Garmin Mourne Skyline MTR

Since watching the Mourne Skyline race when it was broadcast on Channel 4 in 2015, I knew I wanted to do it the following year. It was really well filmed with an international field traversing the majestic looking mountain range. At the time it seemed impossibly difficult with a distance of 22 miles, 10 peaks and 11000 feet of elevation.  I couldn’t get my head around having to basically go up Donard twice and Bearnagh twice, as it appeared at the time.  That year I’d done the Hill & Dale Slieve Donard race.  It took me 2 hours and I felt properly busted at the end.  If I was going to tackle this challenge I’d have to raise my game.  Usually I don't care that much if I’m one of the stragglers at the end as I was at Donard as long as I can finish the race and get the medal/ finishing beer. However, on the Skyline race website it mentioned 2 cut-offs, a “hard” cut-off at 3h 15m at the most distant point of the course, Fofanny Dam and an implied softer one of 8 hours at the finish.  If it took me 2 hours to do the 5.5 mile distance of Donard alone that appeared tricky.

In a way this guided my events strategy for 2016.  I’d already got through the ballot for the Highland Fling in April but I didn’t have any particular goals for the latter part of the year.  In 2015 I’d done the London, Berlin and Chicago marathons and felt a bit burned out by the hyped world major circuit with their expense, crowds and flat hemmed in circuits.  The Mournes were still a bit of a mystery to me right on my doorstep and I wouldn’t have to worry about lotteries or hotels.

In the new year I joined the local mountain race organising body, NIMRA.  Because I didn’t live in the mountains and my navigation skills were rubbish I wanted as much experience of running in numbers as possible.  They had a series of races varying from short ones like Glenariff to the famous Seven Sevens, which would offer nearly as much challenge as the Skyline.  I ended up doing The Fallows (Great) Annalong Horseshoe (Brutal with bad conditions), Spelga Skyline (even more brutal) and the mighty Seven Sevens which was very difficult, especially as I got lost and ended up doing 24 miles. In addition to these, some recce runs of the Skyline course, some 26 Extreme events and most of the Hill & Dale races I felt I’d got some decent mountain miles in.

In the immediate run-up to the Skyline itself I’d done the Monaghan Marathon, Causeway Coast Marathon, Irish Three Quarters Marathon and lastly The Wall Duathlon, also in the Mournes.  I found that in my experiences in 2016 my fitness was pretty good, and I could churn out a sub 4 hour marathon without killing myself. I had a lot of endurance, meaning I could still run after being on my feet for over 6 hours, and I could run up something like Knockagh Hill without stopping, but I wasn’t improving massively as a fell runner.  I was close to being last in all the NIMRA events barring Annalong where a lot of people were even more lost than I was.  Still, I’d give it my best shot.

On the day of the race I got there reasonably early. There was a lot to do.  I had to have a thorough kit check at registration.  For this race I needed a compass, whistle, waterproofs, food, water bottle, mobile phone, head torch and for the first time for me, a foil survival blanket.  I then had to collect my race number and my shirt.  Then I had to assemble my drop bag for halfway and deposit it. I also had to collect the dibber and register that. We then proceeded to the race start on the beach.  Numbers in this race were capped at 200.  The majority would have been experienced fell runners from across the British Isles. There were also some hotly tipped French runners from Team Garmin. There were several who looked more like hikers judging by their outfits, but of course looks can be deceiving, especially to a relative newbie like me.

The stone path up to the Donard Col with Donard Forest behind

It was a pretty quick start up the mountain. The initial stretch of the route was very familiar to me now. Up through the forest, up the granite steps and then up to the Glen River path towards the Donard Col.  On the way up it started to rain quite heavily.  We’d been reassured by the forecast that there would be a light shower which would ease off shortly, but it rained quite heavily for over an hour.  This was fine when going up the steps to the Col and then onto the Brandy Pad stone path, but it would cause problems for the descents from Bearnagh onwards.

The mighty Slieve Bearnagh from Slieve Meelmore.  Easier than it looks but not by much.

I was making good time so far.  I got up to the Donard Col in just over an hour. It then took me 50 minutes to go along the Brandy Pad and scale Bearnagh.  Because I’d already done the recce run the month before I knew as long as I didn’t stop I’d make the 3h15m hard cut-off.  The route wasn’t congested and the marking of the route was good.  The only real problems emerged on the descents. The first sign of this was the descent from Bearnagh where I couldn’t get a good enough grip, but didn’t fall.  The next descent, from Meelmore was a lot worse.  I fell onto my knee and grazed it.  I then did the same thing a second time almost immediately after.  At this point 3 of the front runners were on their way back sprinting up Meelmore.  They had already hit the halfway point, gone up the road a mile and gone up and down Loughshannagh and Meelbeg while I was still stuck on Meelmore.  This didn’t help morale much.

With my leg covered in blood I picked myself up and finished with Meelmore.  On going over a grassy section in the Happy Valley I slipped again.  This time a full frontal collapse with my shoulder taking the impact.  I should point out that I wasn’t being reckless with the running. I was being cautious and was wearing trusted Inov-8 X-Talon fell shoes.  I think I’d only ever fallen once wearing them before. It’s just the conditions were slippier than I’d ever faced before on a mountain. The shoes aren’t as aggressive as the Mudclaws I have, but the problem with Mudclaws is that wearing them on road or hard ground is agony for me due to the large protruding studs and minimal cushioning, and this route contained a few stretches of that.  I didn’t want to be running the final stretch in Donard Forest feeling like I was stepping on hot coals.

