Endurancelife Stage 1
– Northumberland
 |
| Sunrise on the Northumberland Coastline |
The long
awaited Stage 1 of the 2011/2012 Endurancelife Coastal Series finally arrived
with a new course and a new venue on the Northumberland Coastline. This is a
coastline that I have very little knowledge of and so once again, Endurancelife
enabled me to fulfil a couple of things that I always like to do when I do a
race, see a new place and run somewhere different and challenging.
I hadn’t
actually realised how close to Scotland our race venue was. Bamburgh Castle was
literally not much more than an hours’ drive from Edinburgh. Unlike the other
races in the Coastal Series, this coastline was gentler. What it lacked in up
and down coastal paths it made up for with Castles, beaches and stunning views.
It was an
early start to the day, but then again, this is nothing unusual when racing.
Niandi and I arrived at Bamburgh just in time to see the sun break the skyline
and provide us with an orange glow in the early morning chill. It was quite a
start to the day. Andrew Barker from Endurancelife was running around taking
photos and capturing video while other EL staff prepared registration and all
the last min prep that goes into a race, or should I say races of this size and
nature. What has always been a great feature of EL races is the provision to
provide distances of varying nature, 10k, half marathon, marathon and now
ultra. Of course, if you have raced any EL race before, you know the 10k is
12k, the half is 14 miles, the marathon is 28 miles and the ultra, well, the
ultra could be anything…. you always get value for money! And I mean this in a
very positive way. Trail racing is never an exact distance and we never want to
be cheated.
The
Northumberland race in many ways was a unique event. This is the one and only
‘point to point’ race in the CTS and therefore at 0800am the marathon and ultra
runners were transported by coach some 30 min away to the race start at
Alnwick. Our objective was to run from Alnwick, back to the coast and then run
north up the coastline back to Bamburgh Castle.
 |
| Northumberland Marathon Route |
As you
will see from the map, Alnwick was inland and it provided us with quite a
beautiful start. It became apparent early on that our day was going to be a
‘good day’. The sun was out, skies were blue and the early morning chill was
going to soon disappear and provide us with a warm and clear day for a great
run. We grouped together in a field while Gary from EL provided us with our
usual pre race briefing. The route was pretty simple; run to the coast, turn
left and run north until you reach Bamburgh Castle. Of course, no route is that
simple but EL always do a great job of marking the route with red/white tape or
white chevrons painted on the floor (eco friendly paint) or objects to help
navigate the runners in the right direction. Of course you need to pay
attention and keep your eyes peeled; after all, following the route is actually
part of the event.
 |
| Alnwick Castle - race start |
At 0900
we were off and an early group soon formed with guys up front, myself and
Oliver Sinclair in 4th and 5th and then a couple of other guys close behind in
5th and 6th. The early trail was mostly through fields, farmland and woods. We
had the early joy of wading through a river up to our knees. Perfect!
completely wet feet in the first few miles of a marathon. I actually didn’t
mind. To be honest I found the chill from the water nice on the muscles. Today
I was running a little cautious as the previous weekend I had raced a 50k. The
five days after that race had been devoted just to easy runs of 4 miles twice a
day with the emphasis on loosening my legs rather than training.
The six
of us pushed to the coastline, as I looked around at the race numbers I was
surrounded by 5 ultra runners and I was the only marathon runner. A nice
position to be in. In principal the ultra runners should be running a little
slower than the marathon runners but considering I had no competition around I
had no reason to run any harder.
After
about 45 min we moved from a road section, crossed a bridge and we were then on
the coast. Oliver Sinclair lifted the pace slightly, Andrew Bass followed and I
basically maintained 3rd place maybe some 100m back.
 |
| Hoka One One - Stinson B Evo |
As we hit
the coast we had a mixture of terrain; sand, road and grassy trails. Because of
the mixed nature of the terrain I had decided to use a new pair of Hoka One One
shoes called ‘Stinson B Evo’. These shoes are actually only going to be
available in 2012 but it was important for me to start testing them so that I
could provide feedback. Unlike other shoes in the Hoka range these shoes offer
increased grip, a race fit and obviously the supreme cushioning that Hoka
offer. EL races always offer challenging terrain, not only for the lungs but
for your feet, so, a good pair of shoes is a must. I have to say, that the
Stinson B Evo is going to be a great addition to the Hoka range.
As we
moved up the coastline Andrew Bass had taken the lead followed by Oliver
Sinclair and then myself. The 4th and 5th placed runners had run with me for a
short while but as we hit the dunes and mixed terrain we had all found our
natural place. I could still see Oliver and Andrew but behind me was nobody, so
I settled and concentrated on keeping an even pace. I went through the 2nd
checkpoint at around 1040 am, this would mean that I was about 10 min behind the
Half Marathon runners who started at 1030am.
 |
| Ian at Northumberland |
The sun
was out and it was getting pretty warm. As we ran past our second Castle of the
day, Andrew was waiting with his camera at the ready. This section was tough
underfoot. You needed to look at your foot placing. Ok, excuses over. Question?
Is the above photo concentration or do I really look wrecked?
Wrecked
or not I was leading the marathon and in 3rd place overall behind the two
‘ultra’ guys up ahead. As we moved on we now had sections of coastline, long
stretches of beach and back markers from the half marathon race ahead. At the
20 mile mark I went through a bad patch…. I could feel some fatigue from the
previous weekend and had to dig deep to put the ‘walk demons’ away and keep the
tempo going. On the beach sections I cut the lines as best as I could looking
for the shortest line. Happy to get my feet wet if meant I saved on distance.
At the
final checkpoint Bamburgh Castle was in view and as I shouted ‘about a mile to
go?’ the marshal said ‘erm no!’ Aaaagh, this is when the EL value for money
kicks in. On those days that you want the marathon to be 26.2 you just know it
is not going to be. Endurance running is as much about the mind as the body and
when you think your finish is less than 10 min way but then soon realise that
actually it is probably going to be more like 30 min away, you need to recoup,
dig in and push on.
The final
beach section was a long one. The terrain was good though, yes it was softer
tan trail but it wasn’t deep sand. Finally the foot of the castle came and we
had some nice twisty dunes to navigate our way through.
 |
| A mile in the dunes |
Out of
the dunes we had a climb up to the castle a right turn and then a couple of
hundred meters to the finish. A great finish awaited with the castle making the
perfect setting. I made the total distance covered just short of 28 miles and
my time was 3:46.
In
summary this is a beautiful course and it is extremely runable. It is a great
first event for those moving to trail racing or those tempted by the EL series
of Coastal Races. My buddy and team mate, Oliver Sinclair won the Ultra so it
was a great day out for the Endurancelife Team.
 |
| The finish - Bamburgh Castle |
No comments:
Post a Comment