Cheviot Goat 2023

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 time of year when most livestock are brought off the tops and only the hardy feral Cheviot goat is left to fend for itself. However, whilst I did see some hardy looking cows and plenty of sheep, and spotted a deer on one of my recces, I am yet to see a goat!

The course is not marked in any way, and travels across open moorland, peat bogs and grassy tracks taking in a large range of hills, the highest three being The Cheviot (816m), Auchope Cairn (726m), and Hedgehope Hill (714m).

Organised by Cold Brew Events this was the 6^th edition of the race, which does seem to become longer every year, this year was 59 miles and 13,000ft. Though my Strava actually recorded it as just short of 62 miles!  The route is subject to annual modifications due to landowner permissions, conservation work, river crossings etc, but the basis is a large figure of 8 starting and finishing in the small village of Ingram, with the largest hills coming in the second half. There are only two checkpoints, at around 20 and 40 miles respectively, and the maximum time allowed is 24 hours with intermediate cut-offs at the checkpoints. The event is wonderfully supported by the two local mountain rescue teams, North of Tyne MRT and Border Search and Rescue, who provide all the safety marshals, with people dotted about both in low-lying spots and on the tops. It’s especially miraculous when you consider how limited road access is in this area. These are the real heroes of the event, keeping everyone secure. Though runners are advised in the strongest terms to retire at one of the two checkpoints if they have any doubt at all about their ability to continue, the MRT will take care of runners who retire in other places by walking them out to the nearest point accessible by quad bike or 4×4 vehicle. Every time I passed a marshal post I was asked if I felt OK and good to continue.

Excellent weather had been forecast, in the sense of sunshine, no rain or new snowfall, and no wind to speak of. The other side of that coin is obviously low temperatures and snow and ice on the ground. Winter weather conditions aside the other main challenge of this event is the shortage of daylight at this time of year, so everyone apart from the elite will be running the majority of their race in the dark.

I had travelled up twice in recent weeks to recce sections of the course, covering more than half of the route and focusing on the parts I would be running in the dark. I had also received a lot of helpful advice from my fellow Punk Panther ambassador Andy Pickering, who had run the race in 2022 and was able to offer many good suggestions as to which parts to concentrate on. It is a difficult course to recce as there are very few road access points, and you have to create a loop, or an out and back, which is a manageable distance to cover in a day. There were some late route changes made in the final week before the race, which I could not check out anymore, but such is life! It had helped a lot to explore the course and the area, and whilst I was filled with a healthy dose of respect for the terrain, it had also showed me I could deal with it, and that the infamous man-eating bogs are not really much worse than some of the Yorkshire variety!

Fellow Ilkley Harrier and ultra runner Andrew Merrick had kindly offered to support me by driving there and back, providing accommodation in the camper van, and being generally useful as well as good company, though it wouldn’t be possible to crew during the race due to the limited road access. We arrived on Friday evening in time for registration in Ingram Village Hall. I received my race number, tracker, T shirt and mug and had my photo taken for the Open Tracking site. I had never been in a race yet where they take your picture for the tracker, and silly as this may sound, it felt a bit as if I had entered the big league now. We then had a bite to eat in the lovely Ingram Café next door, these two buildings forming the hub for the duration of the race with the café staying open non-stop, and parking/camping in the field next to it.

Despite the upper level of the van being quite comfortable and not too cold I had a night of poor sleep due to the usual ultra-anxiety, and faffing with my clothes. In the interest of efficiency I had decided to sleep in my race clothes, which included my two pairs of socks (thin Injinji socks and my knee length Dexshell waterproof socks) under two pairs of leggings. Whilst this combination always feels super comfortable once I am running, it proved to be less so for sleeping, and my toes felt terribly constricted. So the socks had to come off which was quite a struggle inside my sleeping bag. I also found I had my leggings on inside out, when I couldn’t find the pocket in its usual place, though goodness knows why I felt the need to put that right there and then. A tad of OCD! I think I spent half the night putting off getting out of the van to visit the toilet, never an attractive prospect when camping in winter, and I worried about waking Andrew up too. The rest of the time I fretted about my final race prep in the morning. I guess I slept for a little bit too. We were up very early for my race start at 6 am, whilst the café was open from 4:30 we actually had breakfast in the van which saved some time. Tea and porridge with blueberries for me followed by an unseasonal but very welcome hot cross bun. The temperature was minus 7 with a thin layer of frost and snow on the ground and the promise of a lot more snow on the high hills. News from one of the local farmers was that the temperature on the summit of Cheviot had been minus 14 in the night. After a quick race briefing from the race director at 5:50 I lined up at the back of the pack on the start line, with just under 150 other runners, and we were off promptly at 6.