I soon reached the cut-off in 2h 45m and immediately headed to the paramedics. They applied water to my knee and said I’d be fine. Was kind of expecting antiseptic and a plaster/bandage, but it wasn’t affecting my running. It just made bystanders ask questions about my knee. At least the bleeding seemed to have stopped. I then strolled up the mile to the Ott car park while eating a pulled pork bagel, chicken noodles, crisps Lucozade, a banana and a raspberry smoothie.  I seem to have picked up the ability in these endurance events to stuff my face while walking without indigestion. A useful skill when you’re out for 8 hours or more and are in a hurry. Upon getting to Ott I dumped my excess in the bin and tackled the next round of summits.

Bloodied, but I could still raise a smile

I’d got some of my mojo back and climbed Loughshannagh, Meelbeg and Meelmore in reasonable time.  I hit the summit of Meelmore at 4h 10m, so it took just over an hour to do all 3. The descent back down Meelmore got on my nerves as I had to concentrate on avoiding the rocks on the way down. I nearly fell on this section on the recce run and it would have been foolish not to have learned from that. There was little I could do about the grass sections which were like ice, but I could avoid rocks which were dangerous regardless of the conditions.

Easy to get distracted with views like this in abundance.

At this point and the gruelling climb back up Bearnagh I’d started to fatigue. I started to hear the clacking of walking poles behind me. There were a fair number of people in this event who hardly ran at all. They were just exceptional climbers and deadly with the poles. They wouldn’t win any prizes, but it was awesome to witness these people who you wouldn’t think were competing athletes gently gliding past us tired fell runners in our club vests and Salomon gear.

I was so relieved to reach the top of Bearnagh again, but then followed the trickiest descent of the day. I exclaimed out loud that I fell for the 6th time that day and a cheery English girl behind me said “seventh!” as I fell again. I just slid down on my back after that and did some more swearing.

Once off Bearnagh it was back down the stone “evil staircase” as recce guide runner Amy called it, through Hare's Gap and this time, instead of going back along the Brandy Pad it was up a few more mountains starting with Slievenaglogh and Slieve Corragh. These are fairly non-descript mountains with no discernible summit or features apart from being next to the Mourne Wall, but they did offer amazing panoramic views of the mountain range.

Before long it was time to tackle Commedagh, the second tallest mountain in NI and the penultimate mountain of the day.  As with Donard this is where a lot of tourists congregate and they were offering lots of support on the way up. Commedagh also offers a spring to refill the water bottle. Another useful tip from the recce runs.  I reached the summit at 6 hours exactly and felt elated, as I would easily get past the next cut-off time of 7h 30m at the col between Donard and Commedagh which was almost within view now.  

I was just going through the motions now. I’d been up and down the last 2 mountains so many times before and they’re much more accessible than the likes of The Meels with walkable surfaces and stone path. Donard felt like it went on a bit as I ascended further into the mist but I reached the summit in 6h 35m and it was downhill all the way from there.

The prescribed route from the Donard summit along the Glen River stone path, along the fire road to Newcastle is only about 5k and downhill the whole way, but it is quite technical and requires a bit of skill to do quickly.  Top runners can do it in under 30 minutes, but it took me over an hour. There is a much faster route from the summit down the “Black Stairs” and straight through the forest, which top runners can do in 15 minutes, but considering the conditions I’m not sure I’d want to do that even if it was allowed under the rules.

Once I’d got to the fire road there were cheering marshals round every corner and I could start to hear John Glover’s booming voice from the top of the forest. I could even see the finish line from nearly 2 miles away. Because the field was so spread out and the winners had finished about 4 hours ahead of me there weren’t many at the finish line, but I dibbed my dibber for the last time, got my results print-out and picked up my lovely medal and got a nice reception from the organisers. My time was 7h 38m which was slightly better than my expectations. I was expecting to finish slightly after 8 hours amid worry that I wouldn't get a finishing medal.

Finish line with the flags of all the participants countries. 

I’d have to say the event was one of the highlights of the year for me. Great route and well organised, up there with the Highland Fling as an endurance event borne of passion for the sport rather than commercial reasons.  However, unlike The Fling I’d only recommend it to people who are able to run reasonable amounts of miles of training in the mountains, preferably those mountains due to the route's technical nature, whereas The Fling just requires you to run many hilly miles in training as the event is, with the odd notable exception such as cowpoo alley, all solid path.

Thanks to Jayne Bell and Johnny McKinley for the photos.      

           

  

  

  

NIMRA Championship Fell Race - The Fallows

“I’m not here to hold your hand” says the Race Director during the briefing at the start of the 2016 Hill & Dale Series.   Fell running is quite different from more mass market areas of the sport that have mushroomed in recent years.  It, along with cross country, feel like a throwback to a previous age when miniscule numbers of athletes would compete at a high standard in events that would be virtually unknown by the general public. This is part of its charm to me. They feel like you’re competing in real athletic events. Not fun runs or big corporate events where you’re just ticking a box.

