Bullock Smithy

Well!! Where do I start!! First I wish I recognised a few more people off here!? I had a bit of a 'mare really! Started at pace I wanted, 4 hrs to Edale. However I'd already started having the trapped wind issue I had at last years Ennerdale. I'm pretty sure I have a problem using Nuun tablets!? I had tablets which failed to work, then some nice person lent me money to get others at Castleton. Went Ok from here, apart from getting passed (..again by Daz!!) as I went up the steep grassy slope rather than thro' the gorge. Finally cleared the wind on the tarmac en route to Millers Dale. Went great out of MD, then navigation errors crept in. Had issues between Earlsterndale and Cumberland. Then a great leg up to Walkers Barn. Then I guess, fatigue endused errors upon errors. Awfull, stupid mistakes which cost me about 1.45 - 2 hrs!! :o I won't go into detail here but save to say I'd recced the end from WB, but I still inexplicably screwed it up. Ho hum....next year. 17 hr 10mins this year...and 65 miles!!? (according to Garmin!). Good BGR training!

Great event, nice to see you again Daz...wish I'd stuck with you from WB now but over confidence and desperation to get my time more reasonable kicked in. Cheers for all helpers etc.

'The wife' did superbly with my cousin, walking it in 20 hours and looking fresh as daisies as they walked in. Her first ever long distance event. :thumbup:

Iain,

Well Done to your Wife on her First Long Distance Event! She's amazing!

Well Done to you for completing, despite the grimmest of odds! Have to be honest with you, your palour was gruesome when our paths crossed!! You looked mad ill! I barely recognised you!

I made some fairly stupid navigational errors, but I fully anticipated as such! My only regret is dragging you down with me between Earl Sterndale and Cumberland Cottage, especially so because you were going for a Time! I think the major Navigational Error I subjected you to, and the one that lost us a great deal of time, was that business of turning right and up from the track just after Brand Top! We should have stayed left and eventually hit the T Junction/Knights Table Pub!!

I have had various injuries this year, so the Master Plan was only ever for James (Partner) to go for a PB, and for me to just chill and enjoy the ride! Navigate myself around the Route alone, be it running or walking, chat to people when it suited, make some navigational errors, learn from them, but primarilly just complete! A few extra Run Further Points (Don't want to be Last! Not that that would necesarilly be a bad thing!) and another one for the 100 Marathon Club! Saddo!

You looked strong and fresh again when I told you to crack on with it and do your best, at Cumberland Cottage! I had been feeling out of sorts all the way round and I couldn't seem to eat!? The final nail in the coffin was cracking my right hip on a rock, when I skidded down the Grassy Slope of Doom, (Dowel Dale) just after Earl Sterndale! I was in pain and crashing all the way up to Cumberland Cottage! I fully anticipated you making up a great deal of lost time, but that Route has a knack of playing tricks with your head! Especially Bollington!

I wish I had stayed with you for the last Section from Whitley Green to Hazel Grove now! I'm so sorry! When I bumped into you, I had just done with getting lost Again, having missed my turn off for Waterloo Road! I had jogged, what seemed like, some Epic Distance down Dickens Lane/Narrow Lane and all the way back up again! I assumed that you knew that Section better than I did!!

Me and James both said that if we had recognised you at the Start we could have partnered you up with James!!! He did it in 14:31 so he didn't get his much desired PB after all! (I did it in 16:15!!!) We both agreed that you and he would have pushed each other on, and if you were poorly it would have made him more determined to get you round as safely/quickly as possible!! As it was, when people had begun to drop out and the field spread out, he found himself alone for long periods and lost motivation a little!

James says he is sorry for not chatting to you at the Finish, but he honestly didn't recognise you!

Next year, all going well, we are both going to actually train properly for it and run it seperately again, aiming for our respective PBs, so if you decide to have it, James said make yourself known to him at the Start and you can both team up and hammer it silly for a Time!

~

P.S. Eyes are bad at the mo, hence having to type the above in MS Word, in a dock off big font, before pasting it here!!

