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.