Hardwolds 40

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 value for money, as I understand it most of their races offer some bonus miles 😉) with 4300 ft of elevation. It runs from Beverley to Malton, largely on the middle section of the Yorkshire Wolds Way which is a National Trail, taking in the villages of Londesborough, Millington, Fridaythorpe, Thixendale and Settrington. There is also a Hardwolds 80 race taking in the entire Wolds Way from Hessle to Filey Brigg, held in November.

I had reccied the route about a fortnight before the race with my friend Gill, walking it in 2 days with an overnight stay in a glamping pod at the Seaways Cafe in Fridaythorpe. We found that despite the landscape being beautiful the miles did appear to be very long! Endless stretches between turns or gates, under big open skies, make for a very different experience than running in our Yorkshire Dales. There was slightly more road than ideal for a trail race, and due to the prolonged dry spell the chalk trails were rock hard, so it was tough on the feet. In addition the first 10 and last 4 miles were largely flat. Still, it is always interesting to experience a landscape quite different from your home surroundings, and I enjoyed seeing the expansive fields full of crops, mainly wheat and broad beans. The chalk made me feel as if I was in the south of England at times, for instance in the Chilterns. At least this recce prepared me well for the race as I knew what lay ahead. I also saw that the course, barring some of the steeper ascents, was totally runnable, which filled me with a bit of trepidation. I remember saying to Gill that road marathon training would have been quite appropriate prep, which unfortunately I had not done! All I had achieved in the last 6 weeks was recovering from the Dales High Way and doing battle with an Achilles tendon niggle.

I had a poor night’s sleep before the race, the combination of being too warm and knowing the alarm would go off at 3 made me toss and turn rather than sleep much. When I got in the car shortly after 4 the outside temperature was already 19 degrees! I arrived at the finish location, the Community Sports Centre in Malton at 5:30 where I left my car. The coach which would be taking us to the start at Beverley RUFC arrived promptly at 6. Once there I went to the friendly and efficiently managed quick kit check and registration, and my tracker was taped to my race vest. I handed in my 2 small drop bags (food and sports drink powder) for checkpoints 3 and 5, and then spent some time chatting to runners I know from Punk Panther events before we received the race briefing from Hardmoors’ RD Jon Steele. Great to see Mark Limon, one of Punk Panther’s RDs who is also a Hardmoors stalwart and would be marshalling on multiple checkpoints (not all at the same time!)

It was nice standing around in the early morning sunshine, but every runner knows that if you are already comfortable, let alone warm, at the start of a race you are soon going to be far too hot. It was 20 degrees at our 8 am start and during the day it would reach 26, and I would say in places it felt even hotter. That combined with high humidity would make for challenging conditions. Thankfully there was some breeze which helped a little.

The evening before I had done some pre-race research into the other 2 women in my age category and I reckoned that winning it could be within the realms of possibility but would certainly not be handed to me on a plate. As I got off the coach in Beverley a woman runner said to me ‘are you Petra?’, this turned out to be Pam Costello, a fellow F60, and as I found out later from others, a true Hardmoors legend in her own time! Pam told me that her father had been Dutch so we had something in common. Pam looked like a very strong runner and my first thought was ‘Petra, you’ll have your work cut out here!’ Fortunately for me I am at a bit of a natural advantage of being right at the bottom of the age category whilst Pam is nearer the top. Pam was with Karen Saward, a fast F50 runner whom I had met previously at the Harrogate Hustle race where she had comprehensively beaten me, it was nice to see her again and NOT be competing in the same category this time 😂. The Hardmoors events, being generally larger, can operate with more age category prizes than Punk Panther, where it’s a matter of being below or above 50.

As well as wanting to try and win my age category I also had the aim of finishing in about 10 hours, preferably just under, i.e. a time starting with a 9, but this time was based on my running in ‘normal’ weather conditions. The heat soon made me realise that my goal time would have to be adjusted upwards. My race would be dominated by trying to keep the balance right between making sufficient forward progress to achieve my goals but not be foolish and risk heat exhaustion.

