Date: Saturday 22nd May 2021
Official miles: 100km / 62.1371 miles
Strava says: 61.58 miles
Elevation: 7.122 ft / 2,171 m
Weather: mixed
Start: Corfe Castle
Finish: Bridport
Route type: A - B
Conditions: very mixed - soft, hard, moist, muddy, sandy, stoney
Website link: Ultra Challenge by Action Challenge
Describe the route in three words: stunning coastal scenery
Jurassic Coast Challenge - Race Report
This is the biggest Covid secure event I have done so far, over 2000 runners taking part in various different challenges from 25 km, 50 km, 100km continuous to 100km over 2 days. This felt like a big deal as it was the most amount of people I have seen in real life all in one place since Covid was just the star of the 2011 film Contagion and not something we had to deal with in day-to-day life. My start time was 6.45am, Ultra Challenge had organised numerous start waves and were very strict only letting the correct waves in. I swiftly passed along the rolling queue system to have my hands sanitised, temperature checked and event ticket marked off. I then collected my bib, timing lanyard and buff and headed to the tea and coffee tent. After enjoying a cup of tea, I left my bag at the bag drop tent and soon heard the call for my start wave from a chap riding a dinosaur. Around 30 of us stood in the starting pen so to speak, and before I knew it, we were off!
I had very clear tactics this time round. SLOW DOWN! I was not going to make the same mistakes of the past by of charging off on a 9 minute mile, I kept checking my watch and made sure I stayed between a 10 and 10.5 minute mile. About 100 metres in I saw a chap running in the other direction, back towards the start, he’d dropped something, how frustrating for him. I went through a field and the group of girls in front of me exclaimed, “They could have cut the grass for us!” I do hope they were joking! I passed Corfe Castle and settled into a good steady pace. I had a long way to go. The run towards checkpoint 1 was pretty uneventful, there was one hill but my legs were fresh and part of my tactics was to run all the hills, apart from the really tough ones that would force me to walk anyway. This hill was a long drag so at a steady pace, not a tough one.
Looking back at the elevation map, it was one of the ones with the most elevation but on fresh legs, I didn’t notice. When I’d gone for my sports massage on Wednesday, Hannah had told me that the hills on this route would be just like the ones we do on our Saturday run sessions, certainly leading up to checkpoint 1, she was absolutely right.
At the top of the hill, through cow fields and gravel tracks, I ran with Dave Barlow who was fairly new to the sport. I really enjoyed talking to him as he clearly was as much of a fan of ultra as I am, we talked Jasmin Paris, Spine Race, Backyard, Nicky Spinks, Sabina Verjee, waterproof trousers, poles and tactics. We came to the next hill and I could see he was faster paced than me, I wished him well and he said, “I’m sure I’ll see you later!”
I knew that the toughest part of the race would be checkpoints 2 through to 4 and then it would be mostly flat and plain sailing, I was so pleased and felt spoiled that all the significant hills were so early on in the race. I came into Checkpoint 1 (10.9 km) Days Park at 7.59am. I was straight in and out, we had to have our lanyards scanned at each checkpoint. No need to stop for anything. I continued onwards and now found myself running alongside the sea. Light rain had started to fall but the weather was mild, the scenery so far was great.
I caught up with a gentleman as we crossed diagonally across a field, we reached a gate where a smiley lady proudly held it open for us, as we approached her he said, “Oh wow, that’s my wife!” He stopped and they embraced.
I continued on thinking how wonderful it is the lengths family and friends will go to to support the running obsessed person in their life.
The hills were coming now, more frequently but I was able keep running the vast majority of them. I was drinking more than I expected and knew that I would need to stop at checkpoint 2 to refill my bladders, a shame really as I had intended to go straight through. I gave it some more thought and decided to not just refill the bladders, but use the loo and grab some food too.
9.36am saw my arrival at Checkpoint 2 (26.1 km) Church Knowle. Water refilled and loo stop as quick as I could, I grabbed a cheese and pickle roll and a bag of ready salted crisps and I was off. I walked as I ate half the roll and the whole bag of crisps, had a sip of water and cracked on.
The hills were going to be coming thick and fast now. I think for me, this section was the most beautiful. I felt quite emotional as I was running along the top of the cliff, the sea was so blue, the white cliffs, green grass and yellow coconut smelling gorse. This is why I run.
A hill loomed in the distance which I knew I would need my poles for. I sent a picture of it to my friends, “I’ve got to go up that!” Laughing emojis ensued and a remark on it being just like ‘The Wall’. The Wall is a short yet extremely steep hill we often run up on a Saturday morning, this looked like The Wall times ten!
