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Comments: This is a self navigation course, where you follow a map and route directions. I was a bit rusty with my map reading skills and new that this would be a challenge, but enjoyable. On leaving the start point, everyone seemed to get into groups and headed, straight up, to the first check point. It was all very civilised, with people talking as they walked along briskly. If ever you were in the camp of running off too quickly at races, you should try one of these events :) It was 1.4 miles to the cp, with a climb of 1040 feet. Mostly on tarmac as we left the village, but quickly turned into a single-laned trail. It was going alright so far, but I was a bit worried at what I'd got my self into if that was only the 1st mile and a half. Next two check points were spent descending, and it was rough under foot. Lots of loose stones and a fairly technical descent (in my limited experience). Quite easy to take a fall on this type of trail. We managed to get to cp3, 4.7 miles, in about 1h 10m. From there, we headed up the next summit, Twmbarlwm, and ancient hill fort, with a climb of 1310 feet. Up to this point, I hadn't been directing the route, as the other two lads had completed the route before. I had been following my map as we ran just as a practice. Halfway up the climb, they took us down a lane to the left, we traveled for about 500 meters before I called a stop and said I think we were going the wrong way. On doing a few back bearings, I managed to triangulate our current position and quickly put us back on the right path. We should have turned right :) Army life was good for something. Pretty much same old, same old, for the next few checkpoints, with us talking whilst we jogged the flats/downs, and walked the climbs. I managed to put us back on the right track three more times (seems he went the wrong direction last year also). I could have probably run a bit more than what we did, but struck up a chord with the two of them, so wanted to stick with them as the time was flying by. We got to CP 6, distance 17 miles, total ascent 3658 foot, at about 4h 25 min. My knee was starting to ache a bit, probably from the thrashing they were taking on the descents. One of the lads I was running with gave me some Nurofen. We had some chocolate cake and a cup of tea, refilled our water bottles with juice, and were off. Ohhhh, I've failed to mention the food on these events. WOW, this is probably the only event were you can complete a marathon/ultra and put on weight :) Every manned check point had cup cakes, gateaux, fruit loafs, sandwiches, tea, coffee, juice. All for the princely sum of £9 (c.14.5 USD), bargain. By the time I reached the next summit, the pain killers had kicked in and my knee was feeling better. We had another steep descent, partly on tarmac, down to the next cp, held in a pub :), Total tally so far 20.5 miles, 4679 feet, 2 cup cakes, 1 chocolate slice, 2 x Nurofen, bum cheek rash x 2 (1 per cheek), pack rash on lower back x 1, 1 pint of Guiness :) On to the final ascent of the day, along the ridgeway, and back down the steep descent to the finish to give a total of 26.6 miles and 5708 feet of climbing (27.75 miles by my garmin, perhaps had to do with someone trying to take us the wrong way). I was looking for 6 hours for this, but am happy with just over 7. What would you do differently?: Pack nurofen. Get used to running with a pack more, increase weight gradually. Pack weight for this run was 16 lbs. Practice map reading skills. Join Long Distance Walkers Association and get in some hill walking practice. I really felt this run for days afterwards :) but in a good way :) Take my camera out of my bag and actually take some photos (ffs). One of the other walkers took a camera with them and posted these pics, http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_pp/sets/72157636225232446/  Post race
Warm down: Registered with the marshal, and was told to sit down at the table and they'll bring some soup and bread over. Demolished the Cawl broth they brought to me http://britishfood.about.com/od/maincourse1/r/welshcawl.htm Then proceeded to sample the many different cakes on offer before collecting my certificate. Had a check of my feet as I had wore my Salomons and these had ruined my feet on the Ultra I ran in 2 weeks earlier. I bought a pair of Injinji socks to try on this run, and they worked a treat. Only slight blistering on one of my toes, but I think that could have been sorted out with a bit of lubrication prior to running. I feel I could do with putting on a 2nd pair of socks over the top of these to add a bit more shock absorbing as I found the rocky trail section tough on the soles of my feet. Will definitely been getting a few more pairs of these. Not cheap though, at £10.00 a pair. Finished scoffing my face, drove home for a bath, then off to work for a 15 hour shift :( that was probably the toughest part, trying to fit work around a long day like that. What limited your ability to perform faster: Experience, fitness. Event comments: A---effing--mazing Last updated: 2013-09-26 12:00 AM
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GB
Long Distance Walkers Association
14C / 57F
Sunny
Overall Rank = 13/95
Age Group = n/a
Age Group Rank = 0/
Worked the night before and got to bed at 0200 am. Woke up at 0600 am, quick wash and a cup of coffee, packed by pack, then drove the c.12 miles to the start, which was at Machen Village Hall. I was expecting this to be a low key event, with, perhaps 30-40 people attending. I was surprised by the amount of people that had actually turned up. It may have been due to the out of season weather that had been forecast for the day. There were two distances being run/walked today, 27 miles and 15.5 miles.
Firstly, let me point out that this "race" is not a "race", it is a challenge event. By that I mean that event placings relative to other participants are not really recognised. This is due to the organisers being a walking association, and it's cheaper from an insurance perspective if it is not classed as a race, thus enabling the organisers to keep the costs/fees ridiculously low (more on this later).
Upon arrival, I was directed where to park my car and went into the hall to register. I was asked if I wanted to start at 8 am or 9 am. I had opted for the 9 am slot, as I was going to run/walk the course and was aware that if I went off earlier, I would be waiting for cp's to open. How wrong I was.
I then went and sat down and was offered tea/coffee and toast, how very British :) nof which I had some coffee. I got talking to two lads that were sat next to me who had down the course before, were obviously very keen runners and looked very fit. They were going to set off at 8 am. Ohhh, mmmmm, nperhaps I underestimated this course. I explained I was pretty new to this and they offered for me to tag along with them. Bargain, switched my start to 8 am, and had 2 minutes to drink up and set off :)