At the start there was a faint orange glow on the eastern horizon already, which steadily increased as sunrise (just after 8 am) approached. It was a most spectacular dawn sky, and a real treat as we ran the early miles. The first part up to checkpoint 1 at Barrowburn is relatively runnable, at least compared to what comes later. Whilst I had (as it turned out correctly) estimated that my overall pace over the event would be around 3 miles per hour it was a little faster initially.

By about mile 7 ice balls the size of large eggs had started to form on the gaiter elastic under the soles of my shoes, and also on my running poles. I had seen ice balls in video footage from the winter Spine races but had never experienced them myself. I moved the elastic so I was no longer running on these balls, but they were still bothering me now they were clonking along on the outside of my feet. I couldn’t get the elastic off, there was a clip on one end but a knot on the other. In the end there was nothing for it but to get my pocket knife out and cut the elastic. Not wanting to litter I left the 2 bits of ice encased elastic at the intermediate unmanned water station at mile 13. Later on in the race smaller ice balls would form on the tops of my shoes but they were not too bothersome. The ones on my poles eventually reached tennis ball size which did considerably add to the weight and made the poles less functional as the tips were no longer sticking out. I think I would have been better off using poles without a ‘basket’ at the bottom. Every day is a school day in ultra running!

I reached Barrowburn at midday. I could smell the soup from about a quarter of a mile away. Runners are warned in the pre-race emails not to get too comfortable in the chairs by the roaring fire (this is an indoor checkpoint) as some who do have been known to never leave the checkpoint again and retire! So I stayed outside and stood up, restocked my pack with snacks from my drop bag, whilst a helpful volunteer brought me water for my soft flasks and delicious home-made soup with a bread roll which I ate in no time at all. I visited the toilet (the only one on the entire course!) and cracked on. As I was putting my drop bag together to hand it back in for transport back to Ingram I said something along the lines of ‘I won’t be a minute, I am getting there’ indicating the level of urgency I always feel. The volunteer replied with ‘don’t worry, it’s not a race’. I was temporarily flummoxed 🤔 by that as surely it was a race! I do understand that some runners (of the steady variety like me) might see it more as an event than a race and are not too bothered about their eventual finish time. But I very much care about my time and finish position, even though I am not anywhere in the same league as the runners at the pointy end. So I was racing all along and very careful to be as time efficient as I could be.

Onwards and upwards to the top of Windy Gyle (619m), where we briefly linked up with the Pennine Way. We were now on the Scottish border. A long runnable descent all the way to Cocklawfoot Farm in the valley bottom followed, before we started the long climb along Auchope Rigg, past the Mountain Rescue Hut (Hut 2 on the Spine) and up to Auchope Cairn. The snow was quite deep here and the climb was therefore very tough. I had done this ascent only a week previously, then on fresh legs and not in snow, now this felt like a different order of magnitude. I chatted to another runner who was local, he said this felt harder than ever and he had done this ascent a lot. So I guess I was justified in feeling it almost did me in. Once at the top we reached the (in)famous stone slabs taking us all the way to the summit of the Cheviot. Prior to the race I had fretted about the slabs being potentially lethal with sheet ice (and they are surrounded by deep bogs so you are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea) but thankfully they were covered by a thick layer of snow and very easy to run or walk on. Whilst it was still just about light we were in the cloud here and it was snowing gently so there was no view or sunset to be had. In a small group of runners we made our way single-file to the trig point of the Cheviot, the highest point on the race, just under a mile away. It wasn’t quite a white-out as the horizon was just about visible, but it certainly was an eerie but beautiful world up there, it’s a plateau with only a slight gradual incline so the going was easy. My mind drifted to stories about Antarctic expeditions. It’s an out and back so I touched the trig, turned my head torch on as darkness was now falling, and ran back down to the turn off over the fence, helpfully staffed by another MRT team whose head torch lights we could see from a distance. I thanked them of course as I went past, and said ‘you’re absolute heroes’, upon which a disembodied voice came from one of the two tents pitched there saying ‘the hero is in here’. It made us all laugh. I shouted back ‘make sure you take your turn!’

Next was a stretch of about 7 miles across very boggy, and not always frozen solid, moorland, taking in Bloodybush Edge and Cushat Law, both significant hills of over 600m. The fence line is your friend here so navigation is easy, but the going is slow and this section feels endless. I was in a little ‘train’ of runners, this is single file territory again, following a narrow trod across the bogs, and being in a group does help to maintain pace, or rather forward momentum. Whilst faster competitors seem able to run here, this is not in my skill set!

Finally we reached the 4×4 track again for an easy downhill run of about a mile and a half to checkpoint 2 at High Bleakhope. This is an open sided barn, where my second drop bag was waiting for me, there was hot water, and a brazier for some heat. Again I ignored the chairs and remained standing, dealt with my water bottles and snacks, and ate the pot noodle type soup which I had put in my drop bag, with a spork (isn’t that the best ever implement!?) It was absolutely delicious and a most welcome change from all the sugary chews and bars I was using for fuelling on the move.

