KIng Offa's Dyke race
or
"Old dog, new tricks"
The short report:
181 miles, about 30,000ft ascent, 90 hour limit, clock never stops.
Stunning route that is so so hilly. Lots of great views. Checkpoints with feed stations and super helpful crews. Hardest thing I've ever done but also one of the most enjoyable ultras I've ever done. Pleased to finish in 14th position (of 28 finishers, 53 starters).
Huge thanks to Beyond marathon and all the crew for putting on such a fantastic event.
The longer one...
I’ve run a few daft races in my time, the daftest up till recently being Deadwater, a 6 day multi-stage 235 mile race from Deadwater north of Keilder to Chester that I ran last September. Well, it didn’t kill me and it turned out that Beyond Marathon alternate Deadwater with a run along the Offa’s Dyke path, 181 miles from Chepstow to Prestatyn as a single stage race. Over 50 miles shorter but as it’s a single stage race it’s a much harder in many respects.
My build up to the race hadn't been ideal (I thought). I had planned to do the Lakeland 100 in July but several weeks of eating and drinking to excess while on holiday on France followed by a stinking cold wiped out my chances of running it. As luch (or stupidity) would have it, I also had an entry for the Devil o' the Highlands race the week after and I felt sufficiently recovered by then to turn up an d give it a go. It turned out to be a scorchingly hot day (32C at its hottest) but I ran well until the heat hit when I wilted badly and crawled in hours behind what I might have done under better conditions. Still, I was glad to have done it if only to remind me that I could run ultra distances.
Anyhow, roll on to September the 13th (a Friday to boot) evening when we gathered in Chepstow for the race briefing followed by bussing out to the start point of the King Offa's Dyke path, a 181 mile path from Chepstow to Prestatyn following the route of Offa's Dyke. The dyke doesn't run the whole way by any means but one does run along many miles of it.
The race started at 8 pm, just after sunset and rise of the Harvest moon. We were blessed with clear skies and the views were magical.
Because of the narrowness of the path from the start point we were given our King Offa coins [1] and started in pairs at regular intervals. After all the waiting and nerves it was a blessed relief to actually get started and to start reducing the distance between me and the finish!
I really didn't think too much about the overall distance though, that way madness lies. All I ever really thought about in the early stages was just getting to the next checkpoint.
The running was coming nice and easy and whilst I knew I was probably going too fast I decided that any attempt to consciously pace myself on anything other than how I felt at the time was probably doomed. I was on holiday and I was darned well going to enjoy it! The path twisted and turned though a lot of woodland with plenty of ups and downs to keep it interesting. Numerous varieties of owls were hooting all around us which added to the atmosphere.
The Wye valley is very probably beautiful but less so in the dark. Tintern abbey was passed unseen and after 19 miles we were approaching the first checkpoint at Monmouth. I was glad to se the CP as there is a distinct lack of any civilisation on the east bank of the Wye. As I was to discover as the race wore on, the Offa's Dyke path seems to avoid most civilisation.
At Monmouth I was given a new tracker as I seem to be a bit cursed when it comes to trackers. Fortunately this second one behaved thoughout the rest of the race. It was in Monmouth where I discovered my new favourite food, curry flavoured Pot Noodle. At the time it tasted like manna from Heaven and I couldn't image a finer food.
In general, when I wasn't trying to sleep I spent between 30 and 60 minutes at checkpoints. I was well aware how this time would mount up with 10 checkpoints in total but 181 miles is just too far to gamble that your feet "will probably be okay" if you leave attending them until the next checkpoint. No matter how tired I was I made a point of removing my shoes and socks, airing my feet (and fragrancing the CPs) and then reslathering my feet with Sudocrem. It's thicker and tackier than vaseline and seems to hang around longer. The fact that I finished with just two small blisteres that in no way affected my running is I think, a testament to how well this strategy worked. Of course there many ways to skin a cat and Ashley who I ran with for some time swears by Injinji toes socks combined with Sealskinz socks. As he finished with NO blisters I think I have to bow to the wisdom of his approach.
Of course in was still dark when I left Monmouth and headed eastwards away from the Wye valley. The harvest moon was so bright I was casting distinct "moon shadows". As the night wore on we all enjoyed to stunning sprectacle of a beautiful sunrise combined with the setting Harvest moon. Many runners who were more switched on than me captured panoramas incorporating both aun and moon.
