Hardmoors 55 (Brief comment)

It is now 3 days since Hardmoors 55 and I am still dazed from the extreme effort. My quads are still super tight and I am constantly hungry. This worries me when I consider the UTSW 100 coming in June….

I am still a bit shocked that I managed to win and get the course record by over 10 mins with much more challenging conditions to last years perfect sunny day: slippery, wet rocks, light rain, heavy rain and drizzle then a dash of  hail chucked in for good measure and suffering from stomach cramps for the last 10 miles (still hurts today) and a massive lack of hill training.

It was an awesome day out on the Cleveland Way.

http://www.dailymile.com/people/OliverJSinclair/entries/13676999

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/158898574

I’m too tired to focus on writing anything of note but I will try again tomorrow.

Really need to recover for the Endurancelife Sussex Coastal Trail Marathon on Saturday! 

For now I copy up the newsletter from race director, Jonathan Steele - below:

Thank you for having us!!!!

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HARDMOORS 55 2012

First of all WELL DONE!!!! to all those competitors this weekend who ran the 55 and second of all THANK YOU!!! for taking part!!

Sorry this blog didnt come sooner but after the race itself I got under 2 hours sleep before going to work for an
8 hour shift. I got back ate, got my laptop out and the next thing I knew I was looking at my watch and it was 0400 and I must of slept the night on the setee!!

This years 55 for me seemed to be an improvement on last years with more water available ie Carlton Bank, High Cliff Nab, an extra checkpoint on the summit of High Cliff Nab with a lantern so runners could navigate a course to the checkpoint. As well as the marshalls bringing some of there own food (thanks guys so much for that) I got flapjacks, jelly babies and jelly beans for the more remote checkpoints too. One thing was missing though was my mums rice pudding and peaches at Kildale!! If you want that at the 60 (possibly 110?) and next years 55 drop me an email to jdesteele@gmail.com and ill talk her into it. The race finished provided food!! (last year at the Rugby Club we had plenty of food to cook for the race finish, but at the last minute we where refused use of the kitchen). Sorry there was no vegetarian alternative, I was a vegetarian for 18 years so know what its like to not be catered for, as truth be I didnt notice as the Sea cadets provided the food and whatever money they made went to their funds etc. Also being a coeliac I can never get anything at the end of any events either, but next year a vegetarian option will be available

While running myself I got to chat to some great people on the course, thank you!! I really enjoyed it, I was aiming for a 10 hour schedule (last year finished in 10hrs 28) but it wasnt to be and finished in 11 hours (Ill blame the extra stone Im carrying plus the 50 in 52, thats my excuse and im sticking to it! ;0)) A new Male record was set and also a new ladies record was set! This year was our largest field but the weeks leading up to the race unfortunatley we had dozens of runners drop out through injury!

NEXT YEAR WILL BE THE 4TH RUNNING OF THE 55 AND WILL BE RUN IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, GUISBOROUGH TO HELMSLEY!

Full Splits will be available soon, below are the catagory winners

1st Place Oliver Sinclair (8hrs 27mins) NEW RECORD
2nd Place Ian Symington (8hrs 42mins) 2nd FASTEST TIME ON THE COURSE
3rd Place Robin Carter (8hrs 49mins)

1st Lady Shelli Gordon (9hrs 9mins) NEW RECORD
2nd Lady Charmaine Richards (10hrs 39mins)
3rd Lady Lynda Howard (11hrs 34mins)

1st M50 kevin Perry (9hrs 20mins)
1st F50 Lynda Howard (11hrs 34mins)

1st V60 Andy Cole (11hrs 23mins)

1st Shire Jon Steele (11hrs 1min)

FULL SPLITS TO COME SOON!!

SDW Winchester to QE Country Park

SDW Winchester to QE Country Park

Time:	4:15:49
Moving Time:	3:49:42
Elapsed Time:	4:28:11

Avg Pace:	11:06 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	9:58 min/mi

Originally planned to run c. 50 miles to Amberley on my own today but couldn't bring myself to leave Gemma behind. Instead, after a bit of morning deliberation, we decided to run together over the western section of the South Downs Way from Winchester Cathedral to Queen Elizabeth Country Park a few miles south of Petersfield. As we left our London home the sky was heavy with dark grey cloud and damp drizzle in the air but by the time we got of the train in Winchester the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds and bright sunshine.

Winchester Cathedral

 We found our way to the Cathedral - the traditional start point of the SDW - and I started my garmin although we continued to walk until the just before crossing the M3. Navigation is pretty straightforward on the major National Trail and the only point in the next 23 miles we got confused was through he temporary Meon Valley section causing us to run an extra circuit of a field.

Well marked route

Gemma was strong throughout and kept me honest by running all the hills (excepting Old Winchester Hill) and as I was carrying about 10kg on my back, this was real hard work. I am not used to carrying weight.

Through trees to Meon

Tumulus on 3,800 yr Old Winchester Hill Fort

We had a fantastic 15 min break at Meon Valley Springs Camping and Trout fishing centre to top up on cola and lucozade. Although after that I started to feel light headed and quite sick until after the descent from Buster Hill - I blamed it on the out of date ham I ate last night....

Once at the QE Country Park we realised the only way to get to Petersfield (running having been discounted) was to get a bus but we missed the hourly schedule by 10 mins. Gemma took control and gave me the option of hitching or walking up the A3. I didn't beleive anyone would pick us up on the side of a busy dual carriageway but was happy for her to try. Amazingly, after 5 mins a car stopped and a politically interested Kosovan - which made me comfortable in my feeling that we wouldn't get a lift from any London-bound Southerners.... - brought us to Guildford where we could get the train home.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/154536324

Gemma's comments from dailymile for a different perspective:

http://www.dailymile.com/people/GemmaH/entries/13329501

"Good to run somewhere other than home territory. Started off with mild concerns about the task ahead but felt strong for the first 15 miles (and the sun was shining). Then the whole 'how long is this going to take me and how long have have I got left' mental maths started...although I did pick up a bit around 18 miles. I think this was due to the surprise coca-cola purchased via an honesty box at the fishing venue we chanced upon. That was a nice place - could have easily stayed there and lazed by the river for the rest of the day. Great mix of terrain and elevation gain/loss and managed to keep pace with Oliver on some of the hills (due to the purposely weighted backpack he was wearing to even out our effort levels). Glad when we reached the park. We hitched back to Guildford from the bus stop as the bus wasn't for ages - nice Kosovan guy gave us a lift and provided 20 minutes of stimulating conversation on a range of topics including politics and the recession/benefits, football teams, long distance driving and BA's monopoly on flight costs to Kosovo."