When a plan comes together… The Northern Traverse is a roughly 300 km (185 miles) route across the North of England from St Bees on the west coast to Robin Hood’s Bay on the east coast, organised by Ourea Events....
Read moreOver the last 12 months I have spent a lot of time on the Pennine Way, either recceing the route or ‘racing’. I ran the Spine Challenger South in June and the Spine Challenger North (minus the last 7 miles...
Read moreWhat came before I started running in 2007 but did not run my first marathon until 2015. My journey into ultra running started cautiously with a 28 mile local race in September 2021. I built up the distances over the...
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Running to the North Sea with my Northern Traverse pebble Early in the morning on Monday April 8 my Northern Traverse journey came to an end in Marske, about 4 miles west of Richmond. My back had totally given up, Read more…
Running through storm Kathleen, and some unfinished business…. This post will not end with the happy sound of my feet going over a finish line, or pictures of a medal. My first major ultra event of 2024, the Silva Northern Read more…
A wintry jaunt across the wildest place in England. No goats seen though. The Montane Cheviot Goat is a challenging winter ultra in the Cheviot hills of Northumberland, on the border with Scotland. The event website states this is the Read more…
Up and down for 100 km through Italy, Switzerland and France I travelled to the Chamonix Valley to run the CCC race (named after the towns at the start, middle and finish: Courmayeur, Champex, Chamonix), 100km with 6156m ascent . Read more…
Another splendid Punk Panther event The Six Dales Trail, an established and signposted 38 mile walking route from Otley to Middleham, was devised in 2010 by the Otley ‘Walkers are Welcome’ group. It takes its name from the six dales Read more…
Having run a lot of Punk Panther ultras I felt it was time to enter a Hardmoors event and see a bit more of the eastern side of Yorkshire. Their Hardwolds 40 race is approximately 47 miles (I call that Read more…
Some thoughts on speed work, training volume, and results on the road….. Ultra running is fun, right? No emphasis on pace, mile splits, Strava segments. You can run slowly, you can walk the hills. Well, if you get really tired Read more…
With all to play for in mile 49….. The Welcome Way is an existing way-marked circular long distance walking route here in West Yorkshire, connecting Otley, Burley in Wharfedale and Baildon, with an optional loop around Shipley Glen and Bingley. Read more…
Taking part in the English National Cross Country Championships has been one of the highlights of every running year for me since I joined my running club Ilkley Harriers. The Nationals are open championships in the proper sense of the Read more…
Some thoughts about training High time to update my blog, in particular with reference to the 2 race entry ballots I wrote about in a previous post. On January 1, whilst I was running through the mud on the North Read more…
North Leeds Greenway Ultra Another month, another Punk Panther event! I began 2023, on New Year’s Day, with the North Leeds Greenway Ultramarathon, a 34 mile/3600 ft circuit of North Leeds from Otley. Starting off with the steep climb up Read more…
A round up of the final month of 2024 where I had three events on three stormy days with yellow weather warnings: the Punk Panther Christmas Cracker in a named storm (Darragh) on the 7th, a ‘Run like a Haggis’ Read more…
Marathon Eryri – 26 Oct 2024 I travelled to Llanberis for my sixth time running Marathon Eryri (the English version of the name, ‘Snowdonia Marathon’ was dropped in 2023). It was the 40th staging of this iconic race and the Read more…
SwissPeaks Trail organise races with a range of distances, from a half-marathon all the way up to an unbelievable 660k. Their main race week is always the week after UTMB, and whilst the races start in different places depending on Read more…
Yes, it was warm and there was a lot of ‘up’. Having spent UTMB week in the Chamonix Valley in 2023, when I ran the CCC, I was keen to return to this week long ‘festival’, which is seen by Read more…
Having done quite a number of ultra races since I got into ‘the long stuff’ three years ago, the idea of trying a backyard ultra took hold a while ago. For those unfamiliar with the concept: the backyard ultra is Read more…
Non-stop along the Pennine Way from Edale to Hardraw About the race: The Montane Summer Spine Challenger South is a non-stop, 108 mile race with around 15,500 ft of ascent, along the Pennine Way from Edale to Hardraw (just north Read more…