Runfurther Strava club

We’ve now got a Runfurther Strava club – many thanks to Ian Symington for setting it up.  You can find it at https://www.strava.com/clubs/128521.  Once Ian’s told me how to do it I’ll put a widget up here for it as well!  Just the thing for logging those runs & comparing your performance against the rest of us.  I won’t be on there until I get a GPS – Xmas I hope!

The 2015 Champs start on Saturday

Well I’ve already started packing for Haworth – let’s see, Full waterproofs, compass, 432 Clif Bars,…

The forecast looks reasonably good at the moment – perhaps a bit of rain early on, but no more, & not much wind.  Don’t overdo the whisky at Lumbutts, and make sure you save something in your legs for the climb up to Heptonstall.  And make sure you know the way from the churchyard to the finish if it’s your first Hobble.

We’ll be bringing along prizes for Brett to present to the race category winners, and also 1 or 2 spot prizes, to be presented to Runfurther members at random.  The plan is to do this at the race prizegiving, so be there if you can.  If your name gets called & you’re still out on the course we’ll save it for you, but if you’ve finished & wandered off we’ll give it to someone else!  We hope to be able to give spot prizes at all the races this year.

Don’t forget those Calderdale Hike recces!  See you on Saturday – I’ll be the one with the broken wrist.

Andy

Mid-February News

The Hobble’s drawing near, and even the Calderdale Hike’s not that far away.  Remember the Calderdale Hike takes a new route this year, and a recce is probably not a bad idea if you can fit it in.  A route around Calderdale is always interesting but also always has complicated bits, and this one’s no different.  I’ve recce’d some of it, and I’m planning to have another look soon, possibly this coming weekend.

The Hobble route is rather more straightforward, and of course so many of the runners already know the way, so following others will a lot safer than it will be in the Calderdale Hike.

There’ll be a committee meeting after the Hobble, if anyone wants to come along: 4:30 in the Old Sun Hotel in Haworth.  Anyone welcome to turn up, and we really do need someone to help out on the Facebook/Twitter side of things if you’ve got the inclination.

We’ve updated the Ultra Calendar, so let us know if you spot anything missing or wrong there – we’re trying to keep track of all the UK offroad ultras so you can see what’s available all year.  There are ultras every weekend until November, and they only run out then because some events haven’t set their dates yet.  On 19/20 September there are 13 separate ultras going on, so I imagine every ultra runner in the country will be running one or the other – we’ll be running the Hardmoors 60 of course!

I’ve stopped coughing and started training again, Karen’s back from her holiday, and Nick’s back from business in Japan tomorrow.  Even Dick’s at home at the moment I think.  We’re getting new banners ready for the 2015 season, and printed postcards to promote Runfurther.  Just about ready to roll!  We’ll see you at Haworth.

Andy

Mid-January News

It’s time to stop eating fruit cake and chocolate and start to get rid of that extra weight you’ve unaccountably put on over the past few weeks.  There’s a lot of races coming up, so you should be out there training, trying out your new running gear you got for Christmas.  I’m stuck inside, still coughing, so my new running shoes are still in the box.  Still, I hope to be out on Saturday, running the Hebden in Calderdale, as a lot of you will be too.  It’s a great warm-up race to get the year off to a good start.

Only 2 months till the Haworth Hobble, the first Runfurther race of the year.  It’s now open for entries, so get you name down asap.  The Fellsman, The Marlborough Downs Challenge and the Long Tour of Bradwell are also open for business, so you might as well enter those too while you’re at the keyboard.  Links to all the race websites are on the 2015 Races pages.

Other Ultra news:

1.  The Gritstone Grind is now open for entries.  This is a low-cost 35-mile race along the Gritstone Trail, which follows the edge of the Peak District hills in Cheshire.  The race is on 13 September, but you’ll need to get your entry in quickly if you want to run, as it fills up.  I haven’t run the race, but I’ve run the Gritstone Trail 3 times and can recommend it.

2.  Joe Faulkner, the organiser of the Tour de Helvellyn and Lakes 42 races has announced another race for 18 July, the Pennine 39.  No precise location announcement yet, and there’s nothing about it up on his website yet, so you’ll have to keep checking it for the announcement.  It’s bound to be a good race.

Andy

Hardmoors 30 2015

Happy New Year to you all.  If anyone feels the urge to write up any of their ultra runs, we’d be delighted to post them here on the website, or post a link to them if you’ve already got a home for them.  Photos too!  In the meantime, here’s one of mine…

On New Year’s Day 200 runners got up early, despite whatever they’d been up to the night before, and headed to Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Yorkshire coast to run 30 miles.  This was the Hardmoors 30, one of John Steele’s excellent races in and around the North York Moors National Park.  And it was a great idea to hold it on January 1st, to get the year off to a good start and get rid of some of the Christmas lethargy.

