Monday, March 07, 2011
The Belvoir Challenge- Event Report
As I have said before, the Belvoir Challenge is usually characterised by containing mud, mud and yet more mud- slippery mud, glutinous mud and plain muddy mud. And the 2011 Belvoir Challenge certainly did not disapoint!
As usual, I over-estimated how long it would take me to drive there and reached Harby at around 7:50am (for a 9am start). The weather looked slightly promising at this stage, almost as though the sun was considering coming out. There was a car park for the even on the Colston Bassett Road, which was the way I was coming in, so I decided to park there, quickly followed by several other people. Someone had decided to build an impressive metal stag close by;
As usual, it was very well attended, I think over 2000 people completed both routes although more completed the 16 mile than the 26 mile- I bet the residents of Harby dread this day! I checked in, was given a yellow tag with my number on and took a basic map of the route- the route changes each year and there is no route description, the route is marked by red and white tape and red and yellow signs. I took a cup of coffee and noticed that the 16 mile entrants had been given green number tags, most of them seemed to be runners.
Although the check in is at the Village Hall, the start is at the school which is just up the road. There was a split start this year- the 26 milers and the 16 milers were starting on different directions, under either a green or yellow banner. I very nearly went wrong right away, as I assumed that as the 26 milers had been given yellow tags we would be starting under the yellow banner and the 16 milers with the green tags starting under the green banner. Wrong!! Luckily I realised my mistake just in time...
We headed off down the canal towards Hose and the runners started to snake off into the distance. I decided to jog the canal path as it would probably be the easiest terrain all day.
We turned off into fields, making our way towards Long Clawson, I was still jogging quite a bit at this stage so was actually ahead of most of the walkers. It started to drizzle and apart from a few clearer spells it was more or less set in for the day. We were taken around Long Clawson through the first real mud of the day- I was following a girl through until she lost a shoe!
The first checkpoint was here and the faster walkers started to overtake me. We were soon headed up and over a steep hill before dropping down into Old Dalby. The next few miles were undulating and there would have been some pretty good views if it hadn't been so misty.
There was also some more rather spectacular mud- one guy just ahead of me ended up losing his shoe! It felt as though everyone else was passing me now as the mud was really slowing me up.
The second checkpoint, at Grimston, was quite a civilised affair- there were toilets and hot coffee! I saw Stuart Ashley, who organises the Ponton Plod, and heard someone telling the organisers that there was a runner in trouble further back, with a suspected hamstring injury.
The route kind of set off at a sharp angle after the checkpoint, and I must admit I was following three guys in front- we missed one of the markers and realised that we had picked up the track we had followed into the checkpoint (at least I took their word for it as it didn't look that familiar to me!) One of the guys got out the map provided and realised he'd picked up the shorter route- apparently he is a scout leader so was in for a bit of ribbing from his friends!
Once we were back on track, it seemed a really long stretch to the next checkpoint at Scalford at 15.7 miles. We went through Ab Kettlebly and by it's quaint church;
Soon after I could see a village in the distance I assumed was Scalford and we seemed to be heading for it; I had visions of hot coffee and sandwiches dancing around in my head, but to my utter dismay we were suddenly directed away from the village (which I realise now was Holwell) and through more mud! The rain was keeping up a steady drizzle, and after what seemed an eternity of muddy wet fields we reached the outskirts of Scalford.
Scalford Primary School
I'm not sure whether they got the distance wrong but I heard several people comment that it felt a lot longer than it should have done. The checkpoint was in the Village Hall, and although I did get a hot coffee, the sandwiches had been donated and there were no veggie ones so I improvised by taking the last ham and cheese one and removing the ham. I'm an adaptable veggie! The cakes did make up for the lack of sandwiches...
I almost didn't want to get going again and must have looked rough as when I passed the guy outside the Hall taking numbers, he said 'Do you want to carry on?' before giving me directions for the next part!
I must say, this next part went quite quickly and was slightly easier as although it was undulating it followed quite a lot of tracks. Unfortunately the rain started to come down in earnest and I was grateful to reach Eaton. I allowed myself another cuppa here (trying to delay the inevitable plunge back out into the rain and mud) and ignoring shouts of 'We have a vehicle leaving if anyone wants to give up here!'
But the remaining 5 miles needed to be done, so I forced myself back out into the cold, conscious that the rain would mean darkness would come early, and came upon this sign which amused me;
We followed a track towards the woods, which then became a very steep, slippy and muddy downhill path. We were now on the route taken by the 16 milers earlier, and dropped down into Stathern. All that was left was a few more muddy fields and tracks to Harby- I looked at my watch and realised I could be on track for an 8 hours 30 minutes finish, so started jogging- yep even through mud! I reached the village at the same time as a chap, and we power-walked to the finish, finishing in 8 hours and 31 minutes, so I am happy with that. Five minutes slower than last year, but it was a different route and I did linger over a cuppa at Eaton...
I no longer had shoes- just two blocks of mud! They are clean now but I am expecting a bill from Severn Trent for blocking the drains!
Grindleford Gallop next weekend...
