Hardmoors 30 2015

Gun Time: 06:49:58
Position: 144/194

I first heard about the Hardmoors 30 race on John Kynaston's excellent ultra-running blog. Since there appear to be no marathons or ultras in Scotland in the months of January and February, I decided I would need to travel further afield to allow me to complete my charity fundraising challenge of at least 20 marathons in 2015. With this in mind, I booked the Hardmoors 30 for January and the Northumberland Coastal Marathon for the end of February.

The Hardmoors 30 race takes place in and around Fylingdales (near Whitby) on New Year's Day. This is a day I usually wake up on a floor somewhere, wondering not just where I am but who I am. This year would be different, I would wake up, put on my running gear and set out to complete my second ultra-marathon; a tough 30(ish) miler over some very challenging terrain in some very harsh conditions.

For accommodation we booked a Gypsy Cabin for three nights at Middlewood Farm Holiday Park in Fylingthorpe. We use wigwam style accommodation quite a lot when I'm running races further afield. As well as being economical and relatively comfortable, the children find it much more of an adventure than staying in the usual hotel or B&B.

Sophie being her usual helpful self, busily unpacking our bags.

After a 4½ hour drive, we were relieved to arrive at Middlewood Farm. Clare checked us in and settled the children into the cabin whilst I headed back to Whitby to get some of their famous fish and chips for our supper. After washing that down with a couple of beers, we all cosied up in our sleeping bags and drifted off to sleep, whilst listening to the rain and wind lash the outside of the cabin.

Hoping to emerge from my cocoon in the morning with the ability to run 30 miles.

Registration took place between 8-9am in the Fylingdales Village Hall, in Robin Hood's Bay. As this was only one mile from our accommodation, I didn't have to get up until around 7:30am. After a quick shower and change into my running gear, I leisurely sat outside the cabin and enjoyed a few cups of coffee and a couple of croissants with cheese. I was relieved to see that the storm had abated and although still very cold, it looked like it could be a promising morning. I thought it best to err on the side of caution and had chosen to wear two base layers, a technical t-shirt, a waterproof jacket and a pair of running trousers under my shorts. 

Determined? Serious? Nervous? Worried?
All of the above ✓

The race rules require that you carry the following items of compulsory kit (I now completely understand why!):

• Hat and Gloves
• Waterproof Jacket
• Minimum of 500 ml water/sports drink
• Headtorch/Torch
• Whistle
• Emergency food supply (chocolate/energy bar)

I arrived at the hall at about 8:30am and after getting my kit thoroughly inspected and my hand stamped to say everything was present and correct, I joined the registration queue. I was surprised to see a familiar face in the form of Zoe from my work in Scotland, helping behind the registration desk. She explained she had also signed up for the race but had to pull out due to an injury so was instead assisting with the race organisation.

At 9:15am we were all called into the main body of the hall to receive the race briefing from the race director, John Steele. After receiving our instructions and a bit of impromptu pantomime from the stage, we headed outside to the start line.

199 runners lined up on the start line. Not all will finish. (Photo courtesy of Ann Brown.)

The race commenced at 9:30am. I remember seeing one guy in the above photo sprint off as if he was running the 100 meters. I'm not sure how he fared for the rest of the race, but it seemed unsustainable for over 30 miles, even for Superman.

The course takes the form of a figure of eight which uses the Fylingdales Village Hall as a start, middle and finish point. The first six miles of the route heads North along old railway line and cinder track from Robin Hood's Bay to Whitby. With a tailwind I found this leg of the race fairly easy going and settled into a steady pace covering the first six miles in around 55 minutes.

Chewing Jelly Babies at Checkpoint 1: Whitby (OS 890 107). (Photo courtesy of Ann Brown.)

After checking in at the first checkpoint, I downed a couple of cups of water and some jelly babies and preceded down through the town of Whitby, onto a cobbled street and then up the 199 steps to the ruins of Whitby Abbey on top of the East Cliff. The steps are over two-hundred years old and have "landings" on them to assist the coffin bearers on their journey to the graveyard at the top.