It was about half past 7 in the evening when I left the checkpoint with about 20 miles to go. The next section would be tough, including another big ascent up to Hedgehope Hill (714m) and I was not looking forward to it. This was also the stretch I had reccied but had been partially changed to provide a safer river crossing, i.e. a proper bridge across Linhope Burn. I had indeed struggled a bit to cross the river safely on my recce. As it turned out this new route was better and a little easier than the old one as there was more of an obvious trod across the moor. I was in a little group again which helped with any navigational uncertainties and with keeping going. Whilst I did not make any arrangements to pair up with another runner it was definitely good to stick loosely together. We saw the most amazing orange moon rise too, it was quite spectacular. After some miles on the long boggy and challenging section along Coldlaw Burn I could no longer quite keep up and fell behind, but I soon reached the ‘navigational safety’ of the fence line taking me all the way up to Comb Fell and Hedgehope Hill. A long slog up but my spirits were lifted by the amazing views in this white landscape, with the moon now small and high up in a starry sky, and not a breath of wind, conditions which must be quite rare there.

I was mainly on my own here with another runner just behind, and could still see the head torches from the others ahead, perfect as far as I was concerned. Happy with my own thoughts and experiencing the ‘high’ which I generally do feel at some point in an ultra. It made up for the unpleasant struggle of the previous section. I was delighted to see the MRT marshals and their tents at the summit of Hedgehope and then started my descent. It was now about midnight and I knew most of the work was done. I was with another woman runner here and we shared the next miles to Dunmoor Hill and Cunyan Crags, more boggy moorland and ups and downs. I do remember saying I was very ready for those bogs to end now!

After coming down from Cunyan Crags I found Andrew waiting for me on the road, about 3 miles from the finish. At registration we had asked the race organisers if this would be allowed, and to my surprise they were very relaxed about it and said it would be fine as long as I would not receive any help. No piggy backs they said, and Andrew joked that I would probably struggle to carry him at that point in the race 🤣 So I was delighted to see Andrew waiting for me at this nightly hour. He had already run 20 miles up to the Cheviot during the day on his own jaunt out. The final section is a true sting in the tail of this race: whilst it would be less than 2 miles to Ingram along the road, the course takes you off the road, along the base of Brough Law, which is a nasty boulder strewn traverse just above the river, with thorny bushes and trees to add to the torture, after which you climb very steeply up the hill which by this point in the race feels like Mount Everest. I had checked this section out thoroughly beforehand and had found it very unpleasant. Leading Andrew across it I still didn’t take the perfect line, but I did a lot better than the group of runners who I had to let go of about 10 miles earlier by Coldlaw Burn, and who I had imagined long having finished, as we met them again on the side of this hill! They had been a little ‘navigationally embarrassed’ shall we say.  So we were a group of about half a dozen once more. The descent was runnable for a bit but once we hit the farmer’s track there was a lot of sheet ice so we slowed down to a veritable crawl. A final few hundred meters along the road to the finish, I was ‘running’ but Andrew was fast walking beside me, which made me laugh at my own pace.

I reached the finish line with the lit-up Montane arch at Ingram Café at 2:40 am, delighted with my time of well under 21 hours. I was 12^th woman out of 25 who had started (19 finished, 6 retired). Full results can be found here. I had estimated that the event would take me between 20 and 22 hours and I had been correct. I was delighted to receive my beautiful medal, and to meet RD Drew Swinburne on the finish line, who personally removed the enormous balls of ice from my poles! I was worried about them forming a big puddle in the café otherwise. After tea, soup and bread in the café Andrew drove me home, a true hero as due to snow the driving conditions on the A1 were decidedly unpleasant.

A tough but fantastic race to have experienced, and so friendly. The volunteers couldn’t do enough for us all, and I met lots of lovely runners. We really lucked out with the weather, it would not have been half as much fun in driving horizontal rain and strong winds, which are probably the more common conditions. Saying that, I had really good weather on my recces too, so the Cheviots have really shown themselves at their best to me. Would I do it again? Ask me again when entries open next year. At the moment I am not so sure. Doing this event in more adverse weather conditions would be a lot less fun. On the other hand I might just have to go back to find that elusive goat!

