From Jane McCarthy…
Having grown up in the South of England I fancied returning to try an Ultra – The South Downs Way I knew was very pretty, had been run by Andrew Merrick several years ago (he had already kindly lent me the map) and had been described by the evergreen Bob Hamilton as his favourite route – a high accolade. There was also the appeal of getting to see the entire South Downs in one go, and with a 5am start in June it also didn’t mean losing half the views to the night-time. There was the small issue of it being 100 miles – but I’d worry about that later. Centurion Running host the event, along with multiple other 50 and 100 mile Trail Ultramarathons in the most scenic parts of the South. Everything is SUPER well organised; fantastic aid stations – well stocked to cover all tastes, friendly support, a fully-marked course and great camaraderie amongst runners along the route. Crewing is permitted from just after the halfway point. Many runners picked up a friend/sibling/spouse/in-law at this point giving a nice morale boost. I had kindly been offered crewing, but wanted to try and do this one solo – even if it would be mentally tougher. My morale boost came from seeing my mum and dad at both drop bag checkpoints, armed with everything and anything I might need – plus the all-so-important hug and words of encouragement. The first 50 miles of this course are very runnable, there are plenty of hills but they feel gentle, compared to the Dales and Lakes – quite dangerous if you’re not used to pacing over this terrain. I did make the mistake of going out too fast, I couldn’t understand why runners around me said they were hoping for a 24 hour finish time or ‘to make the cut-off’ of 30 hours when we were running at 16 hour pace!!! I should, in fact, have been further back with more savvy runners pacing to come in under 20 hours. The views and weather were sensational all day, a westerly wind made everything a lot easier as we headed eastwards from Winchester towards Eastbourne, definitely a little warm for ultra running but in mid-June I figured it could have been a lot worse. My legs felt pretty shot from about mile 70, which meant I was overtaken more than I would have liked in the final third, and meant I missed the random, made-up target of 20 hours, finally running off the Downs in the early hours for a 20:29hr time. Upon entering the sports track in Eastbourne I was reminded the finish line came after a final 400m lap of the track (so cruel!) but it was runnable knowing my parents were there waiting to take me to the Premier Inn (glamour) and my coveted Centurion buckle awaited. I was 39th overall, and 10th lady (which at 25% seemed like a very high percentage of females in the top 40 and shows how far we’ve come since the first women were officially allowed to run the Boston Marathon in 1972) and the first lady Bethan Male broke the 9 year old record in an incredible time of 16:49. So, after 100 miles, 3,800m climbing – it was a tough one, but may also become my favourite once all the pain has gone!