UK Springtide 50k

Race report by Andy Jones:

Today I ran UK Ultras Springtide 50k. It’s a single loop run, starting and finishing in the beautiful, Historic Town of Arundel, West Sussex.

A very runnable, non-technical route through the South Downs, a perfect early season ultra for both beginners, seasoned runners, and anyone with plans of taking part in longer races later in the year. The views of the Downs are stunning with rolling hills, grass trails, farm tracks and forest paths making up the route.

It was a chilly 7.45am start but by 5kms I was shedding my windproof jacket and gloves as the temps started to rise on what turned out to be a beautiful day. The cooling wind made for perfect running conditions on the dry trail.
My mentality towards 50k’s are they’re just marathons with a bit bolted on. I can run a marathon hard so why not go that extra 8k and hope to hang on. The problem is elevation. This run wasn’t too bad with 1000 meters of climb, most of which was runnable.
So I ran it knowing an average pace of 5.45 kms would bring me home in less than 5hrs which was my target.

It went really well. I was fortunate to hook up with three other runners of similar ability just after the first check point and we kinda worked off each other right till the end.
I felt strong throughout and had no mishaps other than a wrong turn 3kms from the finish which cost me a bit of time.
I finished in 04:48:57 10th place overall and first in my age category.
Fuelled by Precision Fuel gels and electrolytes, watermelon, a Maurten rice bar and coke.

Results:

Andy Jones – 04:48:57

Sam Hastie – 06:23:16

Great running Andy and Sam. Andy took 1st MV60, 10th overall and set yet another 50k club record on a course with over 1000 meters of ascent. The ink was still drying on his last 50k club record!