Pateley Bridge Punk Panther Ultra, 22 October
Report by Matt Holt
Punk Panther offered up an Ultra Marathon race starting in Pateley Bridge, with 4 distances to choose from, 28 / 55 / 83 or 113 miles.
The races comprise loops, which all came back to the start line at the Showground Car Park. We (Jill and I) chose the 28 miles option, however, Jill was still injured from the Ripon Ultra, so I did it alone.
It was a 7am start, so head torches were needed for the first few miles. After a seemingly long and hot summer it was a bit strange setting off in the dark. How quickly the dark mornings seem to be coming. The route took in parts of Andy Purll’s Pateley Pig Run and the Guy Fawkes 10, venturing as far as Ripley, before heading back to Pateley.
All in all the course was 28.4 miles long with 3,366 feet of ascent, and a tad moist underfoot on the off-road sections due to Thursdays rain. Finish time was 5 hours 43 minutes, so happy-ish with that as I’m a bit injured at the moment, but chips at the end made it worthwhile (obvs).
So… is 28.4 miles an “ultra” or not? I sometime see this being asked on various posts. I’m in the “if it’s 26.3 miles, it an ultra” just because a marathon is 26.2 miles. Some say it has to be 50km at least (31 miles) but where does that leave races between 26.2 miles and 31 miles? Still a marathon? Imagining standing on the finish line at London Marathon and saying “this year we are adding a bit more on, so just keep on up this road, do 5 laps of Trafalgar Square, then back to Buckingham Palace”… I don’t think you’d be reet popular!