Hill & Dale itself is seen by some as a taster for more serious mountain running events in the calendar. Distances are no longer than 6 miles, though the climbing contained within those miles would go up to nearly 3000 feet.  In addition, while grid references are provided you don’t usually need navigation skills to run them. This is in part to the numbers involved. If there's a couple of hundred people running up mountains you can just follow the pack. They are well marshalled too. The organisers, Newcastle AC, have been doing these races for some time and  have thought of every contingency, including having mountain rescue jeeps available.

I really enjoyed doing the series in 2015. I managed 9 out of the 11 races. Not particularly well in some cases. For the Slieve Donard race I finished in over 2 hours and was one of the stragglers at the back. Nevertheless I got the commemorative backpack to show for my efforts in doing the series.

For 2016 I wanted to take it up a level and do the NIMRA Championship. These are a series of events of varying lengths all of which are longer than Hill & Dale. Going from a run up and down Glenariff where you get presented a bag of spuds for your efforts, up to the Seven Sevens where you climb all the tallest peaks in The Mournes. To get a Championship position all I needed to do was 4 races of varying distances.  

Something unique to these races for me are the kit requirements. These consist of waterproof clothing, a hat, a compass and a whistle. I’ve never needed to use any of these though I did see how they might be needed as you can cool off very quickly in the mountains, especially if you have to stop due to an injury or getting lost (neither uncommon). NIMRA events, because they’re especially hardcore require a particular map (Mourne Outdoor Pursuits Ordnance Survey Map) along with emergency rations.

Sadly I had to miss the spud race so The Fallows it was. This would be a race of 10 miles up from Kilbroney up to the peaks around Slievemartin with some extra running around the mountain bike trails.

It was a bit of a rush down there. I had to collect all the extended kit requirements and drive down via a detour meaning I was fairly flustered. The fact that I was at a Craft Beer festival the previous evening wasn’t helping either. The kit requirements including an ordnance survey map meant I couldn’t cram everything into my handy bum bag and I’d have to wear a backpack. It was really warm so I was only wearing my club vest. I didn’t think to bring water as I don’t think of doing that unless it’s a marathon. Mountain events don’t usually dish out refreshments during the race it seems. No doubt this is related to litter issues.  26 Extreme events seem to be an exception to this with their decent water stations which provide various healthy options like fruit cake and nuts. 

The race start at Kilbroney

At the start there were about 60 odd runners with several familiar faces who I knew I wasn’t going to see after the start.  They didn’t end up checking our kit at the start. They just pointed us to the sign listing them. I was standing there wondering how many would pass the kit requirements as a lot of people had very slim hip belts which Im not sure would be able to hold a chunky map, or indeed the waterproofs. I’ll have to investigate the art of mountain race kit packing.

We started with a gentle uphill which was getting gradually steeper. I was relieved when took the opposing fork from Fiddlers Green and carried on, as I remembered the pain from the Slieve Martin Hill & Dale and wasn’t feeling like a super sharp climb right at the start.

We carried on the path for a bit before the marshals directed us to go straight up through the forest on a narrow trail. Annoyingly, it was a tough climb, but there were bits you could run. This really tests the endurance as you’re still running but at a steep elevation as opposed to just walking.  The numbers were thinning out now, but I was next to a Lagan Valley girl. I was determined to keep people in sight. I may not have needed it for the first part. As there were arrows all the way up through the forest.

There was a bit of a complaint from some that the people ahead weren’t exactly following the arrows and choosing the most direct path up. I didn’t really know whether that mattered. These routes are ultimately self-navigating. There were certain parts where you were directed to run a particular place by the marshals, particularly at the cairn at the top of the mountain, but few other spots.

After 2 miles or so we reached the end of the forest and emerged onto the open mountain. This spot was the real “we’re not in Kansas anymore” moment the previous year at the Slieve Martin Hill & Dale. Out running in unfamiliar ground at the top of a mountain surrounded by spectacular views of Carlingford Lough and the mountains across the border.

Emerging onto the open mountain

The next part of the course was a lot of fun. Everybody could cut loose and run fast across varied terrain. I was able to manage a good pace until confronted with a foul looking mucky stream.  There were some guys right behind me so I didn’t slow up and just jumped straight into it.  They pointed out that I should have used a plank to cross it. However, I did that the previous year and slipped into the stream anyway. (On the way back I used the plank and then immediately fell in the muck just after. That bit is nasty) In any case, I didn’t get particularly wet feet. The new Inov8 X Talon shoes I use aren’t completely waterproof, but do the job unless you’re submerged, They’re also light and grippy.

X-Talons on the left. Mudclaws on the right.

There were a further couple of miles on the mountain, mostly running on grass before joining a gravelly trail that a lot of mountain bikers were using. I was able to speed up a lot here and I passed a few people. The route here converged with a later part of the Mourne Way Marathon which I’ve done twice. The X-Talons handled the ground well . Last year I ran this stretch in Mudclaws, a more aggressive fell shoe and my feet really suffered on the hard ground.

On the way back

Towards the end of this 5k stretch I passed the first familiar face, Sam from Newcastle. This was good news, as she would almost certainly know where she was going, being a regular local fell runner. It also meant that I was doing ok. I would sometimes pass Sam on road races but it was almost unprecedented in a fell race. However, we hadn’t run down the mountain yet.  The biggest difference between a fell runner and a road runner isn’t so much the climbing or being on the top of the mountain. It’s being able to run very fast on seemingly suicidal descents.

