Hardmoors 60 - 2016

Pre Race

Details

The Hardmoors 60 is part of series of races along the Cleveland Way in the North York Moors, England. The guy who organise it put on a load of other ultras and marathons throughout the year.

The race is scheduled to be 60 miles but as I soon learnt that with all Hardmoors events, the mileage will vary to include a fair bit more, and some added nasty steps etc. This was closer to 63 for me!

The route starts in Guisborough and runs through lovely small villages, through busy towns, into ugly towns and finishes in Filey after running along the coast for most of the full route.

I wanted to do this for the UTMB points, and at the time it was offering 3 old points. This means over the last 2 years I have done 3 races which each give 3 old points and next years system allows "9 points accumulated over 3 races" - Using the old scale *phew*

Ultimate Trails 110km 2015

CCC 100km 2016

Hardmoors 62m 2016

Training

Coming off the back of the CCC I never did any training for this race, I just ticked along with the short easy runs to keep the legs mobile and ready for a long jolly along the English coast.

Most of the preparation seemed to go into making a nutrition plan to follow, booking accommodation, and working out a comfortable easy-going pace which would hopefully mean less recovery time after the event, also no injuries either! 
Due to the plan being more of a 'fun run' than a race I wanted to keep it pretty low key so decided not to tell many people about it.

Word of warning if you're driving down to Filey from Glasgow, don't go via Middlesborough, it takes far too long!!!!

Pre Race

We stayed in a beautiful B&B very close to the finish, it was cheap, the owners we incredibly nice to us and it meant I could wake up a little later to get the bus which takes runners to the start - The bus pick up was about a 3 minute walk from the B&B.
1h30m bus journey full of nervous runners at 5.45am!!!! - Yes there was a toilet on board.

The owners of the B&B had made up a bag for me to take for 'breakfast' this included a Jam sandwich, a ham sandwich, 2 kit kats, water, 3 different fruits! It was very generous.

The bus journey wasn't bad at all, it cost £10 on top of entry which is a good deal, the time passed quick as I spotted a guy I recognised from Ultimate Trails last year so we just chatted the whole way there.

Race pack

The bus stopped a little way from the start, and he was chatting to me a Marshall said "Please be quiet its early, don't want to wake the residents up", I smiled and no idea what the guy infront looked like but he must have laughed, she said "Stop smiling, its not funny!! The race will get cancelled!!!". I'm not sure what this was about but hey ho.

Drop bag drop off was easy and without issue, huge queue to go through the kit check and pick up a bib. After this I just sat down and ate my sandwiches waiting for the start.

The start got delayed about 20 minutes. I think the start was 8.18am, so I let Vicky know as she was meeting me at some checkpoints along the route with her friend Rae and her puppy.

The race briefing from Jon Steele was good, it seems everyone knows everyone there, a real family atmosphere at this race, it reminded me of the WHW folk. They were all fine with the outsider (me) during the race when we got chatting, and luckily knew the route!

Race Start

The Race

The first few miles climbed up about 700ft in 2 miles. I heard a few funny Yorkshire accents here complaining about the humidity and how long the climb was haha. It was actually really good underfoot on nice trails and not too muddy. The weather was pretty warm but the breeze at the top was a nice relief.

There was meant to be a checkpoint at 2 miles I think, but nothing was there - It seemed strange to have one so early into the race anyway so didn't mind because they'd be no point stopping at it.

Good signs here

About 5 miles in we were running along some fields and I looked into the woods and saw bare legs and a bare ass, eww. I turned away and just heard the awful sound that came next, jeezo!!!

After a few more miles I needed to go so hopped into the nearest bush :-)
 

Saltburn Valley Gardens - 9 miles
Excellent checkpoint, as every one of them was, very well stocked, the marshalls were literally tripping over each other to help you out, fill your water, give you food etc. Really good checkpoints throughout, loved them all!!!!

Jelly babies and Jaffa Cakes here with a cup of coke, yum!