Gear

I wore my Hoka Mafate Speed 4’s for this event. Having discovered these earlier this year they have been my shoes of choice for all off-road running. I ran the CCC in them and more recently a very wet and muddy 35 mile Punk Panther Wharfedale Skyline, as well as my Cheviot recces. They are absolute winners for both grip and comfort for me. It is always said that the perfect running shoe does not exist but this comes pretty close. And no, Hoka is not paying me to say this 😂. I thought my VJ Ultras were my favourites, but I have swapped allegiance I am afraid as the Hokas win on comfort. As mentioned earlier in the post I wore thin Injinji socks (they have individual toes) as liners inside my knee-length Dexshell waterproof socks. I had no problems with my feet whatsoever, they were warm enough, just a little damp, no blisters, no hot spots. Delighted with that. I wore two pairs of leggings, a Montane Long Jane as a baselayer and an ordinary pair of running tights over that. I had 5 layers on top, well 6 if you count my sports bra, a standard cotton vest, a Montane Dart long sleeved baselayer T-shirt, a normal technical short sleeved T-shirt, a thin lightweight fleecy jumper and my Montane Spine jacket. I managed not to get too hot or too cold for the duration of the race and did not have to take anything off or add more layers. I often did feel a little on the warm side whilst climbing but it was manageable as the Spine jacket is wonderfully breathable. On my hands I wore a thin pair of Inov8 gloves and then Montane Primaloft mittens (and had a spare pair of Primaloft gloves in my bag) which I took on and off depending on the temperature. For headwear I initially used one and later two buffs, thus covering my whole head. I did have a warm hat to hand (and a spare in my bag) but did not need them. There were quite a few additional items of clothing in my bag in order to be compliant with the mandatory kit requirements, and in these temperatures you would soon have needed several extra layers as well as your survival bag if you had to stop for any length of time. I carried all that gear in a Montane Gecko VP 20, and also had a ‘Naked’ race belt around my hips. I did not strictly need it for additional storage as the Gecko is large enough, but I find it handy to be able to stuff items into, and it also spreads the load. Whilst I have run with my Leki poles for years and love them, I used my Harrier Helvellyn Pro running poles for this race, I recently purchased these as a spare pair, also because they have a strap rather than the Leki ‘shark’ glove system which can be a bit awkward when wearing several pairs of gloves/mittens already in winter. They were fine apart from the ice ball formation which I think could be due to the relatively large ‘basket’ on the ends. I also used these on my recces and found that the baskets sometimes stick in the undergrowth. They are very light weight but quite a bit bulkier than my Leki poles. All in all I am happy with them as my spare pair. I used a Petzl Nao RL head torch, the battery life is excellent and I did not need to use the spare battery at all (or the second head torch which I carried too), there was still half a charge left on the first battery.

Nutrition

Part of this section I have simply copied from my post about the CCC, as the basics have not changed. Nutrition is the absolutely key to success in ultras. Many an ultra runner’s race has ended for lack of calorie intake. I have been very lucky so far in my ultra running that I have not suffered any major nutritional calamity yet, but there can always be a first time, so I am definitely not taking anything for granted. Still, I do seem to have a strategy that works for me so I will take some credit for it. First of all, I commence eating within 30 minutes of the start of the race and continue to have something every 30 minutes. I set an alarm on my watch to remind me. I never wait to go hungry. I try and take in around 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour, I do have a rough plan how to achieve that, so I know how much to carry with me, but I should say it is pretty flexible. I definitely had to be firm with myself at times to eat, even if it meant losing my place in ‘the train’ of runners as we traversed along narrow trods. The temptation was there to plough on because I did not want to fall behind, but actually it’s a recipe for disaster, moving at a pace which might be just a little on the fast side for me, getting tired and then also not keeping the calories going in. Much better to step aside and take that minute to dig out your snack and drink something too. I add energy powder to my water, Science in Sport or Active Root, and I carry pre-measured portions of powder with me so every time I refill my flasks at a checkpoint I can add it. This offers around 35 grams of carbs per 500 ml of fluid taken in. To eat: for pure carbohydrates I carry mainly Veloforte chews, crystallised ginger and/or Turkish Delight. Veloforte has the advantage of having electrolytes added in; ginger and Turkish Delight are just pure carbs but are cheaper, so I mix and match. Ginger is great if I start to feel a bit nauseous (though I did not suffer with that in this race). I also carried Veloforte energy bars, Tunnock’s dark chocolate wafers and some pouches of banana baby food. I had two checkpoint drop bags so I did not have to carry everything with me from the start. I knew there would be soup at the first checkpoint and I sent a pot noodle type meal to the second checkpoint, as well as some babybel cheese. I always long for savoury food especially later in a race. We were warned to stock up with sufficient water to be able to cover 20 miles each time, I did carry an extra soft flask so had 1.5 litres with me at all times, but actually only drank 1 litre between each checkpoint, so 3 litres for the whole race plus the 2 soups.

Photos

I have credited all photos, thanks to all the people who took the time to take pictures and who have given me permission to use theirs. I rarely take photos when I am racing, which sounds a bit ridiculous when I am hardly going to trouble the podium, but I find it a distraction and once you start you then see photo opportunities everywhere, especially on a beautiful day like we had on the Goat.