Sunday 27th of November I ran the Hereward Ultra. This race is run as a club relay with over 100 teams taking part from many clubs around the south east. My club (Bishops Stortford RC) put in 4 teams.
I drove up there with Sue(the missus) and we got there in time for a quick toilet stop at the local MacDonalds and then a quick rush to get sorted and we were off. I deliberately started at the back and intended to stay there and pace myself round in about 6 – 6.5 hours.
I still went off a bit fast but with the wind behind me it was a bit easy to go so quick and felt good. I had a bit of time spent with Ewan who was doing this as a first ultra and despite a brief shower it was a pleasant 6.5 miles. I ran that in a bit under an hour.
The next stage was about 10.5 miles and was as flat as the first stage with the wind still behind me most of the time although the few occasions I turned into the wind it was pretty viscous. I plodded round this stage and ate a couple of small chocolate biscuit bars and drank from my bladder which had a mix of cream soda and water with some elite water in it. I plodded round and this was the first time I was passed by a fellow club mate who went past me about half way round.
On to stage 3 and still with the wind behind me i continued to plod round chatting to the odd person but mostly going round on my own. I was feeling it towards the end of this stage but as it was my longest run since Caesars camp it was to be expected. The route was still flat and fairly featureless but not too boring. I finished the stage which was the longest at about 11 miles and was still running ok.
Onto the last stage and about 10.5 miles to go. This stage had a couple of really boring long road sections which I do not enjoy and as my legs were tiring they felt harder and longer that they probably were. Frustratingly I miscalculated my distance to go near the end and at one point I thought I had only a mile or so to go but it was really 2. I plodded the last couple of miles and even managed a bit of a sprint in the last few hundred meters to good support from fellow club members.
Finish time 6:19:14 and 25th place.
A nice well run event but a bit of a boring route and although not very expensive I would really only do this event again as a training run as I really did not think it was a great route.
Nice support and marshals though and great support from my clubmates throughout.