Anybody doing this ?. I am but i am walking as no chance of running 50 miles. Is anyone else walking or is everyone on here whose doing it running.
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Anybody doing this ?. I am but i am walking as no chance of running 50 miles. Is anyone else walking or is everyone on here whose doing it running.
I am giving it a go. I will be running it though. It will be my first ultra race that I can think of running the whole way on, or most of it anyway. So it should be a good, new challenge.
Good luck Alan it is quite a pleasant route for the most part. The bit around Tinsley not so great but Roche Abbey is lovely.
Thanks. I will put my head down and get on with it around Tinsley then. Is it worth recceing? If so which bits are the hardest to route find?
I am thinking of looking at the second half of it on a (long) day trip.
Not really, route finding is mainly obvious. The hardest parts I found were in the urban areas, around the industrial estates. I quite like those parts though, the transition from industry to countryside, really captures what sheffield is like.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Lucker
Pretty sure I'll be doing this, running it though.
HI ALL
It's a v.runnable 50 - took me just under 10hours last year. Apols in advance to any locals but the faster you run thru the industrial estates the better (think unofficial landfill site)....Course goes out to some nice bits after that......well run event - that's why i'm back for another crack....hopefully to beat last years time.
Most surreal bit for me last year was running thru farmers field at side of busy motorway - I was thinking that must be either M1 or M18 - no need for O/S Map & compass 100yds on as i saw the huge blue services sign "Woodall Services 1/2mile" - The amount of times i've been up & down the that road in a car with work.....never thought i'd be running alongside in a field....
Cheers
Mark.....
When is it?
16th October.
Just looked at the site. Is it worth buying the relevant OS map(s) or do people use the maps from the site? Has anyone used the strip map on its own?
Yes and you can navigate with it. What i like is all the variation of maps on offer on the site including a written word description. So whatever suits you best.
Just the strip map. Tried to use an OS and it's just too confusing in urban areas. A strip map is great as long as you keep an eye on it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grouse
eh up Grouse. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Grouse
The strip map is pretty good and people do use them by them selves but once off route......
Best carry a copy or cut down copy of an OS map as a back up, you wouldn't want to go walk about would you, What would Margerine say?
Hi Matt Where've you been?
Eh up. Might be talking meself into this one. Used to live round there many moons ago.
[QUOTE=IanDarkpeak;351918]Best carry a copy or cut down copy of an OS map as a back up, you wouldn't want to go walk about would you,QUOTE]
Not round some of those areas you wouldn't! ;) Its certainly a route of contrasts, a good selection of some of the disparate outlying suburbs of Sheffield and Rotherham.
I was eyeing this but with a couple of week's jollies coming up I'm a bit concerned about the break in training leading up to it. One for next year perhaps...
I'm hoping to do this, but our baby's due on 2nd November so it will probably be an entry on the day in case everything happens early!
Never done anything this long yet, and won't have a huge amount of training time so will be going on stuborn-ness and trying to take it slow at the start...
I've been sneering at the idea of a run round Rotherham for a while, as others have defended it. Doesn't exactly sound very scenic to me. Having said that, it looks like I'll be finding out in October. I needed a race that weekend & there didn't seem to be anything suitable on apart from this, so I've swallowed what's left of my pride & entered. I'm expecting it to be similar to the round Derby run I did a year and a half ago: reasonable farmland (i.e. grazing rather than crops), the odd bit of industrial dereliction and flytipping, with occasional housing estates and motorway flyovers. I don't care what the last 10 miles is like anyway: I'll be too wasted to notice. The good thing about being a pessimist is that I'm rarely disappointed, and sometimes get pleasant surprises.
Last time I did it I got lost a few miles from the end. I was on an industrial estate road with no-one in sight apart from a dog walker about 100 yards away, so I shambled (sorry, ultraran) towards him, whereupon I see that the dog's an alsatian and it's straining at the leash barking rabidly at me, and the seedy-looking guy, who is wearing dark glasses in the dark night, says 'keep away mate or he'll have ya'.
He did give me directions though, and what's more, they worked.
I have entered and printed off the strip mpas - hope they will be enough so long as I pay attention.
Hope to run and so not be on my own either.
Hope it is more scenic than some bits look on the maps but I have been assured that despite some parts it is a good race and well organised. Last of the ULtra series so hope to give it a go
I did it in 2007 & 2008 when it was December and absolutely wild weather.
It's all perfectly runnable (except some of the ploughed field bits, depending on mud/ rainfall).
Some bits are scenic; others the usual ghastly industrial estate / fly-tip / metal fencing stuff.
Navigation: you've got to keep your wits about you in the industrial / residential bits, particularly in Tinsley, Treeton and Swinton at the end. Easy to miss a ginnel or turn.
Maps: strip maps are pretty decent (as long as you pay attention). Got lost a couple of times after Roche Abbey and it was useful to have an OS printout as backup. Make sure the strip maps are weatherproofed (I seal them in A4 plastic wallet sleeves).
Possibly doing it this year: it depends on whether I can arrange it with Mrs Basil, and whether I can get a couple of weekend LSRs in beforehand.
Love it! Brilliant! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Don't fear the sweeper
I'm going to adopt that quote! :D
Not sure, at all, about the 1st half, but I live a few hundred yards from the start of leg 7. I might end up picking up a leg for the relay event. Looking at the map a lot of this end of the route is definitely scenic, nice farmland out past Firbeck and Stone, before passing Roche abbey. OK, you hit Maltby before heading out across the fields again, but you miss the worst of it!
Keep an eye out for a guy called Ray Matthews. He’s 60-70 (not a speed merchant) whose done it before. This year he’s aiming to have done it overnight before coming in for the official start and doing it all over again.