This stretch ended when instead of running the familiar route down to Kilbroney we forked left and went back up the mountain on a trail I’d never been up.  It was absolutely gorgeous up there with panoramic views of the mountains from a new angle. I’d have taken a picture but I was happy being near a few runners who seemed to know what they were doing.

Soon enough it was time to run down the mountain. The Lagan Valley girl who I’d been running near for most of the race started to disappear as did the other runners in front. I approached a really steep downhill section which mostly consisted of loose rocks. I had to stop and walk down. I immediately moved to the side as I knew Sam wouldn’t be far behind. As if on cue, she emerged at the top of the hill and without hesitation hurtled down the mountain at breakneck speed, politely apologising as she passed me keeping perfectly upright while skipping on the the rocks. By the time I got down to the bottom of that stretch I was alone with no-one in sight.

This is where I get lost, right? I followed an arrow and immediately knew something wasn’t right. At the end of a trail I was at a junction with no more arrows. I turned left as that was downhill. I passed some day walkers who obviously hadn’t seen any other runners. I asked them for directions, but they knew less than me. In any case it didnt matter. I was 8.4 miles in and I just had to head towards the lough. I wasn’t going to take a sodding compass reading at that point. I saw a sign saying Cloughmor Trail. I knew that would lead back to Kilbroney and headed for the finish along a well travelled path. The route I should have taken was the steep descent of Fiddler’s Green. I wasn’t too bothered as when running that last year I passed lots of folk with sore ankles. With a week to go until the Highland Fling a busted ankle was the last thing I needed.

Course Elevation Profile

I approached the finish line from the wrong direction to the bemused reactions from the marshals. I checked with Sam and I’d run an extra 0.3 miles and was 10 minutes behind her with a time of 1h55m. I was 50th out of 59th.

Finished. They were surprised to see me coming from the wrong direction

Newry City Runners, the organisers put on some tea and sarnies. They’d done a good job. A reasonable number of marshals and more markers than I’d seen in a mountain race. I’d still taken a wrong turn, but organisers aren’t there to hold our hands after all!  It only gets tougher from here. The next one is a “horseshoe” of mountains across half marathon distance.

On the way back I passed through the aftermath of the Ballynahinch 10k.  How much less of an ordeal would that have been! But then I probably wouldn’t be able to write about it.

Manchester Marathon

Manchester considers itself to be one of the UK's best marathons. In fact in promotional material for the event it considers itself as having official status to that effect due to polls in Runners World mentioning its fast and flat course along with the friendly crowd support.  Its often used by people who didn't get into London.  I'd done VLM twice and didn't even try to get into the public or club ballot this year.  I felt that the VLM was pretty much perfect the previous year and I don't want to tarnish memories of the truly great marathons I do.

I needed a marathon distance run around 3 weeks before The Fling and it looked perfect, apart from being the opposite of the terrain I'd find in the Highlands. A girl from the club, Anne, who I would be similar to in pace, had done this one the previous year with a superb time of 3h33m, a clear 5 minutes quicker than my PB.   Initially it seemed as if there'd be a big crew from OAC doing it as well, but due to various reasons it ended up with just me and Rodney.

I think on reflection there was somewhat of a jinx on this trip. The flight there was delayed significantly delayed meaning a tired and slightly inebriated late arrival at the hotel for dinner. I'd chosen a hotel near Heaton Park which had a fairly large parkrun (around 600) which I wasn't able to do when in town a few years previously.

It turned out to be a good idea. It was a lovely park with one of the best setups I've seen in the 40 odd venues I've visited for parkrun.  There were loads of marshals with cheering supporters like it was a race, almost excessive signage and a great atmosphere.  It was a huge park with varied terrain and great views from the edge of the city. To handle the numbers they had lots of extended funnelling and everything just worked basically.  There was a celebrity visitation in the form of Gemma Atkinson, an actress in Hollyoaks and Emmerdale along with a Daily Mail photographer.  No tea and buns at the end, but there was a decent looking cafe next to the lake in the park itself.  I ran around 25 minutes and didn't feel fatigued. I was wearing new Asics Kayano shoes which I was a bit concerned about, but they held out fine.

Heaton Park

Gemma Atkinson

Upon completing this it was time to head down to the race village and pick up provisions. Yet again I'd forgotten to bring gels and Bodyglide. Upon getting to the Old Trafford site I was disappointed. I'm so used to the ritual of visiting big expos and marvelling at all the sights and expensive treats that I was miffed that all I saw were an Asics and an SIS stall. There wasn't even anything on sale.  I resolved to meet Rodney and go to Sweatshop instead. After stocking up I met with Rodney's friend from school and had a couple of lagers in a swanky cocktail bar.  I was pretty relaxed about all this drinking. I knew from experience that running marathons after drink is ok as long as I don't actually suffer dehydration. Besides, if I couldn't handle the odd pint I'd never be able to do something like the Marathon Du Medoc where getting slaughtered is all part of the fun. Despite all the flippancy eating a good meal and sleep is an important part of preparation and I got that sorted. 

The next day it started to go wrong from the outset. I'd confirmed the previous evening with the hotel that breakfast would start at 6am. It actually started at 7am and I had to get a tram at 7.15 to get down to the start comfortably. As an alternative I went to the local garage and got coffee, a sandwich and some pastries. The sandwich didn't quite taste right.  I knew I'd be fooling myself in believing this was enough fuelling for a marathon.

