When I started this blog the plan was really to focus on the Summer spine Race and my preparation for the 2022 event. However i have come to realise that actually all my running is inextricably bound up in what happened in 2021 and preparing for 2022.
Anyone that has read this blog (I know at least three people do – I get statistics from WordPress telling me so) will hopefully see that I am putting my DNF behind me and trying to move forward – however…
It isn’t easy. It’s reasonably certain that I was in no way recovered by the Lakeland 100 and so I should just be happy to have finished. I was probably still recovering when I did the SVP100 and so shouldn’t be too disappointed by my time. However my Fuerteventura adventure possibly took a bit longer than I’d hoped and a few doubts were starting to creep in – was I getting too old? Had the Spine Race had a permanent effect on my ability? And the one that was most occupying my thoughts last week – would I be able to perform as well as I hoped in my first XRNG multi-day event for three years as I hoped?
For those that only know my running through this particular blog, you are probably aware that I am most at home with stage racing but may not realise that the vast majority of these have been organised by a company called XNRG. XNRG are an amazing group to run with, the races are superbly organised, challenging and incredibly friendly. I consider the organisers, volunteers and many of the competitors as my XNRG family. I was particularly looking forward to the Pilgrims Challenge since, as I mentioned earlier, apart from it being three years since my last multi-day race, it is always good to meet up with my ‘family’. I was also very nervous, there were doubts and demons creeping in. Pilgrims is quite tough, two days, 33 miles each day out and back, Box Hill is involved – I wasn’t so much doubting I could do it but could I do it in the sort of time I would like and would I enjoy it?
My very first XNRG event was the Druids Challenge – a 3 day, 84 mile run along the Ridgeway – in 2013. One of my most abiding memories of my first steps into ultra-running (apart from being so scared I nearly went home) was the encouragement I was given by a pair of running twins, Justin and Nathan. However I suspect Justin remembers the race better than I as it was where he met his lovely wife Melissa! Justin and Melissa were to be running at Pilgrims, however Nathan was preparing for an ultra through Sao Tome, which I had run in 2020, its first edition and just before Covid hit the world. These three have become an incredibly important part of my XNRG family and I was very much looking forward to meeting two of them again.
Due to the start time and location of the Pilgrims Challenge (9:30am in Farnham) I have always travelled down the night before and often stayed at the Premier Inn in Aldershot. Although there is now one in Farnham, the Aldershot one was half the price and so I was there again. In keeping with another tradition I had a mixed grill in the pub next door and, because I was bored, photographed it, put it on Facebook and mentioned I was a bit nervous.
When I returned to my hotel room I received a message on my phone. Nathan had seen my Facebook post and taken the time to wish me luck and send me some motivation and advice. We chatted for a while on Messenger and I ended the evening feeling a a lot less nervous than I had been earlier.
Anyway as I said before this blog was supposed to be about my build up to the 2022 Spine Race but so far this entry has been some where between an autobiography and a list of my insecurities so let’s get back to running…
I’d booked breakfast for 7am, the earliest time I could. When I arrived it hadn’t opened so I waited outside with two other Pilgrims entrants. Apart from the mixed grill, the other tradition when I stay at the Premier Inn Aldershot is to blag a lift to the start and this year was no exception – thanks guys!
Pilgrims starts in a large marquee at the Sands Business Park in Farnham. Once I arrived there my nervousness dissipated and was replaced with excitement at meeting up with all the XNRG people, my running friends and of course Melissa and Justin.
Things weren’t quite as they used to be in that the three start times had been replaced with a rolling start until 9:30, at which point there was a small ‘mass’ start for those hoping to be competing for prizes. I wasn’t really expecting to be competing at the front of the pack but I decided I would join that group because (as Neil, the race Director, said) it would pull me along and make me push myself a bit.
After a short briefing we were off! I knew I wouldn’t keep up with the fastest runners but I settled in with a small group running in the middle of the pack from my start. The pace was reasonably quick but comfortable, however I didn’t expect to stay with them for the whole race but it did mean I started strongly.
The first thing I noticed was a complete lack of mud! Traditionally Pilgrims is a complete mud-fest, almost from the start. However a complete lack of rain meant that the course was firm and fast. The little group I was running with was interesting as we all had different strengths, at various points we all seemed to head the group before dropping back as someone else took over.