The race route is a simple one, without much need for navigation.  There’s a disused railway line between Scarborough and Whitby, parallel to the coast, and of course there’s a coastal path, part of the Cleveland Way.  The race starts north up the old railway to Whitby, so the running is fast, with plenty of space to overtake and also good views.  You leave the tracks at Checkpoint 1, then run down through the town, past the station, over ther river, then up a very steep cobbled track to Whitby Abbey.  Then it’s coastal path back to Robin Hood’s Bay and Checkpoint 2.  If you’ve run rocky coastal paths before you’ll know what to expect: great views and a lot of short steep ups and downs.  Hard work but never boring.

From CP2 it’s back to the old railway southwards to CP3 at Ravenscar, then on to CP4 at Hayburn Wyke.  You leave the railway here, and in a few minutes you’re back on the coastal path heading northwards again, to CP5 at Ravenscar, then Robin Hood’s Bay again, where you have to haul your ravaged body all the way up the steep main street through the tourists from the sea up to the finish at the top of the village.

It was my first time for this race.  Last year I’d been visiting my mother in Scarborough for New Year, and went out for a run up the coast.  I met the race coming the other way, not knowing it was on.  So it was a no-brainer this year to combine it with another visit to Scarborough.  I went down with a cold and cough the evening after the Tour de Helvellyn, and got through Xmas on paracetamol, codeine, Benylin and alcohol, so I’d not run for 11 days and wasn’t sure I was fit enough to run at all.  So I turned up, as you do, and found the race was full of people I knew, as seems to happen at most races I got to these days.  It was warm as well – the car thermometer said 9 degrees – so I changed into my shorts before setting off.

The first section up to Whitby was delightful, easy running on fresh legs.  I’d started somewhere in the middle of the pack, so I was overtaking all the way to Whitby.  The coastal path back to Robin Hood’s Bay went well too – really enjoyable running.  Then it was back on the old railway, and soon the enthusiasm was wearing off.  The views weren’t as good along here, and it goes on for miles and miles.  I can only take so much of flat running on easy surfaces before I’m bored and fed up, and by Hayburn Wyke my legs had started to stiffen up as well, probably because of my 11-day layoff.  The coastal path came as a relief and was much more enjoyable, but I couldn’t run at more than a slow jog by now, and people were passing me for the last few miles.  I finished with some relief, grabbed a tea and collapsed onto one of the many chairs – as I said, John knows how to organise a race.  No sooner had I sat down than I had to get up again though, for John to present me with a trophy for First Old Man (OK, first MV60).  While Chris Davies is away, the mice will play!  46th out of 192 finishers, in 5:09:44.  I’ll be back in 2016 – thanks John.

Ben Hamilton was first home in 3:43:01, and Heather Mochrie was first woman in 4:39:18.  There were plenty of Runfurther regulars at the race,  including Martin Terry, who was first MV50 in 4:19:34.  Full results here, and there are SportSunday photos here.

Ultras coming up this month (see Ultra Calendar for links):

1.  The Spine, starting on Saturday (10 Jan).  Good luck to you all – looks like conditions might not be too bad this year, although I’ve not checked the weather forecast.

2.  Winter Tanners on Sunday (11 Jan), 30 miles in the North Downs organised by the local LDWA branch.  At £4 for LDWA members this is the cheapest ultra in the calendar, only 13p per mile.  Hats off to the organisers.

3.  Country to Capital on Saturday week (17 Jan).  This one’s been full for ages, 45 miles all inside the M25, finishing along a canal towpath into the middle of London.  It’s organised by the same team that run the Northants Ultra that was in the 2013 and 2014 Runfurther Champs.

4.  CTS Anglesey Ultra also on the 17th.  34 miles of coastal path, organised by Endurance Life.

5.  Marmot Dark Mountains, 24 January.  A Mountain Marathon in the dark.  This year’s location is the Howgills.

6.  Wilmot Wander, Sunday 25th.  32 miles round Derby, with more than a bit in common with the Round Rotherham 50 – a mix of farmland, industrial and town cyclepath.  Organised by the local scout group, this is the event that cracked my shinbone last year – I managed only the first 4 miles.

7.  The Pilgrim Challenge, 31 Jan.  2 days and 66 miles along the North Downs Way.  This one’s full too.

8.  Peddar’s Way Ultra, also 31 Jan.  47 miles in Norfolk, and this one’s full as well.

Andy

2015 Races Announced

We are delighted to be able announce the 2015 Runfurther Ultra Championship races.  They are appearing simultaneously here and in Trail Running magazine, and we hope that will help us get in touch with more runners, and make Runfurther bigger and better than ever.

So, here are the 2015 races.  Click on the race name and it will take you to our page about the race, and a link to the official race website.