At 8 am we were off. From the start the course follows the Hudson Way Trail along the old railway line which connected Beverley to Market Weighton (closed in 1965 after the Beeching report) for 9 miles to the first checkpoint (CP1). I was careful not to go out too fast on these early (almost) flat miles and adopted a 14 minute run/1 minute walk strategy, positioning myself towards the back of the field and covering just over 5 miles per hour. I also started fuelling straight away, eating carbs (mainly Turkish Delight) every 30 minutes, helped by an alert on my watch. We joined the Wolds Way just before Goodmanham. The landscape became more undulating, and once we reached the hills about 10 miles in the run/walk ratio more or less dictated itself. Here I was pleased to see Pam again, who had pulled away from me on the Hudson Way, after a brief chat I went past and tried to open up a gap, I was definitely feeling competitive! I had not seen the third F60 in the race but (correctly) guessed she was behind us.

A very welcome extra water station (CP2) had been placed at 11.5 miles in a lay-by off the A614, after crossing this fairly busy road with help from the marshals (or hardshals as they are called in Hardmoors parlance) we made our way to the tiny village of Londesborough, which is approached via the beautiful parkland which surrounds Londesborough Hall. Then onwards via Nunburnholme to CP3 in Millington at 18 miles where I could replenish my supplies from my drop bag. The CP was indoors in the village hall, so had the benefit of a toilet, but the small hall was hot and particularly airless so I left as soon as I could. I did feel quite sorry for the marshals working hard in there all day.

It was becoming a tough day out and mentally I did have to work from checkpoint to checkpoint, though I was never in any doubt that I would finish, barring disasters. So the next goal was CP4 in Fridaythorpe, 26 miles in. Climbing up the steep hill out of Millington to regain the Wolds Way I met a runner coming back down saying he was stopping as he felt dizzy and unwell due to the heat. It was around midday now and the temperature and humidity were definitely starting to affect many of us. In addition there were some relatively challenging ascents on this section. I just kept going forward steadily but I did start to experience painful cramp in my legs, a warning to keep my salt intake up. I had my trusted vegetable stock cubes to nibble on and supplemented them with salted peanuts from the checkpoints. One thing I had not known about the Hardmoors checkpoint catering is that, in contrast to Punk Panther, they do not supply crisps or mini-cheddars! A minor downside as far as I am concerned, next time I will definitely bring my own along. These are foodstuffs I rarely eat in normal life, but highly desirable in an ultra. I then made a minor nav error a few miles before Fridaythorpe, concentrating on dealing with another cramp attack in my thigh I missed a turn but thankfully a runner whom I had overtaken just a bit earlier managed to call me back (my Garmin was obviously slow to notice!), I was very grateful to him, but I felt frustrated having to retrace my steps and it would have to be uphill too 😟 Then a long slog on a grassy gradual incline to finally reach Fridaythorpe, I remembered how Gill and I had flagged there on our recce and it was tough again now. I couldn’t run it but tried to at least ‘march’ and managed to overtake the runners who had gone past me during my nav mishap. All in all I wasn’t feeling my best arriving at CP4, tired, a little queasy and still hoping for those crisps or similar that were not materialising. I stood in a bit of shade by a wall drinking coke, I sought out the wall because I wasn’t 100% sure I would stay upright! I managed to regain some strength from the coke, ate some watermelon and forced down more peanuts, as well as taking some along for the road. I walked a bit with another woman who said she had just had a pretty dark moment back at the CP, feeling tempted to give up especially after seeing her husband and children there; it was nice to share our mid-ultra woes and so find extra determination to carry on. And start running again! After all, over half way now, only 20 miles to go.

Next CP to aim for was Thixendale, only 4 miles away at mile 30, so this felt like an easier stretch, it was also quite pretty. I managed to run quite a bit along the bottom of one of the valleys where there was some shade from the trees (the sheep were more sensibly sleeping in the shade), overtaking some more people in the process. The Thixendale CP5 was the best I thought, another village hall (with toilets!) but this time very spacious and airy. I bumped into Kev Limon there, another Punk Panther regular, we are of quite similar pace so I had wondered where I would see him. Like all of us he wasn’t finding the heat easy either. I collected the supplies from my drop bag and was very grateful for 2 slices of pizza offered by the marshals as a good alternative to peanuts. I actually sat down for the first time as I felt I needed it, that must have worked as I soon felt a bit better. Another woman runner said it was just about finishing now, but I replied that I was still very much in competitive mode trying to win my age category. ‘Don’t worry’ I added, ‘you are not in my category’ 😁 as she had looked a tad worried. One of the marshals asked me who was in my category then and when I mentioned Pam Costello I was told she was a real legend! I said I had guessed as much already.