Finally hit the seaside about 10 miles in which was a nice relief as I had been looking forward to it since the start.

There was a little section of the beach we ran along at 'Skinningrove' before climbing back up the cliffs. I had to stop as soon as I got off the beach to get all the sand out of my shoes, its starting coming in through all the rips in the sides (2nd race in this pair of shoes too).

We ran through a beautiful little village called Staithes, this would be a great place to visit when not racing and get an ice cream and just relax, lovely cobbled streets and little shops :-)

Then onto the beach, along the cliffs, up and down hundreds of uneven steps. Steps were the common theme of this race it seemed and by the end I hated every single step.

The road sections

Runswick Bay - 21 miles
This was there first checkpoint where you could pick up your Drop Bags if you had them. I did because i'm used to them from the Scottish races. Had a snickers and a Hungry Hippo from it, sat down in the back of the marshalls van and got all the sand out of my shoes again.

I was getting a little ahead of my race plan. It was easy to get carried away with the running, but I started to find running really exhaustingt. I haven't ran properly now for months, mainly focusing on hiking after injury for the CCC so my climbing/hiking legs are alright but no good at running for long periods. I slowed down, walked a bit more and reeled the pace in so the heart rate dropped. 

I liked the fact there was no time goals, no pressure for time, it was just a case of enjoying the views, enjoying the run and taking it easy!

Running along the sand here at 'Runswick Sands' was great and none of it ended up in my shoes luckily lol, the little climb up the burn was a bit technical so quite fun and a change from the bloody steps.

This was the longest section without a checkpoint at 12 miles. The time flew by as I chatted to a few people, most of them always said "Glasgow", "You don't sound like it" hahahaha. The chat was pretty good along this section and one of the local runners told me about a nice public toilet at Sandsends. I didn't need to go but used it anyway and was nice to wash my hands after they got really sticky from food!

Approaching Whitby I took a few wrong turns (this wasn't the first time either), the signage for the Cleveland Way is similar to the WHW (Posts with an icon on) but no where near as often. So the route wasn't really marked, you just followed the Acorn signs, but when passing through the towns or villages they were few and far between.

Whitby was fucking mobbed!
Imagine trying to run through it on a sunny day at 3pm, full of thousands of glaikit tourists and rambunctious children! I followed one of the Hardmoors veterans who guided me through the thousands of people, we ran most of it on the road with the cars.

The climb to the church/abbey was about 200 steps, but got into a good routine because they were all the same size so you could power up them head down 2 at a time, moving for the walkers coming down them who didn't fancy moving for you.

Whitby Abbey

I met Vicky and Rae for the first time here, this was a good morale boost.

30 miles in and I'd almost broken the back of it. I was lucking forward to getting past halfway knowing a finish was possible. I sat, ate food, drank water and just chatted to them for a while before switching from my pink hat to my blue hat. The trucker hat kept blowing off on the cliffs because it was so windy and super embarassing trying to pull it back on quickly hoping people didn't see it lol.

Suncream on, sunglasses on, and sun hat on... This only lasted about an hour until the sun went away and never came back properly again :(

Saltwick Bay - 31 miles
This checkpoint was just past Whitby, I was talking to a lot of complaining runners from miles 31 to mile 52 and got really sick of it after a while. This is where all that started when some guy was going on about how much his feet were hurting and complaining about where the checkpoint was!!! It was only about 2 minutes up the road. 

I got some more food at the checkpoint and another coke like a piggy before carrying leaving.

This next section was actually pretty good! I got lost a few times but nothing major, the main problems was the odd sign was missing on T junctions etc, but after trail and error it was fine.

I was looking forward to getting to the checkpoint at Robins Hood Bay as I'd heard from a lady at work how beautiful this place was, and it had to be better than Whitby was, and at least a little quieter!