The famous 199 steps up to Whitby Abbey. A challenge in itself!

At the top of the steps the route heads back South along the coastal paths of the Cleveland Way to Robin Hood's Bay. The going got much harder here, starting out through fields and then along very slippy, muddy paths which dozens of runners had already churned up before me. There were also quite strong headwinds for much of this stretch which made the going even tougher. Due to erosion, the cliffs were treacherous in parts and I spotted a couple of bunches of flowers along route where I can only presume, people must have sadly lost their lives by one means or another.

The view heading South along the Cleveland Way.

Unusually for me I ran the whole race without any music. I did have my MP3 player in my backpack, but instead just enjoyed the scenery and chat with other runners I met along the route.

The view back to Whitby along the cliffs.

Things got a lot muddier before I arrived back at Checkpoint 2 in Robin Hood's Bay. In some places it was a challenge just to walk never mind run.

Mud.. mud and more mud!

What's worse than steps? Mud AND steps!

Thirteen miles done, I arrived back in Robin Hood's Bay. I checked in with Zoe and then began to eat my own body weight in watermelon. There was a fantastic spread of food, but slices of melon were the only thing I craved. In retrospect I think I must have been quite dehydrated by this point.

Reverse psychology and food at Checkpoint 2: Robin Hood's Bay (OS 952 055)

After a couple of minutes I headed back out to face leg three; the route to Ravenscar. A few miles further in my legs were getting quite weary and I struggled to maintain a steady pace along the incline of cinder track, instead deciding to alternate between running and power walking every few 100 meters, to conserve energy for later on.

I began to hate cinder paths!

Arriving at checkpoint 3 at Ravenscar, I met a group of runners, some of whom I'd been loosely running with over the past few miles. After a handful of jelly babies and with a new lease of life I set off toward Hayburn Wyck. Unfortunately, a few people up front had missed a turn off, which led to around twenty of us following them down a dead end and adding at least another half mile onto our journey. My only consolation is that I was able to snap this picture of some llamas up to no good.

What did the llama say when it took a wrong turn? Alpaca my bags and turn around.

Once back on course I soldiered on to checkpoint 4 at Hayburn Wyck. Just after this, at around the 22 mile mark, I resisted the temptation of an extremely inviting pub by persuading myself it was probably just a mirage.

Not just the jokes!
More de-motivational signage at Checkpoint 4: Hayburn Wyke (OS 0086 9678)

From here I carried on to join another rather challenging section of the Cleveland Way which took us back to Ravenscar and checkpoint 5 via lots of steps and wind beaten coastline. The weather began to deteriorate at this point. Most people around me seemed to be struggling including myself. I remembered I had a Cliff Bar in my backpack. I'm not even all that keen on raisins and walnuts but at the time it seemed like the most delicious thing I had ever eaten.

Arrgh.. more steps!

26 miles in and feeling broken I set about the final leg back to Robin Hood's Bay. This involved a lot more muddy coastline, many more punishing steps both up and down and a switch back to tarmac which was a killer on the knees. Arriving in Robin Hood's Bay, even the thought of the extremely steep hill back up to the village hall couldn't dampen my spirits and I managed to complete the race with a sprint finish to find Clare, Sophie and Jack waiting for me at the end.

Another t-shirt for the collection.

I really enjoyed this race, it was impeccably organised and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a serious challenge and an alternative to the traditional forms of New Year's Day over indulgence. I'm also hoping that it has been a great training run for the 53 mile HOKA Highland Fling which I have booked for April.

Sophie and Jack enjoying the water at Scarborough beach.

We spent the rest of our time exploring Robin Hood's Bay, Scarborough and Whitby with a few stops at Marske, Sunderland and North Shields on our route back up to Scotland. I hope to return next year to improve my time. Happy New Year everyone!