Looks like its a poignant one this year:
Obituary
Golly! He really was a decent chap. I hope there will be something significant to mark his passing, at the start of the race.Quote:
Originally Posted by No vice
It's a month today! I'd better get some long runs in then. Got the go-ahead last night from Mrs Basil so I'll be there and hoping to crack 8 hrs this time. And hoping for non-monsoon conditions (as opposed to my last 2 ventures)
Any bits of this RR that are particularly tricky to navigate? I know there are strip maps provided but wondered if any sections would benefit from a look see beforehand?
None of it is navigationally difficult, as long as you are paying attention to the map!Quote:
Originally Posted by jodg
Easier said than done when tired or when following someone and not really concentrating...
The bits I have struggled with (minor nav errors) are:
1. Tinsley. There’s an alley down the side of a steel yard and I’ve missed it both times. Where you turn R off the main Tinsley road. The actual alley is quite dark, overgrown and narrow.
2. Keppel’s column. When you pass it you come to a side road, and the temptation is to turn L thinking you can get onto the main road and cut off a small corner of the official route. You can’t. You have to turn R and follow the road round to the main road.
3. In the woods after Roche Abbey you are tired, and both times I’ve come a little unstuck on the paths in the next couple of miles. Not difficult but concentration is generally poor that late in the race
4. The last leg through the residential areas around Swinton and Wath are notorious and I’ve always been careful to pay attention to the map and not got lost. I’ve read stories of people getting rather stuck here, so if there’s one bit you might want to try then this would be it.
These are my vague recollections from a couple of years ago. I’m sure I’ve come unstuck at different sections as well…
In general, the navigation has been fairly easy and I’ve not been too troubled with route-finding. I’ve never got it 100% though!
I hadn't realised that there was a seven a.m. start for this!
Just emailed the organiser and asked if I can park my campervan at the event centre and sleep over on Friday. Don't really fancy a four a.m. start.
Thanks for the tips Basil.Quote:
Originally Posted by Basil
Quite a few camper vans parked up when I did it in 2007 & 2008. Best to ask though, but don't reckon it'd be a problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Duff
Folks have also be known to miss the right turn into the alley immediately after the DHL base at 23kmQuote:
Originally Posted by Basil
A pal of mine has managed to wrong in Maltby two years running, but I'm not sure how - possibly lack of concentration due to fatigue - as it is quite straightforward.
Like Basil, I'm hoping to crack 8hrs - at the 6th time of asking. Did 8.14 last year. I'm going to taper for it this year starting from now.
Its not quite as much fun as it was when it was a December event, but it was my first ever ultra and I have a soft spot for it. As others have commented, it has some grotty bits, but these are more than compensated for by the rural sections. The course passes within about 400m of Meadowhall and I am always grateful that I'm out running rather than inside shopping.
Colm
Hey Colm
I feel like a lightweight - this will "only" be my 3rd attempt.
You're right about the DHL alleyway.
Also about Maltby. There's a flight of steep steps up onto the main road, and they are easy to miss in the confusion.
I was due to do a final 20 miler last Sunday, but when the alarm went off at 5am I went back to bed. Knee grumbling a bit and just too tired really. I might get c20 miles on Saturday morning, but otherwise I'm not doing enough mileage to warrrant much of a taper.
Hopefully when the pace starts to establish itself (in my experience, by the time you get to the CP at Treeton), then small grouplets start to form and tend to be quite robust over many miles. Or maybe that was just the pack sheltering in the face of serious weather adversity in 2007 & 2008!
Sounds like we'll probably pass each other a few times in the early stages. Look out for me - bright red hair. No idea what I'll be wearing: depends on the weather. Probably not very much.
Hey Colm
If you know the way can I run with you??? Karen
Hi KarenQuote:
Originally Posted by karen nash
Sure. If you're running with me, then you can't be in front of me! Although I expect you'll do your usual and burn me off over the last 10 miles.
Basil - I think it is the first set of steps that causes the confusion, because the strip map says to go up the "wide steps". I always ignore them - if you run 20 or 30 meteres past them you come out opposite the "wide steps" that you are supposed to climb.
I'll make myself known to you if I spot you. Bright red hair should be a give away.
Colm
The only problems I've had with navigation (mainly using the strips which I think are ace) are when it got dark and I didn't concentrate - thought I knew where I was going because I'd done it before, the fact that it was 12 months ago and my brain obviously can't remember that far back now it's going semi-addled, meant I went off route several times. So just concentrate and you'll be fine. If possible recce the last bits because of the dark.
Just entered this - as a relay! We've got a family team - husband & son doing first 2 legs. Then me & cousin (Madam Muck) alternating legs. So we may go steaming past you all for a change! We also get a bit more sleep, not having to start until 8am.
Looking forward to it:rolleyes:
Can anyone tell me how well stocked the checkpoints are in terms of drinks and/or snacks? Similar to the HP40?
Checkpoints are easily as well stocked as HP40 if not slightly better. I've always managed to get round on checkpoint food with little more than a couple of my own gels near the end.
Thanks Chris. The HP40 was my first time at such a long event and I set off carrying shed loads of food & drink - hardly touched any of it as I was grabbing snacks etc en route. Will make sure am taking a lot less at RR then!Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris H
I've certainly never bothered carrying anything food/drink. CPs are approx every 10k.
All have juice; some have tea & coffee as well.
Food on offer varies: lots of cake, sweets, chocolate, sandwiches, malt loaf. If I was being really picky I'd say there was too much sweet and not enough savoury. But I'm not picky. It's all "fuel".
The dinner at the end is very welcome too.
Sounds like one of those "all you can eat" buffets! Thank goodness there'll be some running involved to burn it off! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Basil