The section here was nice, but when I passed everyone I always said "Ya'right", I thought this was a rethorical greeting, but everyone I passed and said it too ended up saying "nah I wanna quit", "My legs are done", "I'm cramping all the time"... 

A lot of this route was actually on small roads, this really tired my legs out and my knees were starting to hurt, but I never let anybody else know how I was feeling. I tried to remain positive and enjoy it was much as possible. The roads were indeed taking their toll so it was always good to get back on the trails and cliff tops etc.

I passed a bull in a field!!!!!!! That was absolutely TERRIFYING!!! It doesn't look that big here but it was massive in person.

Robins Hood Bay - 37 miles
Very well stocked checkpoint, and again I took of my shoes and got all the sand/stones out here. The town was quite nice and the crowd support here at the pub was pretty good. The problem was I was on the phone to my friend and ended up leaving the checkpoint the wrong way, after a 1/4 mile a guy front I was following said "WRONG WAY, We need to go back". I was joking saying it was his fault we took the wrong turn because I was following him and not concentrating. Luckily he knew the way, but unfortunately for me he was a moany bugger too!! He was wanting to quit and I was trying to encourage him by saying "Its less than a marathon left now, you can do them nae bother"... Not really sure why I was doing this was I was tired too, and still cheery! I left him after a few minutes and since leaving him I had no time for people who were having a hard time - Maybe pretty selfish but I didn't want to be trapped in that downward spiral.

I contemplated telling him a joke but didn't bother in the end!

"Whats a monkeys favourite cookies?"

"Chocolate chimp cookies"
Hahahahaha! - I'll use it at another ultra to someone who deserves it :)

Robin Hoods Bay to Ravenscar was only 6 miles and pretty nice, there was a lovely little place called 'Boggle Hole' a little pub and a tiny beach. Again no signs so I asked a walkers if I was still on the Cleveland Way. The race had spread out now having just over 200 runners so sometimes you were just running alone, which is fine for all the veterans who do it, but not us newbies!

Before I got to the next checkpoint I was chatting to a nice couple who had done a load of the races, 60s, 110s, 160s etc. They showed me the way on the next section which was good of them, and I kept recommending they come to Scotland for races!

The barracks along the coast?

I met up with Vicky and Rae again before the checkpoint, they were great as always, I was chatting along and gobbling up all my mini chocolate croissants (Poundland). After I left them they were going to the final checkpoint in Scarborough and I was just heading into the official checkpoint.

Ravenscar Church Hall - 41 miles
Wow this was the best checkpoint of all, the marshalls were again fighting to fill my bottles as quick as possible, they were excellent! Offering around pizza (I had a slice), I had a fair few celebrations too (Cream Egg ones), ate my hungry hippo and snickers from my drop bag, went to the toilet and spoke to a guy who was supporting his friend. I saw him later on and he was very encouraging haha.

The next section for me was the loneliest of the race, not really a low but I was getting a bit tired and bored now. The steps were taking their toll and I just wanted to get back, have a shower, have my Brew Dog and go to bed! To tide me over (tide, lol), I put on The Ginger Runner podcast and got on with that for an hour.

There was this pretty cool bush tunnel to go through, I really liked this and it reminded me from something out of Alice In Wonderland or some Disney movie.

The sky was stunning here! The sun was going down and it looked really nice, I got a few photos of it and my mood had perked up quite a lot by seeing this.
What better way to spend a day than running for all of it from sunrise to sunset in lovely weather :-)

Sun is setting

Another sunset

As the sun had gone down I held out for as long as possible before putting my head torch on, but had to when running through the woods as it was pitch black and didn't fancy falling!

Four of us came up to a fork in the road, wit
h a sign pointing both left and right and an acorn in the middle... We took the left and it worked out to be right - Thank God.

I could see the lights of Scarborough below and we very excited to get down there and see Vicky & Rae again! I spoke to a runner here as I passed him, he complained about his legs so I left him to it and carried on running. Once I hit Scarborough I was so excited but it was 3 miles to the checkpoint.... Yes, 3 miles along the front!

