn Bandstand, we headed through the Valley Gardens towards Skelton, where Matt was waiting for me with an orange Calippo. Calippos have magical restorative powers for me and have rescued me from many a rotten hangover and they did not let me down on this occasion either! Jono’s better half, Claire had ventured out to meet us at Skelton, which was another lovely boost for the spirits. Jill passed the support runner baton to Matt and we pushed on to Slapewath. The drop down to the Fox & Hounds was tremendously good fun and I was still feeling really strong here. After a brief check in with Jono and saying goodbye to Claire it was over the road, through Guisborough Woods and up High Cliff Nab. It was somewhere around here that I began to detect the first significant traces of blisters forming and the slog uphill was the toughest point of the day so far. After High Cliff Nab there was another fun downhill stretch where, despite my fledgling blisters, we made great progress towards Roseberry Topping. Roseberry was my undisputed highlight of the race; I really got the bit between my teeth and dug in deep for a strong push up to the CP. On the descent down and back up to the gate, I found myself actively trying to catch up to and pick off other runners. Quite where I found this competitive impulse I have no idea, but it would remain with me for the remainder of the race. After passing four or five runners we set about the descent to Gribdale, again at a good pace, with Matt informing me we had momentarily hit eight minute miles! This gung-ho approach was probably ill-advised, considering we were running out of daylight and had not yet strapped on our head torches.
After a rest and refuel stop at Gribdale we powered up the head torches and made a steady trot up Captain Cook’s and then back down to the CP at Kildale. The climb back out of Kildale was predictably awful, and I had to confront the reality that I could not put off sorting out my feet any longer. The blisters were now complemented by a sharp jarring pain in my lower right shin with every single step. Fortunately, Jono was waiting for us just up the road, and after a little impromptu roadside foot maintenance and a change of socks and shoes, I was back on my way. Sadly, this interlude offered very little (if any) respite, but it was worth a try. In contrast to Roseberry just a few miles back, the trek up to Bloworth Crossing was my low point and the all new, competitive Davey was a little narked to find himself now being overtaken by a few runners, as I allowed the pain in my feet and shin to get inside my head and I slowed down to a hobble. Matt did a great job of keeping me moving and raising my spirits, and after reaching Bloworth it was good to find myself on the familiar, hallowed ground of the Lyke Wake Walk. It didn’t take too long to reach the CP at Clay Bank, having managed to build up to a trot down off Urra. I took a longer rest stop here and demolished a Pot Noodle and other such delicacies. The “Three” Sisters took a lot of effort to get up and over, and I found myself having to take the odd breather with more regularity. Jono was waiting for us at Lord Stones but we powered through with barely a pause. The drop off the back side of Carlton Bank over Live Moor was fun again, and I was chuffed to pick off one or two runners on the way down. By this time it was light and the head torches were packed away. We had another rendezvous with Jono just after Scugdale, where he loaded us up with jam on toast and coffee, which was well-timed for the big hoick up to the Scarth Nick CP. From here through Osmotherley and up to Square Corner was hard going. I had sent Matt on ahead to meet Jono who was waiting at Square Corner, fill my bottles and grab some food so that I could push straight through, but being momentarily on my own (disaster!) and a having a somewhat ‘switched-off’ brain fart moment, I marched straight past a Cleveland Way turnoff, adding a frustrating extra 500 m onto my journey. What’s more, said detour took me through a very dewy field, which saw my feet get soaked through… Great! I eventually reached Square Corner and we pressed straight on up to High Paradise and out to Sutton Brow, where we had the unexpected and pleasant surprise of meeting Stu, who had ventured out to see us with Pickle the nutter-dog. Shortly afterwards more friends, Hayley and Martin showed up at Sutton Bank car park. By this point I think Matt had had more than enough and gladly handed the support baton over to Hayley, who would join me for the White Horse loop and then to the finish at Helmsley. Hayley did a fantastic job of keeping me going, with plenty of chit-chat and giggles. I was very much in a pattern of walk / shuffle / trot / walk / shuffle / trot by this stage, but still not too far away from an average pace of 4 mph. As we were coming through Rievaulx, Hayley clocked a couple of runners coming up behind us, one of whom was sporting a 110 bib. That competitive little goblin in me raised its ugly little head one last time and I turned and said to Hayley “NO WAY am I being passed so close to the finish… come on!!!” and with that we picked up the pace and pulled away.
The final push up through Duncombe Park to the finish felt like one last little evil joke from Jon and Shirley, but I didn’t really care by this stage. All of my support crew had congregated on the finish line, not to mention the good wife Ruthie, who had come out with Jill to cheer me home. Seeing everyone there gave that little impetus to muster one last little push to cross the line at a canter.
So, my finishing position was 16th solo runner, in a total time of 28:05:23. Despite it being tough going at times, I never once felt like my finish was in doubt. And while that’s due in part to good training and preparation, there is NO earthly way I could have achieved this without the support of Jonathan Baker, Matthew Holt, Jill Holt, Hayley Whipp, Claire Baker, Stuart Pender, Martin Whipp and my great friend and training partner, Tom Chapman. Thank you all, as well as all of the other awesome faces and runners that I chatted with along the way!