After what seemed like no time at all we crossed the Wey in Guildford and reached the first checkpoint on the outskirts. As I kind of expected, the other guys barely stopped and pushed on quickly. I had a drink and continued on my own. As I said, this was more or less what I expected and I was more than happy to continue on my own.
After CP1 it was climb to one of the significant landmarks of the Pilgrims Challenge, St. Martha’s Church. It’s the only church in Surrey on the North Downs Way National Trail and can only be accessed on foot. It is also a lovely building that I appear to only have couple of very bad photographs of taken on my first Pilgrims Challenge!
The next section of the North Downs Way National Trail runs along the top of ridge with commanding views to the south. This probably explains why it was chosen as the site of some of England’s defensive measures in the event of invasion during World War Two. The section of trail leading to the White Downs is home to several brick built pill boxes. I find it very atmospheric to be running through reminders of the last global conflict, it’s one of the highlights of the race for me.
This was also the point at which I started question my knowledge of the course. I’d run over half the distance of the first day and hadn’t encountered the second checkpoint – had i missed it? No, of course I hadn’t, the characteristics of the first day make it entirely logical that the first two legs should comprise over half the stage distance as, compared to what was to come, it is a relatively straightforward section of running. Checkpoint Two was on Ranmore Common – something I should have remembered as it was one of the checkpoints I volunteered at during Pilgrims 2021!
After Ranmore Common the North Downs Way enters Denbies Vineyard and heads downhill to the A24 underpass. The A24 is a busy dual carriageway hence it is perfectly reasonable that one of the few ways to get instantly disqualified from Pilgrims is to cross it rather than run up to the underpass and back. Apart from being dangerous to cross, it is also cheating as it takes around half a mile of the course if you go straight across.
This is where the real challenge of Day One begins (assuming that having already run 22 miles wasn’t enough of a challenge of course) – Box Hill. In previous years the race has crossed the River Mole via a footbridge. However due to the footbridge being out of action and the river level being fairly low we were to cross on the stepping stones. This was the first time I had used the stepping stones and it appeared I wasn’t the only stepping stone virgin, there were a few people ahead of me looking a little nervously at them. I’m afraid I may have been a little rude in that I didn’t quite wait my turn but just went across – sorry to anyone I pushed in front of! After the stepping stones the inexorable climb and steps that constitute the route up Box Hill commence. Fortunately it was quite dry and so not as tough as previous years but still quite a hike.
What goes up must go down apparently – although I must say running shoes never seem to go down in price, only up, so I’m not too sure about that. Anyway the descent from Box Hill led to a short detour off the North Downs Way to Checkpoint Three at Betchworth Station. When running, the theory that ‘what goes down must go up’ seems to be more often true than the previously mentioned concept. After Leaving Checkpoint Three the route starts to climb up to the highest point on the course at Reigate Hill some 235m above sea level. The climb usually starts following the B2032 for a while until it turns off through some trees up to a muddy narrow path towards Drawcombe Wood followed by an undulating section which culminates in slippery climb up Colley Hill, followed by a slight rise to the top of Reigate Hill. I said this what usually happens and, as there were no diversions, the route was as described with one fundamental difference to every other time I had run this route – where was the mud? I had worn my Inov8 X-talons and Sealskinz socks and was feeling decidedly overprepared for the underfoot conditions on the course. However there was little time to contemplate my footwear as Checkpoint Four was just over the footbridge over the A217.
From Checkpoint Four to the finish was fairly plain sailing. The North Downs Way goes into Gatton Park. It then leaves Gatton Park but the Pilgrims Challenge turns off almost due South to Redhill. The lost couple of miles were very well signposted to minimise the chances of anyone being left wandering around Redhill rather than reaching the end of Day One at the Warwick School. I personally arrived there in 5 hours 19 minutes and 19 seconds. This wasn’t my fastest Day One but was one of my faster efforts and was good for 16th place overall and second (by a fairly large margin) in the MV50 category. All in all not a bad result considering how worried I’d been about my potential performance.
The Warwick School definitely scored highly for comfort. The showers were hot and produced plenty of water an I got to sleep in a library! If possible XNRG seem to like to separate the faster runners from the walkers. This isn’t because they fight but simply because the walkers will have to get up a couple of hours before the fastest runners and it means that us delicate flowers can have an extra hour or two of relatively undisturbed sleep.
