Apocalypse 100

[Splatcher]

Anyone else been mad enough to sign up for this? Or is it just me...

100 miles round Shropshire in May. The maps got emailed out today, & the enormity of what I've signed up for is just starting to sink in.

[GeeeM]

I did the 50 last year, the 100 caught a lot of people out - there weren't many finishers and loads dropped down to the 50... My memories of it are that there's quite a lot of road in the first half and some long, boring, flat sections. The 50 was unmarked with CPs every 10 miles and several "self clip" control points at strategic locations.

Carding Mill Valley, (where you start), The Stiperstones, Corndon and Earls Hill are all highlights - it's a really nice bit of the world, if you get a chance to recce the bits you'll do in the dark then it'll pay dividends.

Beyond Marathon are a great outfit and will take care of you, the CP's are pretty awesome - the one at 30/40 miles in a pub beer garden was awesome last year, chips and half a lager before tackling the final 10 miles hit the spot ;-)

[Splatcher]

Right. I've ignored GeeeM's advice & recce'd none of it. At least they've changed the route a bit in the 2nd half this year to reduce the climbing a bit. Chips and lager won't be on my menu either. I'll have to crack on, as I've got to be in Liverpool on Sunday evening at a concert. It was a bit disconcerting to learn that the only person under 24 hours last year was Charlie Sharpe. I've got 35.5 hours to run 100 miles, recover enough to drive, drive home from Shropshire, then get to Liverpool. I'm the oldest runner in the event and I've never run further than 65 miles in one go before. What could possibly go wrong?

[GeeeM]

Yeah, you'll be fine as long as you don't get caught up with the whipper-snappers in the first half - and I hope it's a nice sedate, sitting-down type of concert and you're not planning on jumping in the mosh-pit at some death-metal gig

When you see Mr Sharpe posting that sort of time, you know it's going to be a long day and night out in the hills - there's a race report on his Blog, (Running Riot) that is worth reading if you haven't already.

The weather looks OK too - a lot cooler than last year.

Good Luck

[BritNick]

Andy you'll definitely need more than Kendal mint cake for that one. You might just need the lager and chips to get yourself going again after the wheels have fallen off.

[Splatcher]

I was chatting to Charlie about it on Saturday after he came in first in the Sandstone Trail Challenge (I'm RO). He was telling me that before last year's Apocalypse the 50-mile runners were warned not to try to keep up with him. Some took no notice & he burned them off and burned them out without even trying. And ran 50 miles more than them too.

The concert is very much a sitting down affair. If the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra operates a mosh pit I've missed it so far.

And no, Nick, I won't need more than Kendal Mint Cake. It worked for the BG, it'll work for this. Possibly.

[Rev Richard]

Best of luck Splatcher. Take it from me, it will be a true challenge of endurance - I've been to Youth Orchestra concerts before.

[Splatcher]

Flipping heck, that was an awesome event! Great weather, brilliant views across Shropshire & the Welsh hills. We didn't have time to stop for picnics though. Best bit: hammering down off the Long Mynd to the finish. Worst bit: offroute in the middle of a rape field at 1am in pitch dark.

I ran the first half with Nigel Aston, then the 2nd half on my own, through the night. Good to see Nigel, & he helped me through a rough patch at around miles 35 to 45. Good to see Charlie Sharpe, Carmine de Grandis & Alison Brind too - all doing the 50-mile option (which was just the first half of the 100).

I must have paced it about right, since I finished 4th in about 24:09:14. Daniel Hendrikson won in 20:15:14, Paul Collier 2nd in 20:56:00. The full results are here, & I've written a race report and posted it to Runfurther.com. Charlie Sharpe won the 50-mile race.

[GeeeM]

That's a solid result, nice one. I had lots of friends there, (the DDMT crew at mile 90) and it looked like a great event again.