So I woke up on race day feeling pretty freekin good. Considering 3 weeks ago I was ready to DNS!
I’d managed to sleep most of the night- whereas if this race would of been a 9am start, I most probably wouldn’t have slept ha! I was relaxed but my shoulders neck and back were in agony- on the flip side though the hamstring tendon injury was 99.9% gone – it wasn’t worrying me.
I went for abit of breakfast- but no cofffee. Registration opened at 10am & the plan was to get my bib and then come back to the hotel and try and sleep abit longer if I could? So no coffee!
The day before I’d had an email off the organisers saying I was a contender and could I please attend the expo at 5pm for a Q&A session with the contenders. It also said that they would be putting trackers on us. Grinning to myself but feeling nervous at the same time about being on stage I couldn’t help but feel like abit of a target. If there was no pressure before, then there is now I thought!!
So the plan was:
Eat breakfast, collect my race bib at the expo, stretch and roll, relax and try to sleep, then go back to the expo for 4.45pm and then come back to the hotel and start getting ready for the shuttle bus at 7.30 back at the expo!!! (tallying up 5 miles of walking before the race had even began, as it was a 1 Mile out & 1 mile back trip from the hotel to the expo- so a 2 mile round trip each time).
So off I tottered to the expo, I thought I’d be the only one there at 10.05 to get my bib- major error… I had to queue for 1 hour! My back was killing and I started to get a headache. Mid queue a Vietnamese lad came over and said “your one of the foreign contenders, can I have a picture with you please” I felt like a giant as I put my arm around him. I could feel my face going red after he said goodbye and people were staring.
I got my bib I had a quick walk around the stalls then walked back to my room to do some last minute faffing. I knew I was getting a free duffel bag off decathlon in my race pack so I used that as my drop bag. Upon getting back at the hotel I put my nutrition, poles, towel and a change of clothes in my new bag for during/after the race.
So the race course is a figure of 8. The centre of 8 is the start/finish point and we cross over it at mile 22 so I’d decided to run the first half with a pack of shots and a chia charge on me and then when I hit mile 22 grab my poles and the rest of my food. Common sense right?!
So everything was lined up on the bed now and packed, I could relax. I put Netflix on and within an hour Id started to nod off. But I was awake again by 2pm…I’d had about 1.5 hours. I can’t force a sleep so that was that. I troffed a chia charge and carried on watching TV. My headache was quite bad now- I never get headaches. I’d took myself off Facebook and insta for about 36 hours as I was wasting too much time flicking between the 2 like every 10 minutes- it’s really bad! It’s not even like I had better stuff to do, I find it’s just not good for my brain it keeps it constantly ticking so by removing them off the front of my phone it allows me to mentally think of other stuff or subconsciously give my brain a rest.
4pm soon came so I got dressed again and walked back to the expo. I bumped into a guy who I’d been talking to online called Rob West, it turns out he’s a contender too but he’s in the 70k event. So I heard my name called out and I sheepishly walked up on stage and took a seat while the other 4 people made there way up.
They asked me how I thought this Race would be in comparison to the Beacons Way Ultra…my reply was along the lines of , there 2 different races really- the distance and then the climate, but I was excited to get out on the course and have some fun. I was really nervous but I didn’t get my words muddled up or my mind go blank which is what normally happens ha! 
My head felt like it was splitting now. I think it was just tension? Who knows? But after that I fired off back to the hotel via the coffee shop for a double espresso ha and started to get ready! As I was getting changed my headache slowly subsided. Strange!
I was back at the square in Sapa for 7.25pm and jumped straight on one of the many shuttle buses! The start was a 1hour bumpy bus ride away at “Topas Ecolodge”.
I sat at the back & downloaded Facebook and Instagram again to pass time on the coach. 
When we got to Topas I got my tracker fitted, dropped my drop bag and asked the lady if she could keep it right there at the front near the marble pillar- no probs she said. There was about 200+ bags there.
So there was 200+ excited runners, shoulder to shoulder at the start, it was a great atmosphere everyone was shouting and clapping and cheering – there was about 10 cameramen in front of the start line snapping away – I kept myself on the second tier. No point pushing to the front I though- I’m not sprinting off at 5k pace like the rest. We were counted off down from 10 and before you know it we were all on our way, off into the red hot night. I think it was about 27deg but quite humid!