Date Event Location Miles Cat
Sat 14 March Haworth Hobble W Yorkshire Pennines 32 S
Sat 11 April Calderdale Hike W Yorkshire Pennines 37 M
Sat 25 April The Fellsman Yorkshire Dales 62 L
Sun 10 May Marlborough Downs Challenge N Wiltshire 33 S
Sun 24 May The Ox S Wiltshire 35 M
Sat 13 June Three Rings of Shap Cumbria 62 L
Sat 27 June Clif Bar 10 Peaks Lakes Lake District 45 M
Sat 8 August Long Tour of Bradwell Peak District 33 S
Sat 5 September Bullock Smithy Hike Peak District 56 L
Sat 19 September Hardmoors 60 N Yorks Coast 62 L
Sat 3 October Isle of Man Mountain Ultra Isle of Man 31 S
Sat 24 October Jedburgh Three Peaks Ultra Scottish Borders 38 M

We think we’ve got a series on 12 great races lined up for you in 2015.  We’re trying to bring more new events into the Championship, but we don’t really want to lose any of our regulars either if we can help it, so to some extent we’re moving towards having the regulars in every other year rather than every year, to give other races a chance to come into the Championship.  That’s why the High Peak 40 and the Round Rotherham 50 aren’t on the list for 2015 – we’re hoping to have them back in for 2016.  We’d love to have included Evesham again for 2015 as well, but since it clashes with the Fellsman, we couldn’t do it – we really wanted to bring the Fellsman back in.  So maybe we’ll have the Fellsman and Evesham in alternate years, and maybe do the same with the High Peak 40 and the Hardmoors 60.  Let us know what you think.

Other old favourites back in for 2015 are the Marlborough Downs Challenge, the Bullock Smithy Hike, the Hardmoors 60 and the Isle of Man Mountain Ultra (which used to be called the Manx Mountain Marathon).  Personally I’m really looking forward to a weekend on the Isle of Man as I’ve never been there.  It shouldn’t cost too much either, as the race is cheap to enter and the boat journey from Liverpool or Heysham doesn’t cost much either.

New races for Runfurther 2015 are:

1.  The Ox.  We’ve got two races in Wiltshire, more by accident than anything, and they are in different parts of the county.  The Ox is a new race, run in 2014 for the first time, and we are glad to support it.  It should be a fast race by Runfurther standards, and it’s in a good area for running.

2.  The Clif Bar 10 Peaks Lakes.  This is one of the hardest races ever to appear on the Runfurther list.  It climbs the 10 highest mountains in the Lake District, and is a major challenge to any runner.

3.  The Jedburgh Three Peaks Ultra.  This is trail running through beautiful country in the Scottish Borders, with some steep hills in the middle.  One to enjoy.

There’s no race in Wales for 2015, for which we apologise.  It just worked out that we couldn’t get one to fit into the timetable.  We’ll do our best to fix that for 2016.

Lastly, it’s great that we have our main sponsors all back on board for 2015, with increased sponsorship.  Many thanks to all of them: their links and logos are on every web page, so you can’t miss them!  Without them we’d have no website and no prizes, so there’d be no Runfurther.

Our 2015 Races

Hello to you all, & sorry I’ve not posted anything here for a bit.  We’ve been a bit busy sorting out the races for 2015.  And, the good news is that we’ve now finalised those races.  They’ll be announced in the next edition of Trail Running magazine, which will appear in the shops on Thursday 6 November, and of course they will also appear here the same day.  We think we’ve lined up a great set of runs for you.

So, you’ll have to wait for the press launch for the race list, but I can tell you now that we’ve retained only 4 races from the 2014 Championship, brought back 5 old favourites that have been in the series in past years, and there are 3 new races that have never been in before.  Most of the races we’ve dropped for 2015 we plan to include again in the future, as they’re all great races.  We just want to make sure every year is different, and get a bigger range of races into the Runfurther world.  Have a look at the race list when we release it, & let us know what you think.  We know we can’t please everybody all the time, but we’re trying to get close!  And of course, if we’ve dropped your favourite race for 2015, the race is still on, & you can still run it.

The last race of 2014 is on Saturday: the Round Rotherham 50, so we’ll see a lot of you there.  Wish me luck: I’ve got to get round in a reasonable time to have a chance of that Runfurther MV60 title.  I’ll get the final standings up on here as soon as I can after they release the race results.  There’s a committee meeting in Rotherham on Friday evening if anyone wants to attend: details on the Meetings page.

And lastly, don’t forget the AGM & prizegiving & of course cake.  Saturday 29 November in the Dark Peak, with an optional race beforehand.  All the details are here, apart from the exact location, which will be released once the race location is announced (it’s a Mini Mountain Marathon, location secret until the end of this month).  Please come: now that Runfurther is owned by the runners, we have to have plenty of you turning up at the AGM to keep it working democratically.  And there’ll be cake.  And a bar.  And prizes.  And cake.