I made it up to the top and continued running, there were a few more similar hills and then I dropped down onto a shingle stretch of beach. This confused me as I knew there was a 2 km stretch of shingle near the end of the race, but here I was near the marathon finish and it was a shingle beach. Had I got my facts wrong? It turned out it wasn’t a particularly long stretch, I did have to walk it and it gave me an indication of how hard the 2 km would be later on. I noticed the seaweed on the shingles made for a very slippery obstacle, once again, so grateful to my poles.
Shortly after the beach at 11.53am I arrived at Checkpoint 3 (42.7km) Durdle Door. I needed yet another water refill which was really frustrating, as I had planned to be in and out. As I left Checkpoint 3, I saw the smiley wife again, she wished me luck and said her husband was not far behind.
The hill coming out of Checkpoint 3 was HUGE! But what a treat when I finally got to the top, Durdle Door! I felt that this was a splendid reward for my efforts up that hill, which by the way, was lethal. Some bright spark had decided to pave it with a chalk-like brick, I assume to protect the landscape and prevent it being churned up. This paving though, now slightly damp, was extremely slippery. I was so pleased I had my poles as I could see the feet from Saturday walkers sliding out from under them. One young lady went to assist an older lady by holding her arm and helping her down some of the way!
The kilometres were clicking by, Ultra Challenge are very good with their signage, it seemed every kilometre was marked. I thought I felt a bit tired so I slowed to a walk, it was at this moment I realised that walking was uncomfortable and it was actually far more comfortable to run, handy really! I arrived at the 50 km marker and of course took a selfie as this marked the half way point, I was actually feeling really good. I checked my Facebook messages and found out I was second lady, first lady at the beginning! This was making me smile and the posts from Kev, Hannah and Ross from running club were really making me laugh.
I’ve since learned that I was 1st lady at checkpoint 1 and 2 but things changed by checkpoint 3. I came in 1 minute behind first female Martha Owen and then she increased the gap by the next checkpoint.
I cracked on, this felt like a long stretch between checkpoints, I also knew that it was the last section of serious hills and then it would be plain sailing the rest of the way. I think that my sugar levels were depleting a bit and just before arriving at the next checkpoint I thought to myself that I should have a proper 10 minute sit down and something substantial to eat. I got to a soul destroying promenade, everything was the same. The brick paving underfoot were a repetitive pattern, the wall to my right was the same height, the benches were evenly spaced out, even the sea didn’t seem to be doing anything, it was as though I was on a treadmill, nothing around me changed, just the same endless and monotonous view. I was about to struggle. So I employed new tactics, which worked! Each time I reached a bench, I thought of one of my chickens, until I got to the next bench where I thought of another chicken, and so forth. I ended up with this stupid big grin on my face and then it was time to turn off and head towards the checkpoint. 2.21pm saw my arrival at Checkpoint 4 (59.5km) Lodmoor Country Park. Time for a proper break.
I collected my rucksack from the bag drop and put my hoody on. I grabbed some ratatouille and rice, a brownie, Freddo (I never ate my Freddo, in fact, I lost him!), cup of tea and a marshal kindly fetched me a Coke (I confessed my love to the marshal and told him not to tell my husband!). Now that I had stopped, I noticed that my legs felt really uncomfortable, I massaged them a bit. I chatted to another guy and checked my watch, I only need 10 minutes. Thing is, it’s really hard to eat food, plus I thought I should use the loo, and re-fill my bladders (again!) I was at the checkpoint at least 20 minutes, probably closer to 30. Oh well, never mind, the rest and food will have done me good. I packed my hoody away and transferred my head torch from my rucksack to my snack pack, I handed the rucksack into bag drop and headed off.
Now, all the runners have their chosen race printed on their bib. A lady ran the wrong direction passed me, then passed me again in the right direction. Her bib read ‘First Half’. Hmmmm. That’s not right. She asked me if the checkpoint was near, I told her that she’d missed it and shouldn’t even be running this part of the course. I felt sorry for her as she probably didn’t get to cross the line properly, she would have entered the checkpoint from the exit and missed her big finish, poor thing.
Coming out of checkpoint 4 there is only one way to describe how I felt. EPIC!!!! I’d had a great rest, my blood sugars were back up, I felt fresh and raring to go, and all the hills were behind me. Plain sailing now on a pretty flat route until the end. And, I was in Weymouth! This was were I have many a happy childhood memory as my grandparents had lived here. I had not been to Weymouth for many years but as I ran along the promenade, memories came floating back. It looks very different to how I remember, clearly it has developed and grown as a town. I reached the colourful clock tower and stopped to take a photo. I definitely remember seeing that as a child!
This was one of the most enjoyable sections of the route for me, I think for multiple reasons. I was over halfway, the hills were behind, childhood memories were flooding back and I felt really strong. I really enjoyed running around the harbour and through the Brewers Quay area. I headed out of Weymouth and past an “Excuse the weeds, we’re feeding the bees” sign which I thought was cute!