The tram was delayed due to adverse weather. This could only mean ice as it was a pretty chilly start which gradually gave way to a gorgeous spring morning. There were notifications about extra trams being on for the marathon, but it appeared that these were only on running from Altrincham on the opposite side of the city.  I was imagining it would be like London with an efficient service and extra capacity for runners on the morning, but was clearly mistaken.

In the end I made it to the site in reasonable time, but more problems appeared.  there were only about 4 cubicles for the toilets available.  A number of the toilets in the stadium were locked.   A marshal said there were more near the start but they weren't visible from the stadium and who's going to take the risk of losing a queue place.

There was also a problem with the bags. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to drop my bag into what turned out to be a shambolic scrum. In seeing this I decided I couldn't trust them with my phone and kept it. However, Id forgotten my headphones, depriving it of its main purpose, tunes towards the end of the event.

The bag drop queue at the start

I then had to run to the start which was about 10 minutes walk away.  When I got to the pens there was no segregation between pens and no marshals to organise anything.  I found the 3h30m pacers but the start was the wrong side of the dual carriageway meaning a messy starting procession to the other side of the dual carriageway.

Once I started I immediately had cramping.  I kept at an ok pace (8min/mile) for several miles and was just behind the 3h30m pacers.  I spotted Rodney on the other side of the road and felt sure I'd see him later in the race

I got into the race a bit and gradually saw familiar faces.  I saw someone in a Ards Peninsula Triathlon shirt and commented that I was sure I'd seen him in local duathlons. He responded that he sees me everywhere he goes, and spookily listed most of the major races I'd done this year.  I also saw a couple of Dub Runners who I'd seen recently and they commented that I should be ahead of them considering how well I did in Carlingford.

The race itself went through industrial estate and then into Salford Quays where I saw the recently built ITV building and the BBC buildings in the distance.  We then proceeded to go through Sale and into countryside. As promised the crowd support was mostly pretty good. Lots of loud cheering and having my name on the race number was a plus for this.

A problem was starting to present itself. There were traffic cones across the middle of the road. The crowds were still pretty deep and I'd stray across to the right forgetting about the infrequent cones nearly colliding with them.  On lots of points throughout the course I'd see people collide with them and saw a couple of people on the ground after high speed collisions.

When we turned left into leafy suburban streets the crowds thinned out but the streets got more narrow.  I was keeping up with Ards triathlon guy but the mighty Dubs were way ahead along with the 330 pacer.  I could still see the flags though.

The cramping was still there. Decided for a brief toilet break and relaxed. I could still see the 330 flags. At that point I'd decided that 330 was impossible, but my PB was 338 could still be beaten if I held it together.

The best reception was at Altrincham itself where there was a relay changeover point at halfway. My time was 1h45m. I felt slightly fatigued and was slipping a bit.  On the return from Altrincham I got to see everyone else in the marathon on the other side of the road. Eventually the numbers thinned out and at mile 17 we turned left and were free of the 2 way runner traffic. No more cones.

The route then went into countryside with a strong smell of manure.  When getting back into urban areas at the 30k mat, Rodney finally passed me doing his bouncy stride thing which I think demoralised me a bit. I held on for a couple more kilometres after that before dropping back. My heart rate was too high, I was pissed off with the cramping and I stopped at one of the water stops and chatted with one of the girls.

Regarding the water stops, they were pretty frequent. They had little bottles which weren't very portable but did the job. There were some gels but they were spread out a lot more. I suppose I wanted something else like solid food. I didn't take as many gels anyway because my stomach was so unsettled. I just gently alternated between gels and shot bloks without ultimately taking enough fuel onboard.

After I stopped I saw a 345 pacer and decided to rejoin the race and picked up pace keeping them in sight.  I was on autopilot after that.  As soon as I saw the finish line from way off in the distance. I sped up towards the end and caught the pacer at the finish line.

The finish wasn't bad. A nice big medal and a decent Asics shirt along with the usual goodie bag oddities.  They also had Alkoholfrei Erdinger which is always welcome.  I didn't hang around and went straight to the bag drop remembering what the start was like.

On the way I saw Rodney lying helpless on the ground next to the ice cream unable to move.  He had beaten my PB by 1 minute with a time of 3h37m but he was a spent force.  I needed the remaining energy I had to queue for over 2h20m for my bag which it turns out was longer than it took the winner to run the entire race.  After about 90 minutes the organisers picked up the pace and gave us space blankets and water, but it put a dampener on things.

Me and Rodney

The bag drop queue at the finish

The  biggest problem with the race is that it was the location.  It was a building site with a stadium for a cricket ground that we couldn't use.  There was no Man United connection apart from the start being on Matt Busby Way. Not that I care about football, but it relegated the race to an unsuitable, uninspiring area with too much dual carriageway  and double backing.  A good comparison is with the Liverpool Rock n Roll Marathon which I did last year.  It had a great route covering the entire city.  It passed the Everton stadium, went through several nice parks, went past the Cavern Club in the city centre and had a band playing Penny Lane on Penny Lane.