As usual, I over-estimated how long it would take me to drive there and reached Harby at around 7:50am (for a 9am start). The weather looked slightly promising at this stage, almost as though the sun was considering coming out. There was a car park for the even on the Colston Bassett Road, which was the way I was coming in, so I decided to park there, quickly followed by several other people. Someone had decided to build an impressive metal stag close by;
As usual, it was very well attended, I think over 2000 people completed both routes although more completed the 16 mile than the 26 mile- I bet the residents of Harby dread this day! I checked in, was given a yellow tag with my number on and took a basic map of the route- the route changes each year and there is no route description, the route is marked by red and white tape and red and yellow signs. I took a cup of coffee and noticed that the 16 mile entrants had been given green number tags, most of them seemed to be runners.
Although the check in is at the Village Hall, the start is at the school which is just up the road. There was a split start this year- the 26 milers and the 16 milers were starting on different directions, under either a green or yellow banner. I very nearly went wrong right away, as I assumed that as the 26 milers had been given yellow tags we would be starting under the yellow banner and the 16 milers with the green tags starting under the green banner. Wrong!! Luckily I realised my mistake just in time...
We headed off down the canal towards Hose and the runners started to snake off into the distance. I decided to jog the canal path as it would probably be the easiest terrain all day.
We turned off into fields, making our way towards Long Clawson, I was still jogging quite a bit at this stage so was actually ahead of most of the walkers. It started to drizzle and apart from a few clearer spells it was more or less set in for the day. We were taken around Long Clawson through the first real mud of the day- I was following a girl through until she lost a shoe!
The first checkpoint was here and the faster walkers started to overtake me. We were soon headed up and over a steep hill before dropping down into Old Dalby. The next few miles were undulating and there would have been some pretty good views if it hadn't been so misty.
There was also some more rather spectacular mud- one guy just ahead of me ended up losing his shoe! It felt as though everyone else was passing me now as the mud was really slowing me up.
The second checkpoint, at Grimston, was quite a civilised affair- there were toilets and hot coffee! I saw Stuart Ashley, who organises the Ponton Plod, and heard someone telling the organisers that there was a runner in trouble further back, with a suspected hamstring injury.
The route kind of set off at a sharp angle after the checkpoint, and I must admit I was following three guys in front- we missed one of the markers and realised that we had picked up the track we had followed into the checkpoint (at least I took their word for it as it didn't look that familiar to me!) One of the guys got out the map provided and realised he'd picked up the shorter route- apparently he is a scout leader so was in for a bit of ribbing from his friends!
Once we were back on track, it seemed a really long stretch to the next checkpoint at Scalford at 15.7 miles. We went through Ab Kettlebly and by it's quaint church;
Soon after I could see a village in the distance I assumed was Scalford and we seemed to be heading for it; I had visions of hot coffee and sandwiches dancing around in my head, but to my utter dismay we were suddenly directed away from the village (which I realise now was Holwell) and through more mud! The rain was keeping up a steady drizzle, and after what seemed an eternity of muddy wet fields we reached the outskirts of Scalford.
I'm not sure whether they got the distance wrong but I heard several people comment that it felt a lot longer than it should have done. The checkpoint was in the Village Hall, and although I did get a hot coffee, the sandwiches had been donated and there were no veggie ones so I improvised by taking the last ham and cheese one and removing the ham. I'm an adaptable veggie! The cakes did make up for the lack of sandwiches...
I almost didn't want to get going again and must have looked rough as when I passed the guy outside the Hall taking numbers, he said 'Do you want to carry on?' before giving me directions for the next part!
I must say, this next part went quite quickly and was slightly easier as although it was undulating it followed quite a lot of tracks. Unfortunately the rain started to come down in earnest and I was grateful to reach Eaton. I allowed myself another cuppa here (trying to delay the inevitable plunge back out into the rain and mud) and ignoring shouts of 'We have a vehicle leaving if anyone wants to give up here!'
But the remaining 5 miles needed to be done, so I forced myself back out into the cold, conscious that the rain would mean darkness would come early, and came upon this sign which amused me;
We followed a track towards the woods, which then became a very steep, slippy and muddy downhill path. We were now on the route taken by the 16 milers earlier, and dropped down into Stathern. All that was left was a few more muddy fields and tracks to Harby- I looked at my watch and realised I could be on track for an 8 hours 30 minutes finish, so started jogging- yep even through mud! I reached the village at the same time as a chap, and we power-walked to the finish, finishing in 8 hours and 31 minutes, so I am happy with that. Five minutes slower than last year, but it was a different route and I did linger over a cuppa at Eaton...
I no longer had shoes- just two blocks of mud! They are clean now but I am expecting a bill from Severn Trent for blocking the drains!
Grindleford Gallop next weekend...
Labels: Belvoir Challenge
Comments:
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Hi Steph,
Have to admit I did look at this one, but the trek over, a night in a travelodge, and a days holiday on the Monday put me off.
I must get round to doing it one day.
Have to admit I did look at this one, but the trek over, a night in a travelodge, and a days holiday on the Monday put me off.
I must get round to doing it one day.
Hi Ross
It is a good one to do if you do get the chance, it's a very friendly event, and usually quite a good (if muddy) route, but does get full quite quickly.
When's your next event?
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It is a good one to do if you do get the chance, it's a very friendly event, and usually quite a good (if muddy) route, but does get full quite quickly.
When's your next event?
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