Coastal Trail Series - South Devon

Feb 8, 2016 · 8 minute read · Comments

An altogether different race than Country to Capital. Although my finishing time of 7 hours 38 minutes was similar-ish to the 7 hours 25 of Country to Capital the two races could barely have been more different. While Country to Capital was largely flat, on easily covered ground and in pleasant weather, this one was a shorter race with plenty of technical trail, the odd punishing climb and probably the worst weather I’ve voluntarily gone out in during my entire life.

Even just driving to the start of the race we had to ford a giant puddle on a tiny track into the tiny village of Beesands and the less said about sitting in a portaloo terrifyingly swaying in the wind the better!

Wet and windy

Having had Country to Capital go so much better than I’d originally expected I had a quiet confidence that, despite the rougher terrain, I’d be okay. Then the race started and within less than 100 metres and a short climb up a small hill out of the first field my calfs were already completely strained from the effort. At that point I realised it was probably going to be a long day.

Getting out on to the coast we got to feel the full force of the weather with the wind lashing at us as we ran but otherwise the technical trail was decently runnable for large sections which was nice. As we neared the lighthouse the wind seemed to pick up and the trail became more exposed. Coming out along an exposed part we were all leaning heavily into the wind to make any headway and I even watched a grown man get blown clean off his feet!

Picking back up on single track after the lighthouse the wind was whipping in from behind us as we ran but even then it was less than helpful as a particularly violent gust managed to blow my foot out from under me, landing on wet rock and causing me to fall heavily. Picking myself back up and dusting myself off I got moving again but was really worried about how bad the trail was going to be once the marathon, half marathon and 10K runners had torn it up and us ultra runners had to do another lap of the 10K course at the end of the marathon course.

At least as we came into the first checkpoint it was in a small forest, sheltering us from the hideous weather outside but as nice as it was there I knew I couldn’t stay for long. Emerging from the forest back out on to the coastal path the wind was whipping salt spray at us so hard I had to stop to put my waterproof jacket on just so I could use the hood to cover up my right cheek.

Some sheltered running

After a bit more trundling along and just about surviving the worst of the weather so far we finally met up with the half marathon course runners at around 17 miles just in time to crest a large, muddy hill already completely destroyed by the hundreds of runners who’d already ran down it. Deciding to trust my awesome mudclaws I launched off down the hill only to have them fail me for the first time ever as they stuck into the liquid mud and simply skied leaving me tumbling down the side of the hill. I can only imagine how bad I would have found the day with some less aggressively soled shoes.

Joining the 10k course runners as they turned on to a very muddy single track I got to pick up the pace quite a bit as I ran down semi technical track and got to have a chat with a 10k runner planning on his first ultra in August - the RAT!

Although I was back to running well again (and comfortably outrunning some of the 10k runners even) I once again started to worry about how bad the terrain was going to be later on. There was some talk among the 10k runners that the 10k (planned to be 7.8 miles actually) course had been cut down to roughly 5 miles instead due to the course being dangerous out by the lighthouse so part of me was already mentally calculating how much longer I needed to be out in the weather for but at the same time trying not to fixate on that just in case we did have to be doing the full 35 miles.

After the 10k and half marathon courses diverged to head back to the finish the course rapidly thinned out and I started to feel quite a bit more secluded but happy to get back into a rhythm and get into my ultra mindset of just putting one foot in front of the other. From here I was running comfortably and, with the cover from the trees, began to relax and forget about the raging weather outside.

Unfortunately at the checkpoint at the 25 mile marker we turned back out on to coast and were exposed to the elements once more. I spoke with the marshalls for a little bit to see if they’d heard anything about the course being shortened but they’d not heard anything at all and my heart sank. After chastising myself mentally for already preparing for a slightly trimmed race I went back out into the wind. The next mile was spent running at a 45 degree angle into the wind and still only just about managing a 17 minute mile despite the effort I was putting in which was utterly demoralising. Even when we were able to take shelter from the wind I was starting to feel pretty spent from the weather and was walking more than I should have been. At this point I was starting to feel pretty miserable about it all and was seriously considering quitting at the marathon distance but just about managed to dig deep and find the strength to push on past the marathon course turn off.

Of course as soon as I did I instantly regretted it as the course turned back out on to the exposed coastal path with even worse weather than we’d had in the morning plus the damage to the trail from hundreds of runners trapising along it. I decided to knuckle down and tell myself that it was only going to be a few more miles and then it would all be over.

Back to the lighthouse and to the end

As we made it back out to the lighthouse again we saw the welcome sight of a couple of marshalls off the course beckoning us towards the hut they were sheltering behind. We had to literally crawl across the ground from the path to the hut because the wind was so strong at that point that we couldn’t stand up in the worst of it. Mentally I started to finally relax knowing that I didn’t have to go back out beyond the lighthouse again in those conditions and that we had a nice section of reasonably sheltered road for a little bit before we joined back up on the 10k course that we’d ran on earlier.

At this point the torrential weather had completely destroyed what remained of the slightly technical single track from the morning and replaced it with a fast flowing mud river with jagged rocks everywhere. Picking my way up through what was left of the trail with only a couple of miles to the end the day finally caught up to me and I realised that, once again, I’d eaten very little throughout the day and I was crashing hard. I quickly wolfed down all the food I had to hand as I began to feel faint but plodded onwards just to keep moving. At this point I knew I wasn’t going to start feeling any better before the end because I’d completely messed up nutrition and it was too late in the day to rally so just resigned myself to plodding on towards the end. Having loads of people come streaming past you and being unable to keep up with any groups at the end because you’ve messed up pacing or nutrition on an ultra is a pretty awful feeling but unfortunately quite a common one for me.

Coming in to the end, the field was completely trashed from the weather so there was essentially no support at the end other than a very muddy Laura which was quite different to the finish of every other ultra I’d ever done. Not that I can blame people for not wanting to stand out in those hideous conditions. Worse yet the portaloos had all blown over, confirming the fears I’d had in the morning.

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