Incredibly, the next checkpoint came into view, it felt as though barely any time had passed, just before it I caught up with another runner, we started chatting and it was Dave! We nearly overshot the checkpoint as we were so busy chatting, I was straight in and out in a matter of seconds, I reached Checkpoint 5 (67.6km km) Martleaves Farm at 3.40pm. There was no stopping me now, I was on a mission to retain my second place!
The kilometres continued clicking by and as I paused for a selfie at 71 km I saw that I had a message from Hannah (my Blaze Fitness instructor and sports massage therapist) she told me to keep going, and that I was doing brilliantly. I sent her the selfie and asked her where I was on the leaderboard. She told me I was 2nd lady and 17th overall, the leading lady was 30 minutes in front and 3rd and 4th were 30 minutes behind. I was pleased to hear 3 and 4 were 30 minutes behind, I just had to make sure they did not close that gap! I caught up with a chap walking, he broke into a run and zoomed off. I nicknamed him Yoyo as we were together a while, he would walk and then run, but when he ran, he zoomed off at speed, I would keep catching up with him and then he’d dash off again. We walked together up a couple of hills so we did chat a bit. He commented on how fast I was on the hills, I found this hilarious as I am not renowned for my speed going up hill! My glutes are something I work on often but they are not able to power me speedily up hills just yet!
We passed the 80 km marker, stopping for a selfie. Hannah told me I was closing the gap on the leader, only 6 minutes in it now. I was ecstatic! Yoyo and I arrived on the top of a grassy hill with majestic sea views, I left Yoyo behind and after a while realised I felt nauseous. Hmmm, what to do. This isn’t good. Then Star Wars style, I had Kev’s voice in my head, “Use the ginger". Of course! I grabbed it and shoved a load into my mouth, ah yes, that did the trick. The next checkpoint was in view, quite a steep decent into it. The styles on this part of the route are made of stone rather than wood. I had been really enjoying them over the wooden styles as they are so sturdy and wide, they encourage you to stretch your legs too. The wooden styles I find can sometimes be a bit narrow and rickety and can prove a challenge to navigate oneself over on long runs when your legs are a bit wibbly. At the exact moment I thought, “I love these stone styles” I mis-judged it and whacked my shin on it. Ow. That really smarts.
I ran into Checkpoint 6 (83.3 km) Abbotsbury Swannery at 5.38pm and grabbed a clementine as I knew I needed something to eat. I perhaps should have had something a bit more substantial but I don’ think they were ready for us, not much choice of food was laid out and I wasn’t really sure what I wanted anyway. I had to have yet another water refill. I sat on the floor to eat my clementine and stretched out my legs. I used the loo here and ran out the way I came in, quickly realising that was a mistake and turned back to run out of the exit. I really didn’t need to sit down to eat, not sure why I did so I did waste a bit of time here. As I came out of the checkpoint I caught up with Yoyo again and ended up passing him for the last time. I really was on the home straight now.
There was a couple of sections I struggled on here, I ran alongside a shingle beach with the wind blowing and it was a bit of an effort. My Garmin told me it was on low battery so I sat down on a grassy verge to get my portable charger out, I plugged it in and affixed it to my chest strap, this is the first time I have done this, charged on the go, but it really worked as I could still see my watch, plus we all know it doesn’t count if it is not on Strava, charging the Garmin was of paramount importance, even though it cost me another couple of minutes!
The kilometre markers kept coming and as I hit 88 km the dreaded shingle beach appeared. I knew I had 2 km of this.
The sun was shining, the wind blowing, the sea to my left, it was stunning but my word that section was a drag. I wouldn’t say it was physically hard, just frustrating, I wanted to walk it as I felt running would take too much out of me, it was a mental challenge knowing that these 2 km were going to be so slow.
I sent a photo of the endless shingle scenery to Hannah, who came back with a, “Just get it done”.
She was right of course, and that’s exactly what I needed to hear. Stop whinging to myself at this slow pace, it’s only 2 km and then it’ll be the finish line before I know it. After the shingles it nearly went horribly wrong, a couple walking their dog happened to be passing and obstructing the route marker as I reached it, they cheered and clapped me and I found myself on a sandy beach. This wasn’t right! I asked a family who were enjoying the beach if they had seen any runners. No. I retraced my steps and realised I was supposed to go up a very short but incredibly steep hill. I had a slight sense of humour failure climbing up this but got it done and off I went, arriving at Checkpoint 7 Manor Farm (96 km) at 7.30pm.