Checkpoint 2 was at Pandy (36 miles). Dont ask where that is. Most of the time I had absolutely no idea where I was in Wales (or England). I hadn't reccied any of the route nor studied the maps too carefully. "Too carelessly" possibly but as I had the full route GPX downloaded on my watch and phone (with paper maps for back-up) I wasn't too worried. Sign-posting was for the most part excellent and it was only in times of seriously poor vis I could have wished for better signage.
Up till now the conditions had been ideal for running. No wind or rain, just nice and cool. As the sun got higher though this was all to change and it started to get seriously hot on the way to Hay on Wye (CP3) at 52 miles.
Reaching CP3 felt like a significant milestone on the journey. 181 miles still seemed like a VERY long way but now I'd run a significant chunk of it and had enjoyed running it. The whole venture was now beginning to seem possible.
There had been quite a lot of chat pre-race about sleep stratagies for the race. Folk have done the race with no sleep at all but I didnt really think I could do that. As the whole venture was a step into the unknown for me, I decided to just play it by ear. I kind of hoped that I'd be able to get 100 miles under me belt before my first sleep.
Between CP3 and CP4 I got my first sight of Offa's Dyke which is, a grassy dyke.
It varies in height along the route and in many places going straight across the landscape, down steep slopes and up steep hills. Where the dyke goes the path follows and there were many many steep climbes and descents.
CP4 was at Kington (67.5 miles) the first town on the route to have a convenience store! Food was provided in the checkpoints but as is often the way of things, you crave what you can't have so an ice lolly and chicken salad sandwich from the Spar shop went down very nicely indeed. It did cross my mind that a shop bought sandwich was playing "food poisoning Russian roulette" but I was too hungry to care.
Up to about 50 miles my running had been going well but my legs had been feeling increasingly heavy and tired which I just put down to the distance. I was now jogging very slowly on the levels and gentle downhills and not at all up anything remotely uphill. I think it was between CP4 and CP5 that I ran with Ashley Ward for a bit and he was stopping regularly to do a squatting quad stretch. Now I've never been much of a one for doing stretches at any time but after a bit pf pursuasion, I let myself be cajoled into trying out this squat.
The squat is very simple, just grab a gate or fence with your feet about a foot away from the base and lower yourself into as deep a squat as you can manage and hold it for several seconds before rising again. If you use a gate, do make sure that if it opens towards you, you've properly latched it. You feel such a fool when the gate flys open and you end up on your backside. ;-)
Anyhow, I did the stretch and indeed my legs did feel better. Hang on, not better but AMAZING! Suddenly I was back to running, not jogging and running the uphills too. I ungratefully abandoned Ash and shot off into the distance overhauling 100 mile runners on the way to the next check point.
Now I never got this dramatic improvement later in the race but it always helped and Id heartily recommend it to any ultra runner. I think its just another way of dealing with pooling of stale blood in the legs, like lying with your legs in the air. It's just a lot quicker and easier to do mid run the having a lie down.
I can't remember what time I reached CP5 (Knighton - 81 miles) but sleep deprivation was making itself felt and as I had heard that the next section was very hilly it seemed sensible to get my head down for a few hours. In Knighton I discovered that chicken and mushroom Pot Noodles were the best food in the world.
The CP had a large hall behind heavy doors and it was a good place to sleep (or at least get horizontal). Having dug out my sleeping bag and mat from my backpack I did indeed get several hours of sleep. I'm not sure how much, maybe as much as 5 hours but I don't remember. I hadn't asked to be woken at any time, I just planned to get up when I felt rested enough. As it happened a crew member work me at 4 am to warn me that the checkpoint was closing in an hour.
This was a bit of a shock to the system. I hadn't checked closing times (on the unwarranted assumption that I wouldn't be troubled by them) but I was up, dressed, packed and out the door in about 30 minutes.
Of course it was still dark and the next 19 miles to CP6 (Montgommery) was very hilly. I was glad that I hadn't tackled it when I was very tired as some of the navigation was a bit tricky. It felt like a very long 19 miles indeed to the CP.
At Montgommery I had another bit to eat and attended to my feet before heading off to Llanymynech. Each time I stopped, even if it was only for half and hour it seemed to allow me to mentally and physically "reset" and whilst the body doesn't quite forget the previous miles, I found myself running better than I felt I had any right to be.
The route to CP7 was considerably flatter than many of the others. It started off hilly though which made me think that Richard the organiser was just toying with us when he called it "flat" but it did indeed flatten out and run for many miles along the Montgommery canal, the river Severn and the river Wyvern (I think). I caught up with Ash along this bit and we chivvied each other along to CP8 at Froncysyllte.
