Hardmoors 60 - Sept 2020
On Saturday 19th September the Hardmoors 60 took place. The race starts at Guisborough and follows the Cleveland Way to Filey. The race is advertised as a 62 mile race but with a change to the finish the route was nearer 64 miles this year. Competitors had 18 hours to complete the course. Two Ripon Runners completed the race; Matthew Holt and Lena Conlin. These are their reports:
Report by Lena Conlin
This was my third time of running the Hardmoors 60 (63.5) mile trail race. The race started in Guisborough. The runners were set off in groups of 6 or less. The route then headed to Filey via the Tees Link, Saltburn, Runswick Bay, Whitby, Ravenscar and Scarborough. The checkpoints were all outdoors to avoid any gatherings indoors.
The recent dry weather made it a very hard trail underfoot, but at least no sloppy mud.
The big hurt on this route is the steps, the come constantly, up steps, down steps, big steps, little steps. Even and uneven steps. I found I had nothing in my legs following the recent Hardmoors 160 attempt, early on and used my running poles, I was making steady progress for the first 45 miles when I was hit with waves of nausea. I battled on with very little food (3/4 banana at 50 miles) and sips of water. I was forced to walk, the miles passed so slowly, but every step I was closer to finishing.
I finished in Filey at around 02:30 on Sunday morning having taken nearly 17.5 hours to complete. But I did complete it and in under the 18 hour cut off.
Social distancing was well managed throughout the race. It was good to complete a real race after so many virtual events this year.
Report by Matthew Holt
While supporting Lena on her Hardmoors 160 race 4 weeks ago, Lena told me the Hardmoors 60 was still open for entries and looked likely to be on, so the following day I entered the race.
To be honest, I entered as I felt I needed to start to get back in to shape for next years Northern Traverse (which was postponed from April this year to next year). So although I hadn’t trained for the 60, I just wanted to try and get round and to push myself to carry on when all you want to do is stop. Training runs are good, but I don’t find that they push me to my limits, often due to my own laziness
It was a bit weird at the start line of the 60 in Guisborough. Not too much talking to others and small groups of runners sticking together due to the staggered start. Basically, every 2 minutes, a group of 6 runners were called forward for their start, the fastest runners going first.
My start time was 8.30 am as I put down a projected finish time of between 13 and 14 hours. Although I’ve done the race 3 times before, my best time was 13 hrs 11 mins, however, as it turned out, I was nearer my slowest time of 17 hours. So much for projections!!!!
The route starts with a 10 mile section from Guisborough to Saltburn by the Sea, which considering Filey is South east of Guisborough, goes in a frustrating north easterly direction. Sometimes running in the opposite from your finish point is something you often get used to in ultra race routes.
The remainder of the course follows the Cleveland Way along the coastline of North Yorkshire. You visit some beautiful villages like Staithes, Runswick Bay, Robin Hood Bay and Ravenscar with the busy and packed streets of Whitby at 31 miles coming as a real shock after the deserted coastal path.
I remembered from previous years that the route was longer than 60 miles and seemed to think 62 miles rang a bell, but couldn’t bothered looking at previous Garmin activities to check. I thought “what’s a mile or two extra matter”. Well, when you’re totally knackered and your Garmin says you’ve done 62 miles and you still cant see Filey Brigg, it matters a lot. Believe me.
I finally finished with 64.4 miles on the clock in a time of 15 hours 50 minutes. Not a PB, but not PW either (just). Its a tough old course on my opinion, that undulating coastal path never gives your legs a break, you’re either going up or going down steep steps or banks, which trashed my legs.
When I reached Scarborough, I could only manage to walk the flat tarmac section through the north and south bay. Oh well, still good to be out and I was really chuffed to finish. Ask most runners on the start line of an ultra what there aims are, the vast majority will say priority number 1 is to finish. After that everything is a bonus.
I enjoyed great support with Jill and Lilly dog driving me up and dropping me off at Guisborough, then Jane and Ruth Grundy and Stuart Pender cheering me on from Saltburn to Whitby. Claire and Jono Baker supported from Runswick Bay, with Claire being support runner (mostly walker!!) for the last 27 miles. Thank you too to Stephen and Kate Taylor Riley for stopping by at Robin Hoods Bay to pass on bags of salted peanuts and vegan marshmellows (who knew). David Allen popped up for 9 miles of support running just before Scarborough. Thank you all, it kept me going.
The NT training continues next month with the Hardmoors 55, government guidance permitting.