Coming out of the checkpoint my mood was boosted by a surprise visit from Gill and partner who had come out on the motorbike to find me. Having only just left the CP I did not really want to stop to chat, thankfully Gill, having been an ace fell runner herself, fully appreciated that so she left me to climb the hill in pursuit of my goals. It was steep and I walked a bit with a nice runner called Gary, Kev was just ahead of us on the trail too. We were headed for the deserted medieval village of Wharrram Percy, a beautiful and interesting spot at the bottom of a valley which I had never been to prior to the recce, when we had made a second breakfast stop there. Here I met Gill again, they had ridden to the car park at the top and and she had walked down to meet me and we walked back up together, which was lovely. We reached the car park and the road where I continued on my way to Wharram Le Street and they rode home again.

My next aim was CP6 just beyond Settrington Beacon (at 39 miles) where the course leaves the Wolds Way and follows the road down towards the village of Settrington. This was the ‘Help for Heroes’ CP run by Michael Swain and friends, I had never met Michael but had seen posts about his checkpoints on the Hardmoors Facebook group so it was nice to meet the man (and 4 doggies) in person. An excellent and very welcome checkpoint indeed. It was all downhill along the road from there and I managed to run to Settrington, reverting to run/walk once I reached the flat. My legs and feet were actually fine but my entire body was struggling due to the heat and humidity.

I was buoyed by the encouraging sign made for the runners on the village school and turned towards Norton and Malton, just 4 miles away. I continued to run/walk as best I could. Some people now had support runners, as this was allowed from Settrington Beacon onwards. I did find it very difficult to keep running towards the end. I had to suppress the negative chatter inside my head by telling myself that I seemed to be doing more running than most and was still overtaking plenty of people, even those with support.

On crossing the river Derwent which separates Norton from Malton I started to look at the time. I was keen to at least have a finish time starting with a ‘10’, was this still possible? The course took us a wiggly way (it was well flagged to be fair) through streets away from the main road, up the hill to the finish. I was together with another runner, Catherine, and her support runner, and the 3 of us tried to follow the signs. Despite the signs and all of us having reccied it we still made a small error, briefly turning left instead of right. Perhaps another precious minute lost? With the finish in sight I went for it and managed to sprint up the hill for my fastest split of the race. I was delighted to finish in 10:58:10, 1^st FV60 and 8^th woman overall out of 41 woman finishers. Full results are here. Lovely to be welcomed at the finish by Mark Limon, to meet Kim Cavill whom I recognised from her being a brilliant guest on the Tea&Trails podcast and who was marshalling at the finish, and most of all to be given my award by Hardmoors RD Jon Steele. Karen Saward had finished well over an hour ahead of me and it was lovely to see her again. Pam had a tough day out there and finished after I left for home, but we are now Facebook friends and I am looking forward to meeting her again soon on another Hardmoors event, I am sure I will be doing more of them (makes mental note to pack mini-cheddars!)

Shoes: I started with an Achilles niggle about 3 weeks before the race and I managed to get it under control only just in time. I tend to run in shoes with fairly minimal cushioning but felt it might be time for a change, at least for now. Every time I went out for a little test run in my usual trainers I had to return home after just a few steps to change my shoes for the most cushioned ones in the cupboard, my Hoka Challenger ATR 6. For this race I decided to wear my very newly purchased Hoka Tecton X. This is the ‘old’ model, rather than the Tecton X2, I went for the previous model simply on the basis of cost as they were so much cheaper than the X2. I tried them for 6 miles on the Wednesday before the race and they felt very good, so I went for them and they did serve me very well for these 47 miles, almost fresh out of the box. No feet issues at all. Interestingly I don’t wear carbon-plated shoes on the road, have never tried them yet. For this kind of trail race, with dry hard-packed runnable trails, nothing too technical, and significant sections of road I think carbon plated trail shoes can be a good choice and possibly confer an advantage. They are very light which is something I always go for (213g in my size 6). Though I was battling to run at the end I think this was due to my body dealing with the heat. My legs and feet actually felt OK and I think they could have gone a lot further. If that is in part due to the shoes then all credit to them! No poles used by the way on this ultra.