With two sections since the last sleep undcer our belts we were both keen to push on and complete another to leave "just" 43 miles to do to finish off. The cloud had come down and we'd heard that the fog was really bad further up the course. Deciding that we fell into the category of "vulnerable adults" pairing up for the next section was the obvious thing to do. I tend to prefer to do my own thing in races but I was very glad of Ash's company and help with navigation when the fog was really think. Some how we navigated oiur way almost perfectly through this section until a mile before the checkpoint when we both lost our heads and spent some time inventing a new long way to the CP.
By now it was 5 am and we both got our heads down, me in the village hall, Ash in the luxury of his campervan. I can't say I really slept and was up eating again at 7 am and annointing my feet once more. At 8 am I tried to rouse Ash but I think the van bed was just too attractive so after wishing each other luck I set off on my own.
The official path drops down to river level but we'd been told that we could use the canal aquaduct if we wanted so that's what I did. Great views but no canal traffic to liven things up sadly.
CP8 to CP9 took in yet more stunning scenery following the "Panorama walk" road. It was all easy running and I had my first (and only) proper encounter with a farm dog who obviously understood the importance of tradition and came flying out of the farm barking madly at me. As a collie owner myself I didn't flinch and just told him not to be so daft which stopped him in his tracks. He slunk off back to the farm to lie in wait of easier prey presumably.
About 2 miles out from the CP9 I spotted someone running up towards me with a dog. It took me a moment or two to realise that this was my personal trainer who I've never met! He lives on the Offa's Dyke path and it was great to meet him at last (just before breaking the news that I was going to be putting my training on "hold" for a few months). We ran in together to the CP where there was hot spicy beef stew to be consumed. I didn't been to be asked twice if I wanted any!
Gary (my trainer) pointed to some hills ahead and muttered something about running over the one with the "nipple" on top. I wasn't really listening and thought, "that doesn't sound too bad". What I didn't realise until afterwards was that what he meant was, "you'll be running over every single hill between here and Prestatyn and there are millions of the buggers!"
Still, at least I had a stomach full of hot stew to keep me going and I made reasonable if not quick progress over the hills. I had "just" 31 miles to do now and I knew that barring disasters I'd comfortably finish within the allowed 90 hours, maybe even 80 hours. The first 19 miles were over the Clwydians though and those 19 miles dragged. At one road crossing I was offered a jammy croissant by the most wondeful woman in the world (whose name I forget). Most importantly, she had jammy croissants. As is often the way in ultras, by appetite and tasted buds were conspiring to ruin my enjoyment of most foods but the croissant went down a treat.
I'd also spotted another runner in the distance and it doesn't matter how tired I feel, I can always find another gear to hunt down a rival. ;-) I am more and more coming to believe that psychological factors are huge in the sensation of fatigue. Now that I had a back to chase all my little aches and pains vanished, my fatigue abated and I was running well once more across the countryside.
The hills came to an end at last except for an cery steep raod climb up to the last check point manned by the legendary Andy Cole. A quick plate of eggs and beans (followed by a second helping of bean) set me up for the last 12 miles.
Now by rights, after 169 miles of hills, you'd think that you'd be due some nice easy running for the last 12 miles. Unfortunately the Offa's Dyke path makers don't think that way. They naturally assume that you want to take in even MORE hills to appreciate the views The assume that you don't want easy quiet roads to follow but instead want to launch yourself across vast fields in the dark with nothing to guide you across but your garmin.
Those last 12 miles felt VERY long and seem to twist and turn unnecessarily so many times. You frequently feel like you're heading back inland but I think it's just an illusion brought on by fatigue.
Prestatyn! (I think)
(Photo pinched somewhere off facebook. If it's yours let me know and I'll add the appropriate credit).
Well all good things must come to and end and after what felt like an age I dropped down the hills to run in though the centre of Prestatyn to the finish line.
I handed my King Offa coin back to Richard, the organise after 75 hours and 37 minutes from the start, before midnight on Monday. If you don't finish the race you have to keep it until you have another go and DO finish. At the time, the thought of having to run it again if I didn't finish it was a strong motivator, but now I can't wait to do it again.
I can honestly say that this race for me was much more "Type 1" fun than I thought possible in a race. The photo below was taken somewhere between 120 and 130 miles and the smile wasn't forced at all, I really was as happy as I looked.