Wow, just a couple of kilometres to go now. I actually do not recall checkpoint 7, there was no need to stop for any food or water refills so I was straight in and out again. I rang my husband Ky to tell him I was nearing completion. The last few kilometres was pavement, I passed the 98 km then the 99 km sign. My goodness. I looked behind me, no runner behind. I think I was going to do this, I think I was going to get second lady, whaaat?! The finish area came into view... here it is! The path snaked round and I came to the short home straight.
The marshals were cheering, Ky was there shouting, “Well done honey!” and I ran over the line. Astounding. I’d done it, and in a great time too. I had been aiming for just under 15 hours, I did it in 13hr 29m 33s. I was absolutely delighted.
I found the winning lady, Martha and congratulated her. We had a bit of a chat and then I had something to eat and a massage. Then it was time to head home. It was still daylight and I had had brilliant day out and a fantastic run.
What’s in the snack pack?
Jelly Beans
Mixed fruit and nuts
1x Malt loaf
3x Nakd bars
Sugar coated stemmed ginger
Mints
2x 500ml bladders water - 1 plain, 1 with Hi 5
Spare Hi 5 tabs
Gloves
Warm hat & sun hat
Sunglasses
Innov8 Trailshell waterproof jacket
OMM Halo waterproof trousers
Long sleeved spare layer
Vasaline
Safety pins
Compeed, plasters, surgical tape, spare socks
OMM ultra flexi cup
Harrier Helvellyn Carbon Z-Poles and quiver
Whistle
Survival blanket
Drop bag
Head torch (mandatory but didn’t need)
Hoody
Spare jelly beans, Nakd bars, ginger, mints
Suncream
Socks and Compeed
Spare set of clothes
Warmer hat and thicker gloves
What I wore: Saucony Ultra ST, Garmin Forerunner 35, buff, Sweaty Betty power leggings, Ronhill merino top, Stance socks, Dirty Girl gaiters, Salomon Adv Skin 12 running vest.
Lead up:
I was ready for this. I had had a wobble about three weeks prior, thinking I hadn’t done enough. But I had done loads. I had done back to back ultras with Kev, I’d done a 50 mile mini backyard challenge, I’d kept up with multiple weekly Blaze sessions, social runs and running club sessions. I’d done a faster paced 10 km recently as well as daily stretching the 2 weeks leading up to it. I had been really ill for 2 weeks at Easter time which meant I had missed out my hill week. I go to Filey with work over Easter and make the most of the seaside steps and cliffs whenever I go. I was planning to do some intensive hill training there but was still recovering from illness and decided it was not a good idea to overexert myself. Other than that though, I felt I was in pretty good shape. I had a sports massage 3 days before.
Morning preparations:
I had opted to get a taxi to the start which meant 3.45am wake up and 4.15am departure. I did my stretches and a had a cup of tea before I left then around 5.15am I ate a porridge pot which I had taken with the in the taxi.
Summary
This was a brilliant race and result for me. I felt like I have come a long, long way since the many mistakes made in the Hardwolds 80. I’ve developed a lot as a runner and understand ultra so much more. Applying all that I have learned so far really reaped rewards. The great thing is, I came out of this race with even more knowledge and experience which I will be keen to apply to my next challenge.
Lessons learned
Waterproof trousers - I had been debating whether I would wear them if it rained or not. I had worn them on Hardwolds and I am so glad I did. I realised though, that the weather in May is much milder than November. If I had worn them, I would have got too hot and sweaty. Luckily, it didn’t rain on the start line so I didn’t put them on. When it rained during the race, i dried quickly. I feel that they are only necessary for cold weather long races.
Efficiency in aid stations - I have improved enormously on this, but I still need to work out a way to be quicker. It was so easy for my 10 minutes to turn into 30 minutes. Perhaps I should set a countdown timer.
Mental tactics - my new tactics really worked (thinking of my chickens!) and this is something I will employ again.
Food - I learned on my mini Backyard that I do not need to eat as much as I have been. I must continue to keep an eye on it as heading into Checkpoint 4 I could have eaten something rather than waiting for the checkpoint. Plus towards the end, I knew I was near the end so I couldn’t be bothered to eat, I think it might’ve done me good though.
Drink - rehydration I was really surprised how much I needed to drink and how often I refilled my bladders. This is important though. The time spent refilling bladders is still going to be a lot less than if I were running dehydrated.
Pacing - slowing down at the start really worked for me, I picked off a lot of people in the second half, moving from position 28 to 17.
Hills - I always thought running them would ruin me and cause issues, but actually, taking them at a confidently slow and steady pace is no problem at all. I walked the extreme hills, and still would walk parts of a hill if I thought I needed to, but generally, running them is not a bad thing, don’t be afraid to.
Results
Chip time: 13hr 29m 33s
Overall: 17/417
Lady: 2nd
Jurassic Coast Challenge 2021 - click here for results
Comments