There is an option to stay overnight in a hotel but one of the best parts of the weekend for me is the chatting and camaraderie at the overnight ‘camp’. I babbled on far too much about the MDS when I discovered some of my room mates were training for this years event, then I babbled on far too much about my Spine DNF at dinner. In my defence it was three years of pent-up babbling which finally got released.
I slept very well and woke up feeling quite good the next day, although I was still unsure how things would go. For me, and most competitors, the second day is always slower. Obviously having run 33 miles on Day One doesn’t help but I always find Day Two much harder to judge in terms of conserving my energy. On Day One I can push hard over the first half, knowing that I’m going to be walking a lot more on the second half anyway. Day Two is harder as the big climbs are all more or less in the first half. This makes it sound like I actually have strategy for my ultras, I don’t really, just run as much as I can and hope is my main strategy.
I set of with about 20 others in the fast runners group at 8:30. I felt this was reasonable as I was in the top 20 for Day One. In terms of the course, assembly is the reverse of dismantling, as the instructions usually say. A bit of a run through Redhill saw us back into Gatton Park, mainly uphill until we reached the site of Checkpoint Four from Day One. A checkpoint three miles into the race isn’t necessary so the first Checkpoint is at Betchworth station, Checkpoint Three on Day One.
I had jokingly complained to Neil that it wasn’t proper Pilgrims as I finished Day One still able to make out the colour and brand of my shoes. In fact I considered changing to my graphene soled Inov8 Ultra 270s as I thought they would be better on the relatively dry course. I was soon very glad I hadn’t! Neil had arranged a lot of rain in and around Redhill overnight and we had proper mud! As I had stuck with my X-talons I was quite happy with this as the downhill from Reigate Hill down to Betchworth is quite fun with a bit of mud to stick your shoes in, certainly better – in my opinion obviously – than slightly damp chalk, which can provide very uncertain grip.
The steps of Box Hill are not so bad downhill, it’s just a matter of trying to get into a rhythm whenever possible. The stepping stones were deserted so I soon found myself at the bottom of the climb through Denbies Vineyard. I was feeling good and for, I think, the first time ever, ran continuously without walking right to the top and onto Checkpoint Two at Ranmore Common, which had also been the location of Checkpoint Two on Day One. From Checkpoint Two the running got a little easier until the climb up to St. Martha’s Church. This was the longest leg of Day Two, Checkpoint Three being at the bottom of the hill to the church, about a mile before the location of Checkpoint One the previous day.
There was now only 10 miles to go and I was getting a bit tired but reasonably confident I was going to make it. I caught up with a few more of the earlier starters at the final Checkpoint, which was being ably and loudly controlled by Ian, someone I remembered from my first ever XNRG event. He was directing people from the checkpoint as there is a little left-right turn to get right just after you leave. That was fine but shouting ‘Follow Colin, he knows the way!’ made me wonder if he knew me at all. Follow the orange tape , yes, follow the orange paint, yes, follow the orange t-shirt? not a great idea usually. Fortunately as it happened I did remember the rest of the course and was soon into the final stretch. The rain hadn’t had as much impact on the later part of the course, which was just as well really as I was starting to flag a bit. However I knew it wasn’t long until I was alongside the last fields, down the side of the golf course and onto the road. From there on it was just past the golf club house and into the finishing field. I always like to give it all I’ve got once I’m heading for the finish arch, although the deceptively long grass on the field was sapping my energy more than I expected and so it was a bit of an effort to continue my heroic finishing ‘sprint’ up to the arch, however I made it and gratefully received my medal from Neil.
Day Two took me 5 hours, 34 minutes and 26 seconds apparently. I was also 11th overall for the day so although I was slower it appeared I’d performed relatively better than Day One – which was nice. This left me 12th overall and still 2nd MV50 so it would appear that my fears were unfounded and I can still perform reasonably well in multi-day events. It was my second fastest Day One, second fastest Day Two and third fastest time overall. This has reassured me a lot as it is the first event since the Spine Race in which I have performed at the level I hoped to be able to.
There’s nothing else currently in the race calendar until the rescheduled Cheviot Goat in March. That is very much intended as a Summer Spine training run as the last leg of the Spine goes through the Cheviots so the only way for some of the way might be Pennine!
The Only Way Is Pennine... 