Castle to Castle 100 miler

How did Andy Stevens get on with his first 100 miler ??? Read his below race report to find out…..

Well where do I start with this one ? 

My first 100 miler, from Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland to Edinburgh Castle across the border. All the training runs done in the heat, loads of time on my feet so I stood on the start line in Bamburgh feeling confident but also a little apprehensive with the weather forecast (thunderstorms and, as the coffee shop lady cheerfully told me the day before, a month’s worth of rain predicted to fall in an hour during the afternoon)

The race started well. A sensible pacing strategy and the nutrition and hydration approach was working well. What wasn’t going so well was the actual course. The heavy rain in the preceding days had turned the trail sections into a quagmire. Constant mud, puddles to contend with as well as sections on tarmac, beaches, through golf courses and everything else in between.

The heavy rain started about two hours in and didn’t really let up throughout. I had a spare set of shoes and socks at the mile 60 pit stop as well as some spare socks ready in the first 50 miles. Everything was totally soaked by the time I crossed the border into Scotland (a very cool experience) and ran through some small villages and towns where, despite the appalling weather, the locals were out to cheer us on and offer all sorts of sweets and goodies. They seemed genuinely chuffed that the route went through their town and I won’t forget their support and enthusiasm. 

Miles 35-45 were the most technical. All on big hills which were totally waterlogged. Slippery uphills followed by descents where you just had to try and hold onto fences, plants, trees and anything else available to stop you from falling down the hill due to the mud. A pit stop set up in a big marquee on the top of the climb was being battered by the strong wind and rain and I started to feel really cold at that point despite the waterproof gear I had on. 

My feet were starting to suffer at this point due to the constant wet but I kept going until a pitstop at mile 50 so I could see what the damage was and switch socks if needed and try and tape them up. At this pitstop I knew I had a big problem. The discomfort had turned into full blown pain which had me grimacing with every step – especially on the downhills. I decided to keep going to the next pitstop at mile 60. That next 10 miles seemed like an eternity as the pain got worse and worse and every step felt like I had broken glass in my shoes. I limped into the 60 mile pit stop and asked a medic to look at them. She just shook her head, said I had early stage trenchfoot and had layers of skin detaching from the soles of my feet (which I guess explained the pain). I thought my race was up but decided to just try and dry them out for a couple of hours and get going again. So at 2.30am I had a last throw of the dice and headed back out in the rain, made it two or three agonising miles before miserably admitting the game was up in the middle of some trails near Dunbar. The very slow limp back to the pit stop was not a pleasant experience but I knew it was impossible (and totally irresponsible) to cover another 30+ miles in that condition. I had thrown everything at it but just couldn’t continue.

So, my first attempt at 100 miles had ended in a DNF but despite the pain, emotion and huge disappointment there were some positives I took away:

1. I wasn’t alone. Around 33% of runners also DNF’d. Mostly due to issues with feet. The organisers said the rain was amongst the worst they had seen for any of their events. Someone broke their leg on one of the steepest descents and the 60 mile pit stop looked like a field hospital.

2. I still covered 65 miles (around 104 km) with over 5000 ft of elevation – the last 15 miles or so of which was in real pain. My longest run by quite a distance over some incredibly challenging terrain and weather..

3. Above the ankles I still felt in great shape at mile 60. Legs were strong. I had plenty of running left in me and I was well fuelled. I knew I could have finished under normal conditions. 

Running isn’t always glitter and gold. Sometimes it’s pain and disappointment. That’s the fine line us runners tread when we are pushing ourselves to go further or faster. But we’re a resilient bunch. It’s now time to recover, physically and mentally, take the positives out of the experience and have a good think about what’s next. 

Andy. 

What an incredible race report Andy. You were just so unlucky with the weather. Still an incredible display of physical and mental toughness!! Andy provided a photo of his foot, however this image has been left on the cutting room floor.