I was running alone for quite a long time, there was no runners in front or behind in sight. There was groups of neds kicking around on bikes sitting along the promenade, I got out my phone and called a friend to pass the time. I got fed up a
nd started walking, phoned Vicky a few times to ask her where I'm meant to be walking knowing the checkpoint was on the "Sea front".. I stuck to the sea front but it went on forever!

After about 15 minutes I hit the ugliest part of the town, it was just like Blackpool, and what you imagine Newcastle to be like on a Saturday night at 10pm, Hen and Stag dos, white trash.

The harvest moon was beautiful which made up for Scarborough being a dive on a Saturday night hehe.

Olympia!

Scarborough Sea Front - 52 miles

I was super happy to see the checkpoint marshalls High Viz and my awesome crew here waiting on me! The Marshalls once again filled up my waters for me, gave me food, and gave me directions on a new diversion because of the high tide.

Vicky and Rae also gave me food and drink - Was nice to meet Rae and will no doubt see her again for an ultra in Scotland 2017. I bid farewell to Victoria and promised to see her in around 2 hours at the finish. 2 hours and 10 miles was quite ambitious I thought but I always like a nice kick at the end.

Rae, puppy and Vicky waiting for me

She said to me "Run on and catch those runners so you aren't alone", knowing I was finding it difficult during the night and navigating the town centres.

Luckily I latched onto a Hardmoors veteran who was super friendly and didn't complain about anything, Peter! This guy knew the final 10 miles no bother, it was a breeze!

This section passed by pretty quickly, we chatted the whole way and were joined later on by a local runner (Sue) who I'd met earlier in the day! We ran together for the full final section, the final 4 miles along the Peninsula toward Filey were amazing. After about 60 miles we were all pretty anxious to get this thing finished now.

I text Vicky to let her know we'd be coming in soon, in about 1/2/3 miles - we'll see lol.

Filey Methodist Church - 62 miles (finish)

We ran down some more bloody stairs and onto the roads of Filey town centre, one final steep climb and a selfie before the finish.

I saw Vicky standing at the front of the Church in her Fling Hoody happy to see me. I greeted her and ran into the finish with the two others and we all finished together. Everybody was clapping it was really nice actually, especially because of how late it was!

Medal and T Shirt wooo!

Vicky ushered me into the church to sit down, get some food and drink, it was lovely to have a nice seat, my feet were really sore from the steps and running I had done. I ate quite a lot here, sandwiches, quiche, Victoria sponge and flapjacks before walking back to our B&B.

At the B&B I enjoyed the well earned Brew Dog and a quick shower trying not to wake up the other residents - eek.

Final thoughts:

Really enjoyed this event, happy to have finished it and got my UTMB points for a possible positive draw next year (although we're hoping its a no for now). Route was really pretty and hard work.

The highlight was seeing the beautiful moon in the sky along the cliff tops as the sun had set.

Mountain Fuel - It makes you wonder about how good this product is! If everyone was complaining about cramps and there were free samples at the start and finish as sponsors of this event. Are people even taking this, and if so why are they getting cramps? I have some samples and will test them out on longer runs.

Signage - This wasn't always that good. I did struggle a few times trying to find my way, especially in the towns I mentioned and sometimes when there were T junctions and no obvious route to take, but luckily stuck with the more experienced Hardmoors runners who knew the way.

Family atmosphere - Fantastic atmosphere at this race, would like to do more of them in future.

Marshalls/Checkpoints - The marshalls at the checkpoints were excellent, and the food/drink at them was brilliant, really well stocked and some nice treats too.

Organisation - Overall I feel the organisation of the even was pretty good, the bus to the start, the starting area and the finish were all good. My only concern was the lack of toilets at the start for the number of runners.

Points - Great to get UTMB points for the Hardmoors races.

Thank you all for reading, hope I didn't rant too much :-)