Manchester was a fast course though.  Primarily because of the breakfast mishap I'd blown my chance of getting sub 3h30m as upcoming marathons will all be hillier.  Cork in June is probably my strongest chance of getting a marathon PB, but it has 900ft of elevation.  I'll worry about that later. Until then its the mountain life for me where times don't matter.  Only cut-offs and not getting lost.



















   

Reading Half Marathon

Reading Half Marathon

I'd no major compulsion to do the Reading Half.  I knew it was one of the bigger half marathons in the UK at around 18000 but its not one of those bucket list events that everyone aims to do like the Great North Run.  When I do a Half in England these days its usually because people I know who are less serious at running want to take a step up to a bigger event and suggest doing it to me.  For a marathon I wouldn't need any persuasion and I wouldn't be bothered if others aren't signing up. Unfortunately, sometimes the other people drop out and I end up doing the event anyway on my tod. That's what happened in this case.

The timing for this worked out ok as I would consider April as a period of tapering after the last tough few months.  I'd done an Ultra and a marathon already along with some other marathon distance training runs for the Fling. I had Manchester the following week, so if I wanted to do well there I shouldn't do longer than Half distance in training.

On heading over I definitely felt some fatigue. I'd been running some fast 10k's with the Craic and Carn 10k in March and was still feeling the North Coast Marathon and the training runs  That didn't stop me from signing up for some parkrun tourism at the Reading Parkrun. The Reading Parkrun was pretty big at a few hundred and was mostly on soft ground with a little bit of trail later on. It had recently been flooded with a temporary relocation to somewhere miles away.  On this occasion it was a nice jog through Thames Valley Park next to Avon canals. The whole area seemed like a nature reserve. I ran 23.58 and still felt pretty good.  It had a really long dramatic finish on the soft ground which I liked.

To compliment the run I felt compelled to go for a cycle. I was hoping for something as majestic as the Bristol to Bath cycle route which goes along a converted railway to Bath. Emerging into Bath you feel as if you're in a different world. Newbury seemed like the closest equivalent. There was a big catch though. For Bristol - Bath I had a nice hybrid to cycle on. For Reading the only hire service I had was their council hire scheme with crappy bikes. Doing 18 miles to Newbury would be a struggle. In the end I cycled to Theale along a pleasant route and managed to get a pint in at the Cunning Man pub. The hire bike fared well, but after the pedals came off when I cycled to Comber last year on the Belfast bike I was pretty worried about a repeat. I didn't think a 18 mile walk carrying a heavy broken bike would help me for the next day.

Reading Hire Bike

On race day itself I headed to the organised buses at the station. All well done without too much waiting around. Race village was well laid out. Bag drops were laid out like at the Berlin Marathon with number separation. They didn't complain about me bringing a rucksack as well.  As seems to be a trend with bigger English events there were lots of toilets at the start. The start was some way from the the race village and it took some time to reach the red zoning. Upon getting there I bumped into Paul, a former member of OAC who was running for Burnham Joggers now.  We had a chat and he soon went to position himself in the pen. We were both the same colour start, I wasn't going to be watching him, but I knew that despite my improvements he's still in a different league as a runner. After the start he'd be gone. I didn't know at the time that he was using it as part of a 21 mile training run for London. If I'd known that at the time I might have tried to keep him in sight thinking he wouldn't be 100% or not taking it that seriously. However at the finish he was still a good 5 minutes ahead of me.

Entrance to race village

The race started at 10.15, a delay of 15 minutes, and even after that they were starting each wave every couple of minutes. I had my doubt about this, but overall on reflection there wasn't that much congestion. Why Belfast doesn't do this at the crush at the start I don't know. They don't care I guess.

At the starting I saw that there was a 1h35m pacer. In my recollection this was a first in a race and it was sort of where I was at. I wasn't really feeling 1h33m like in Carlingford. Besides it was quite warm, it was busy and there would be distractions. I set off with the pacers, though as usual plenty of others had the same idea and it was a bit of a crush. I moved on ahead a bit of them but not by much.  Running next to pacers is usually a crowded place.

There was a lot of crowd support near the start along the first roundabout.  The first water stop was about 2 miles in. This would be a welcome trend as often its about every 5k. On this occasion they had these odd plastic wrappers instead of bottles that worked really well. You could still hold them and drink while running but weren't awkward like full bottles would be. The miniature Buxton bottles they use in London are still the best though. 

Before long it became clear that despite the billing as the fastest half marathon it was by no means flat. there was a really horrible hill at mile 3 and after that my morale was shaken up a bit. Thankfully there were some downhill stretches so I was able to pick up speed a bit again.

There was a turn into the pretty big Reading University campus.  The support was pretty good there. There were bands, drums and cheering crowds. They started dishing out the Lucozade. I stepped on one of the bottles and nearly sprayed someone with sticky goo.  Thankfully it was a near miss unlike in London where I sprayed someone's legs and there was a bit of awkwardness as I ran next to the sprayed person for a bit after that.

From there it was a short journey into the centre which looked amazing.  There were more drums which they positioned underneath a big overpass for extra echo. The entire centre appeared to be shut to traffic with plenty of crowd support. Around the centre there were a couple of steep inclines as we went past the massive Oracle shopping mall. My time was still working out ok.  50 minutes for 8 miles.

Upon leaving the centre at the bottom of the hill there was a nice looking pub playing music and a table full of light ale.  At that point I decided to take a quick breather and sip ale. How often can you do that in a race?  I think I was the only one doing that at that point in the race. I was running mostly with serious faced club runners.

