#ldwa

[teesdaletrails]

2020. #marathonrunning #ultrarunning #ldwa @chester_ultra @londonmarathon @ldwa_org @lakeland_50_100 https://www.instagram.com/p/B79PTS_neCJ/?igshid=ktqgiq1v52y9

[teesdaletrails]

Great day running around the Yorkshire Dales at @ldwa_org One Foot In The Gargrave. Course PB but far too hot for September so sickness for half of it #trailrunning #ldwa #ultratraining https://www.instagram.com/p/B2rii49B7kd/?igshid=1xqoy4kxqnavi

[teesdaletrails]

Full kit wanker. 16 days to go. #hadrianhundred #ldwa #ultrarunning (at Brignall) https://www.instagram.com/trail.taylor/p/BxQL0_5hQbi/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=6235esxxf9zk

[teesdaletrails]

High Cup Nick fell race again next year as part of the build up to @ldwa_org #hadrianhundred • • Will be nice to see it in the light as it should be dark when I go over it in May... hopefully... • • @dazzagee #trailrunning #ultrarunning #ldwa #hadrianhvndred #fellrunning #highcupnick (at Dufton) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrYiyIVBGHa/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1by8sxeux33xd

[teesdaletrails]

Amazing day out on some Yorkshire trails with @running_dad_of_two thanks to @ldwa_org One Foot In The Gargrave 23mile event • • #ultrarunning #strava #trailrunning #ldwa #onefootinthegargrave (at Gargrave) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoCbTMfnkQm/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=72k2g1qoy9b8

[teesdaletrails]

Durham Dales Challenge 2018 - Race/Event Report

This was my 3rd ‘Ultra’ distance race but stayed comfortably in the 50k bracket I’d done in the previous 2 (one being this event in 2017). Most people I know, including the majority of my running club, think that this distance and the terrain sound awful even if they do acknowledge the achievement; for me, though, it’s a day out, seeing some amazing scenery & getting to experience environments that I wouldn’t normally encounter.  The Durham Dales Challenge is an LDWA event run by the Northumbria group and offers both a 14mile or 30mile option so attracted 280+ walkers & runners across the 2 events for 2018. Starting in Wolsingham, the 30 mile route  takes you from Weardale over to Teesdale to the half way point at Middleton-in-Teesdale then back again via some quite remote fell.

So 280 people with varying amounts of gear gather in a park, in Wolsingham, on a Saturday morning... all (or at least I was) aiming to have a bit of an adventure that day. Knowing only a few people on the start line I set off at a comfortable pace & found myself in the 2nd group of runners heading through the 1st & 2nd checkpoints. The first 10 miles to the 2nd checkpoint includes 1500ft of climbing, some rough under foot conditions across heather & rocky paths and an epic descent in to the valley of Hamsterley Forest.

Coming out of the very sweaty forest you hit a fell path that takes you across a quite remote stream & then gives a fast 2 mile downhill section to Eggleston. My watch ticked over these two miles in 7:59 & 7:51 which made me worry as I was aiming for a 6 hour pace which is 12 minute miles.... I didn’t doubt I’d lose this time later on though, knowing there was some big climbs coming. Crossing the river Tees and through Mickleton I was soon in to the half way point at Middleton where the buffet on offer was, as ever at LDWA events, amazing. Re-fuelled and back out with a small group of myself, Lee & Peter we went on to the hardest section of the course.

The next 6 miles comprised of a series of climbs, navigation errors, falling down hidden holes in the heather and questioning the sanity of what I was doing. It also offered some amazing scenery and that sense of exploring I’d set out to do 4 hours earlier. A 3 mile climb out of Middleton lead to the high point of the race and brought a group of around 10-12 of us together making our way over the fell. Feeling nauseous I ended up at the back of this group and watching on as one by one the smaller groups disappeared out of sight. 

Coming down a descent in to the last checkpoint at mile 25 I found a second wind & decided to get it done as quickly as I could for the last 5 miles... this still wasn’t exactly rapid though. I passed 7 people in the last 5 miles along a fairly flat stretch that followed the river Wear back from Bollyhope to Wolsingham and ended up with a time of 6hrs37mins and 13th place out of 119 finishers... being number 13 for the race & finishing 13th was weirdly satisfying for someone who works with numbers on a daily basis. The 2 other people I knew on the start line were Gary Thwaites & Darren Gee... they finished 1st & 2nd... talented bastards they are. 

This has to be my favourite event that I’ve ever run & this years course provided all the challenges and sense of achievement that I was looking for. At £14 with amazing support, organisation & especially food, it’s an event I can’t recommend highly enough. In 2019 it won’t be on as there is the Hadrian Hvndred which gives me around 11 months to plan how to run/walk/crawl 100 miles... Next up though is 39 miles across the Pennines on 7th July. 

[lobsterwalks-blog]

The 'Ha, I never fell over on this walk', walk

The ‘Ha, I never fell over on this walk’, walk

Easter was here so of course Chris was working it! I had planned on doing a Pendle or Amble walk on Good Friday but the weather conspired to make me stay at home and be harassed by the cat…and my PC! Likewise Saturday was off the agenda as well and on Sunday we had a family get-together to attend. This left just Monday but I do like walking on Bank Holiday Mondays.

So, having called in at…

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[thebewilderness]

Winter Tanners

The Winter Tanners is an LDWA challenge starting in Leatherhead with two options: twenty or thirty miles. I opt for the latter as this is the soak up the Mince pies and sacrifice Xmas excess to mud. With the weather, I chose boots over my running trainers. Not that it made all that much difference. The self enclosed footpath in Effingham was flooded: you were going to get wet and muddy whatever path you took. So, we all ended up ploughing on through the ankle high sludge. The route runs from Leatherhead leisure centre, by country paths down towards Horsley. Then, it snakes south round Albury and heads back up along the North Downs Way before closing the circle. As this was a new route, that avoided Tanners and Steer field entirely, I can identify this as an encouraging start to a year of challenges. Roll on the Punchbowl!