I set off nice and easy fluctuating between 9/10min Mile pace. I felt like I was about middle of the pack in the first couple of miles along the tarmac road. We then hit abit of a descent, nothing major, abit of a trail with a rut in the middle of it…few rocks…bit of mud and suddenly everyone had the brakes on. I skeeted around all of the people in front of me, no effort and by the time we hit the tarmac again at the bottom I’d passed about 20/30 people. 10 of them passed me again by hammering it down the tarmac descent but when we got to the bottom we was rewarded with a little climb. I slowly jogged past them and didn’t see any of them again. I’d set my pace now & I was sticking with it. Another hour passed by alone. I was on a muddy single track in a jungle. Listening to the creatures of the night. It was really loud and vibrant. Crickets, grasshoppers, birds and god knows what else was in the forest- all giving it there best. That was an experience in itself listening to all that! There was thousands of baby frogs and toads too! I nearly stepped on a huge toad but I shrieked and jumped over it last second- it was HUGE! The baby frogs were jumping around on the trail all night in my headlamp ray.
Along this stretch I caught Franck up for a little while. It was steady climb and descent on a concrete road. We went into cp101 together and he pulled away after that. There was a big gap between 101 and cp 102- say about 13 miles. I told myself it’s ok to let him go- I had to run my own race. I was really relaxed to be honest- making little GoPro videos along the way & it had started to rain a little bit cooling me down.
Eventually I hit Cp102 & it was just a simple fill of soft flasks and off I went. Instantly greeted with a sharp, slippery climb. It was quite hard staying on your feet- no matter what trainer you wore. So the trails were dry, hard, mud much of the year but very hard and compacted almost like rock….until it rained! When it rained it turned into what I can only describe as like mud with abit of a sheen, abit polished so it was still hard in most places but really really slippy like wet rock! You could of worn a trainer with an extremely deep lug but the mud just wasnt soft enough on this section to let it penetrate! I was really glad I’d gone with the “Salomon sense pro 3s” they had the perfect amount of cushion for the concrete roads and a deep enough lug for the luscious grass pastures and soft mud later on in the course.
I made it out of the steep, slippery section by keeping my legs parted wide & shimmied myself up- using my hands too, to pull me up on the vegetation. After that there was a really steep concrete moped trail to the main road at the top I was starting to feel a little twinge of cramp. I necked some sweatsalt caps. I’v gone with the precision hydration salt capsules now over the satchets of precision hydration – they work the same, just less faff and weight, much better for racing! I could also see the 2 huge beams of light shining into the night now from Topas – they were like 2 light sabres. So I knew I was near cp103- the drop bag cp!
There was a nice warm welcome at cp103, lots of clapping and cheering – so same as before I checked in and filled my waters up- nothing was said apart from well done and good luck etc so I said thanks/goodbye & off I went to find my drop bag. I detoured off the course into Topas where I left it and it wasn’t there- they was all gone!!
There was a man there so I asked him where are the drop bags and he said “no drop bags” so I said “yes I have a drop bag it was here” he asked if I’m 100k so I said yeah and he pointed back down the road. So I’m sprinting back down the road now in a fluster to the cp, Franck passing me as I do so. Shit! He must have been on the other side of the road under shelter sorting his drop bag out and I didn’t see him before. When I got back I shouted are the drop bags here and they was like “yes what number” I couldn’t believe it!! It took about 3/4 more minutes to find my drop bag off the rack, I was absolutely raging by this point inside but still being polite and calm. Eventually it was found and I rapidly re loaded, took my poles and shot off into the night. That had cost me anywhere between 5 & 10 minutes I was livid! But shit happens hey. After the race I found out a similar thing happened to poor Tomohiro. He was top 3 and didn’t realise that point was the drop bag area. He had to do the full race on only banana and watermelon!
This next section was literally all trending up hill now for 20 miles. All the buses with the 70k runners on them passed me on this stretch of road- there must of been a dozen or so- they start at 3am and it was like 2.30am. That was my new aim, to try to not let any 70k runner catch me ha. I was still on my own and I was still running. It was pitch black. I think in the dark your senses heighten. I could smell different aromas all the way around the route. Smokey smells, woody smells, herbs & spices, damp sweet hay and even cannabis I thought I could smell at one point ha! Then I could hear all the insects really, really loud too & I saw a baby green snake on the black tarmac so I ran around it.
Then there was the dogs, most were chained up but they would growl & come for you. Some were stray or not chained up and they would try to come at you too! Most backed off when you pointed a pole in there direction but the braver ones you had to resort to picking a rock up off the floor and step in there direction. They aren’t stupid – they back right off! I never had to throw a rock though- I just had to keep my torch shone in there faces and my hand raised with the rock as I threat until I got far enough away. You need to be careful when there in a pack because when you have your back turned focusing on the ones barking there’s usually one really close to you behind!
This section was a combination of flooded broken roads (as it was raining heavy now but I was still well warm in my shorts and vest though and a headband, the band was just to keep sweat out my eyes not to keep me warm ha) and concrete trails with the odd bit of slippy trail leading to cat cat village. I was constantly looking in the distance searching for signs of any headtorches but there was nothing. I fell once too, pretty hard, luckily I didn’t hurt anything but I thought my watch strap was gonna snap, or a pole maybe? My watch was up near my elbow!