It was a bit of a slog getting up that hill and people started to pass me. First was someone in a full body lobster suit. I ran at the same pace as him and bathed in all the cheery banter. When approaching the 10 mile mark it was clear that I wasn't going to get a PB.  My time was 1.13 for 10 miles.

I took a brief comfort break and then worked out the remaining splits. Excluding Carlingford my PB was Belfast last year at 1.37.49 and I worked out I could beat that without wrecking myself.

The last few miles were pretty straight dual carriageway, so I just kept it steady. About mile 11 I saw the Race Angels which seems to be a trend in English events for enthusiastic ladies to cheer on struggling runners just before the end.  A great morale boost, but the Run Dem Crew who I saw at London and Berlin do this more bombastically with deafening cheers and loud banging tunes at mile 22 of marathons.

 I could see the 1.35 pacer getting gradually closer to me in front and nearly caught it by the time I reached the stadium. He actually was close to a minute slower than his required pace which must have been disappointing. I finished in 1.36.53. 3 minutes slower than Carlingford, but still a minute quicker than anything I did previous to the many Halfs I've done before that in the last 6 years since I started.

The stadium finish was pretty great. Cheering crowds in most of the seating, With all the Mizuno sponsorship everywhere it reminded me a lot of the finish of the Amsterdam marathon. There was only medical support at the finish. The organisers clearly wanted us to keep moving outside.

Once outside we got the medal, then goodie bag and tshirt. The shirt was only cotton. You had to pay for the good tech Mizuno ones.  At Halfs in NI you pretty much always get a tech shirt included though the design quality does vary. A guy from the Republic patted me on the back and of course I probed him for info about good races in the South, but he was an ex-pat who was an occasional runner.  I was slightly disappointed that I hadn't seen other local runners during the race. I'd become accustomed to unexpectedly seeing familiar faces no matter where I went, even in Berlin and Chicago. I did notice that Gary Murray who appears in NI running reports was 5th overall in the race though.

The post race support available at the race village was decent.  There was a beer stall serving nice pints of Amstel and Guinness which is always welcome. I made sure to go back into the spectator section in the stadium and enjoy my pints while watching the remaining runners come in. There were stormtroopers and a camel mixed in with the sea of charity runners arriving around the 2 hour mark. The sun was still out and it was a pretty good atmosphere.

I think that's probably my new favourite English Half Marathon. Another favourite is the Grand Union Canal Half because I really enjoy running along canal paths with nice scenery. It doesn't have the organisation of this event though. The event felt almost as polished as the London Marathon which I'd regard as the gold standard.  I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how I feel about travelling for Halfs these days when there's a world of exciting events out there and I can now handle doing longer distances and still doing a bit of tourism after.

North Coast Marathon Series

North Coast Marathon Series

I remember when I first heard about the North Coast Marathon Series.  I was running through Monkstown Wood in November in the freezing rain as part of an East Antrim Marathon Series event with well known marathon runner Eugene “Oggie” Winters and he mentioned that he was organising his own marathons now.   The 1st one would take place on the 2nd January. Several questions went through my mind simultaneously that meant that I forgot to reply to his query about my attendance.

These were: It’s the 2nd of January on the north coast. It’ll be bloody baltic! It’s xmas, you know, a time of rest? EAMS are already doing back to back marathons on 30th & 31st December. Are people going to do another one after 1 days rest? How many people are going to attend? There’s around 60 doing this one including the half version.. How many will journey 60 odd miles to do yours? As it turns out about 50 went to the inaugural event and it got good reports.  Even though I had reservations my perspective of what a valid marathon is was altering in any case.  In that EAMS marathon I was doing 4 laps of Greenisland suburbia. I would end up doing another on the 30th December along the coast from Carrick and enjoyed it. I made a note to fit one in if the dates were right.

The next one was scheduled for the 20th March. As it turns out this date was fine and I could incorporate it into my Highland Fling plan. I’d arranged to do the D33 mile Ultra the previous week and I needed a long run which was less than 33 miles, but I still was able to keep the weeks mileage up at around 60.There was 1 problem. I’d signed up for the Larne Half. The primary reason for doing this is that I wanted to get used to running on tired legs for the Fling so I was always going to do a long run on the Sunday as well. Recently I was wrecked after doing the Carlingford Half and a 25 mile training run on the Sunday. The solution was to ease back on the pace on the Larne Half by about 10-20% so I wasn’t fatigued. As it happens a girl I knew from North Down, Helen, was aiming for a 1h45m PB and it made sense for me to pace her.  

Larne went great as it always seems to, and I headed back to put the feet up, get the carbs in and watch the rugby. In this case it was bolognese with chips and a large pizza along with some nice ale. Otherwise my preparation could have been better. I had no gels, no sweets some shot bloks. I resolved to get some confectionary in the morning while I got some diesel for the journey.

Upon getting down to the start I didn’t really expect many surprises. It was very much a spin-off of EAMS and it almost seemed like an extension of the franchise. They both have the following features in common;

- Cheap entry fee (around £20 with proceeds going to charity)

- Organisation through Eventbrite with a closed Facebook group for info

- Restricted entrance numbers. Less than 100.