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Originally Posted by Luv Shack

Been out there today - on the course - here & there..
Wow - "top" conditions - maybe a bit warm early doors over to Edale..
Plus - very brezzy back O' Chel'....
Super dusky sky too :wink:.....

Great to see Best Gal' & Pal bantering along in fine style!

SteveT, Geoff Pett', KarenN, DazTS, BritN' & many more going very indeed - very impressed:)...

Perhaps it's time I had a crack too.........there is quite a history of Rucksackers to follow....

PS - took a few pics' - if there any good I'll ask SteveT if he might post them at http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~temples/hc/

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Bit of a late reply here. It was great to see you out there on the course giving us encouragement, Andy. I think it was at Chelmorton as the sun was going down and the cool wind was a-blowing, wasn't it? I was sort of in the zone and might not recall correctly; same reason why I may not have appeared to recognise you, even though I did (eventually, when I'd thought about it, like :o). I hope you get to run it next year. It's one of the best events out there.

Have your piccies appeared on-line anywhere yet? I can't find a link on either of Steve T's sites.

Well done tfg and PQ. Nav errors are so frustrating, but they make the urge to return for a PB that much stronger, don't you find?

fjell_guy - good to hear that you are OK Iain: after seeing your long splits for both WB-WG and WG-Finish I was thinking you had got injured
although I walked those last sections, the guy I was walking with was a "proper" walker and we averaged 16 minute miles, which is not a lot slower than I managed in 2010 when I "jogged" in

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Originally Posted by Skelton

This race sounds like a great challenge, a couple of people from a group I run with did this. I might give this a go next year! :)

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It's well worth it, the course is great (weather permitting!), the atmosphere and organisation top notch. Sitting and eating a post race fried breakfast at 2am, sipping tea and talking with fellow hikers has to have been one of my most enjoyable experiences in ultra running to date.

Nick,

Well Done to you! You still did an Excellent Time despite having been through the wars a little lately!

A sincere Thank You for the Reccy from Earl Sterndale to Hazel Grove! It truly was a Godsend!

It was the only Reccy that I managed to do in the end, apart from running James through your Optimum Route from Bridge 12 to Towers Road!

It gave me the knowledge and confidence that I needed for the Night Section. I was always going to make a fair few duff Navigational Errors on my first Solo Bullock Smithy attempt, but, had it not been for the Reccy Of Truth, it could have been far worse! Dire Even! I did my best to keep to your Route (Road Sections/Optimum Route) and it is a great deal faster, even factoring in going wrong!

You are right! 'Navigational errors are so frustrating!' and they do 'make the urge to return for a PB that much stronger!'

Next year, all going well, I really want to see how fast I can get round the Bullock Smithy, so, I will mostly be adopting a Scolded Cat style of running for the occasion! Pumps with inserts are at the top of my Bullock Smithy Kit List also!

PBs aside, this Event is Pure Quality! The organisation, Marshalls, Helpers, Meat Waggon, Munch, Route! I would recomend it to anyone, especially First Timers! You will be well taken care of!

good luck to everyone chasing pbs next year....

just thought i'd add a bit of caution re the event- yes it is tough, well organised and cheap- so whats not to like? Well basically, there is a lot of track and huge amounts of road for an ultra (a bit like the hp40) in this regard...It certaintly can't be confused with the fellsman or Bruce's Crown. I like it (and will do it again) but there are plenty of other nice longs for folks to try with less road (eg, hardmoors events, lakeland50/100, other scout events like long mynd hike (plenty of tarmac in this too- but it doesn't go on forever the way it does in the smithy) and ldwa jobs...not trying to put a downer on the BS- just adding a cautionary note...

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Originally Posted by Jolly Beggar

we finished just before you nick 13.28 dutch, mark, myself a lad from stockport and a new 50years old from brighton,and of cause the two dogs.

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Well, I guess I was a new 50 year old. Hope you had a good birthday yourself.