Hardmoors Saltburn Trail Races 2022, 5 February
Report by Hazel Russell
The day dawned bright, sunny, cold and rather breezy – defying the forecast – but it wasn’t to last. But more of that later!
The races consisted of a Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k but being Hardmoors races there are always bonus miles – or value for money miles perhaps?! So actual distances were 29 ish, 14.5 ish and 7.5 ish miles, all with a considerable amount of ascent and descent. Let’s face it, they wouldn’t be Hardmoors races without a bit of elevation, oh and did I mention the weather? It’s special Hardmoors weather… more on that in a bit…
Several intrepid Ripon Runners arrived at varying times with the start times for each race being an hour apart.
Lena set off first on the Marathon – let’s face it, you wouldn’t expect her to be doing any less even after recent traumas and injuries! Lena – I am full of admiration!
Next off for Ripon were four Half marathoners and last off, four 10k runners.
The sun was shining and the wind picking up when the Half set off, which made for a rather beautiful if somewhat unsteady wobble at times down through Valley Gardens and along the cliffs towards Skinningrove and up to the heights of Boulby Cliff – the highest point on the half. When I got there the wind had picked up considerably and the poor Marshall was already freezing and struggling to stay upright as the weather deteriorated. Switching back at that point and looking behind us I could see why … a storm was brewing and it looked like something rather nasty was hurtling towards us from the North.
I managed to get to the exposed fields above Carlin Howe before Armageddon struck, Lena was up on Airy Hill lane, Karen and Mike were not too far behind me, not sure where Donna or the 10k runners were – but by my reckoning all of us were exposed to the 40mph winds and piercing hail with no shelter at all! The key endeavour for the next half an hour or so was to not get your eyes gouged out by the hail or suffer severe skin abrasions! All of us experienced an extreme facial exfoliation and as for Karen’s legs in shorts…ouch!! Michael performed a merry dance doing his best to protect her (wish I’d been there for that!).
In true Hardmoors fashion we all survived, as the hail turned to rain and then the sun shone again – although there was no let up in the wind! We all finished, we all got a rather splendid wooden medal depicting the ‘bracelet’ and t-shirts to prove it – and bragging rights that we survived the storm from hell! Amazing – well done to all of you!
Enormous thanks go to the poor Hardshals who had to stand out in that weather for hours – and especially the one on Boulby cliff who lost his backpack over the edge in the wind!
Oh, and if anyone finds a pair of Oakley glasses anywhere between Airy Hill and the North Sea (or even in the sea) they will be Lena’s if you wouldn’t mind returning them to her!
Results as follows:
Marathon
Lena Conlin 7h 12min
Half Marathon
Donna Mitchell 3h 43min
Karen Lennox 3h 32min
Michael Hernandez 3h 32min
Hazel Russell 3h 14min
10k
Nicola Shillam 1h 35min
Beth Constantine 1h 19min
Anita Oldham 1h 19min
Jessica Lewis 1h 09min – FIRST FEMALE