- 2 starts. 1 at 8am for slower than 4h30m runners and 1 at 9am for quicker runners

- Minimal marshalling to help with busier junctions with supply drops around every 8 miles

- A nice medal at end with lots of confectionery at the end. EAMS had the back of  a car with cans of full fat coke and crisps like a school tuck shop.

I was choosing the later start as I already had to get up for 6am to get down there with getting fuel and provisions. At short notice the start time was moved forward to 8.45 which made the timing a bit tighter than I’d have liked.

When I arrived I saw a few familiar faces. There was Big Ivan who was there in support of his partner Fiona after running Larne the previous day. He’s not crazy enough to do both, neither was Fiona who skipped Larne. There was a girl from North Down, Cara, who I’d never spoken to but recognised and there was Jonny Lindsay who I’d never spoken to, but knew his brother well. The organiser was Helena Dornan, who was a distinguished local Ultra runner (she was the first lady at the recent Last One Standing Ultra). There were maybe 20 people running. Missing was the NCMS Chairperson himself, Oggie, and it occurred to me that he was almost certainly running the race with the 7.45am start. That’s the problem with an event that was designed “by marathon runners, for marathon runners”. The organisers might decide to run the event themselves!

The start was prompt at 8.45 and off we went.  I went at a 9 minute/mile pace (4 hour target time)  which immediately relegated me to the last 4 runners. The rest, including Fiona were absolutely flying ahead. I suspected she was going for the 1st lady position.  I was ok with all this speediness, but there was a Facebook post from Helena detailing how a couple of runners went the wrong way towards Portballintrae in the previous event, and I really hate getting lost in races. I also don’t want to be last in a race. Considering there were probably some slower runners in the 7.45 start overall this was unlikely, but I knew that it could well happen in practical terms.

Race start. Helena and Cara (centre) in shot

The other runners at the back were a guy who was wearing cycling gear, a couple of runners with Southern AC vests on and Jonny Lindsay.  The sun was quite bright now and it was turning into the sunniest race I’d done since Chicago in October. The views were superb of the cliffs and the sea, and there were several golf courses with bemused players looking at us. There was a steady stream of cyclists going past. A number were saying things like “great running, big lad” and being generally complementary. Thankfully there was footpath for several miles all the way through Portrush and towards Bushmills.

Dunluce Castle

At Bushmills (about 10 miles in) it was a left at the junction with the Copper Kettle cafe (as mentioned by Helena) and on towards the Giant’s Causeway. At this point the footpath disappeared and it was onto the road. There was an uphill stretch that went on for ages, the road was in poor shape and there was a constant stream of cars to play chicken with. It was now that I started to see runners coming the opposite direction. One of the first was Oggie, wearing a Chicago Marathon shirt who high fived me, along with others. It was getting customary for the out and back runners to high five each other. When the road turned left to the Causeway there were greater numbers and the first of the 8.45 starts on the return stretch appeared. I passed a couple of the runners ahead as the numerous bumpy hills took their toll. Eventually we reached the turnaround point which was at 13.1 miles precisely.  

The turnaround point

I took a quick breather and started chatting to one of the Southern AC runners. It turns out he was from Waterford and was inspired to come up after meeting Oggie at the Tralee marathon the previous week. I found it hilarious that Oggie runs around 60 marathons a year and is an evangelist for his own series, getting people to travel 300 miles north for it. He seemed like he was enjoying it, and had already signed up for Walled City and was asking me about Newry. The upsurge of tourism from The Republic hasn’t been as much as was expected, but it’s clear from this, EAMS, and the Ultras they have in NI like the Energia 24 that there’s nothing holding back runners from crossing the border to go to our events.

Keep er lit big lad

I was starting to find it tough after about 16 miles.  It seemed hilly on the way out and I thought this meant it would be easier on the return, but it really wasn’t. On the plus side the views of the scenery were better on the return. I got a clear view of Dunluce Castle and the views of Portrush in the distance, along with the backdrop of the Inishowen Peninsula. I caught up with Cara and the Waterford guy who had now adopted a walk/run strategy. I explained that I needed the running miles and went on. Cara asked what I was planning and I mentioned about The Fling. She said I was running too fast. Fair enough. At this point I knew I wouldn’t hit 4 hours but would probably not be too much after that.  I then passed Jonny who had also taken to walk/run.

At around 20 miles I decided I’d try and do what elites do and “kick” meaning use my remaining energy reserves and make use of the perceived downhill. This didn’t really work as the downhill stretches were short and my legs were pretty sore. At mile 23 I saw Helena who cheered me on. I didn’t see any marshals or anybody else for that matter. I went on autopilot to the finish.

At the finish there was some Lucozade, crisps and sweets. We were promised Morellis ice cream at presentation of our race number, and something was going on at the Anchor Bar. I didn’t really hang about as I was starting to cool down and my legs felt like someone had taken a bat to them.  On looking at the results later it turned out I was placed 23rd out of 44 with a time of 4.19.29 which I was fine with.

Finish with Oggie

So who is the NCMS for? Its for experienced marathon runners who are fine with self-supporting and who really don’t take it that seriously. I'm taking it as an enjoyable way of training for bigger challenges, and it works great for that. I can’t imagine people training for 16 weeks specifically for it, nor should they. My next marathon, my 25th, is Manchester, is very much a traditional marathon, which I will be taking seriously.