Just before cp1 there was a river crossing. With the heavy rain the river had really come up and was flowing strong! It was thigh deep, I was tripping back and forth, I couldn’t see where to put my feet & the current was threatening to rip my 1 foot from under me as I lifted the other to move forward but in the forward motion it would force me to keep crossing legs. The man was a local and knew the river well he held my arm and guided me over. Big thanks to this man- I’d of been ok but i might of got abit wet had I fell ha!
I got to cp1 and had some water melon and cracked on. More concrete road. Dawn was starting to break now and I could see the silhouettes of the mountains and the beautiful rice fields. 
The headtorch was off and put in my “Gecko” pack.
The rain had stopped and I was making my way through the rice terraces now balancing on the dry contours like a ballerina- when you made a mistake though and fell off every so often you was calf deep in slop ha!
I was feeling better now, I’d just spent 8 hours alone in pitch black focusing on nothing but a white torch beam concentrating on the floor making sure I didn’t trip. Now I could see the mountains and bits of cloud clinging to them and the amazing rice terraces all different shades of green. This is more like it!
The hill was getting steeper and steeper now & I knew we would be hitting a cp soon before the sharp climb up bull mountain. I was offered soup at the cp but declined. I felt fine & didn’t want to waste any time plus I had a few chia charge bars left in my pack!
Prior to the race I’d looked at the elevation profile & said to myself – from cp 103 to the highest point on the course- Bull Mountain (cp3) it’s literally a long steady climb of about 1500m over about 35k! Easy peasy I thought!! You do 700/800m climbs over 2/3 miles in an hour back home. So I’d covered 30k of this “easy peasy” climb and was completely shagged! It was not easy ha and the last 5k was to be even steeper and tougher. I don’t know if it was the heat earlier on? Or if I was tired in general, like iv done too much this year already, or the underfoot conditions? Maybe I was completely normal and it was just tough going? I ground my way to the top, I could see a blue VMM flag at the top! It was abit exposed and nippy up here now at 2200m so I filled my bottles at the unmanned cp3, collapsed my poles and started to make my way back down the other side! The views were absolutely amazing!! Well worth climbing for.
My whole outlook on the race changed at this point. This is what I’d came for! We was running in and above the clouds on a ridge line for a little while before starting the 50k undulating descent back to the finish!
The descent was nice and very runnable at first. It was like running on home fells, mud tracks in grass. Then they got steeper and slippy as!! It was a combination of that polished mud, slippy rock and sludge so you had to commit to keep going and picking up abit of dangerous speed- you had no choice though because if you hit the brakes you would just go from under yourself. You had to aim for a hard stand & use that to slow yourself down because if you got too carried away you’d end up with broke limbs or at worst a broken neck! I would anyway. It was really slippy and technical and my legs hadn’t cramped yet so I didn’t wanna start hammering it either. I’d 100% made the right choice on footwear going with the Salomon sense pro3s, anything less than the lug on these and I’d of been in trouble! I’d brought some Salomon sense ride 2s with me for speed, comfort and medium amount of grip had the course been bone dry! I was well covered with the 2 pair of shoes.
I heard a noise behind me and there was 2 70k runners on there way down it was “Mads Louring” in the lead- Id met him at meet the contenders they stayed behind me for a minute chatting- I was glad of the company, as the last person I’d ran with was frank at about 2am. Then we got off the slippery stuff back onto some steep concrete path and that was it they was off so we said our goodbyes!!
I passed through a few rural areas and small villages, crossed a few dodgy looking bamboo bridges & high 5ed a few kids. 
I was jogging the flats and descents and hiking the climbs now. I was pretty chilled having fun and making clips on my go pro. I wanted to make some memories. I was entertaining myself by asking the tribe ladies there names and where do they come from before they could ask me! It tickled me everytime they said “I from here, Vietnam” haha!
I could hear a microphone in the distance now. Then I saw a crowd and a start line! I’d only gone and timed it so that I ran through the 21k runners moments before they set off!
“Here we have a 100k runner coming through” that’s all I heard and then the whole crowd just parted and started cheering me on and clapping, whistling and high 5ing me, you name it, it was epic, il never ever forget it!
I couldn’t see my face but I’m assuming I must have looked extremely happy hahaha. I spoke to a few people after the race and they said they did the 21k and I was like “I ran through you guys” and they said “oh was that you, you was so smiley and happy”
This lifted me massively and I started to dig deep again here. The whole course was littered with people as there was now 100k, 70k, 40k & 21k races all running! I was passing a lot of the back 40k and 21k runners some of them were just walking and taking loads of pics. People behind me politely shouted to the people ahead “100k runner coming through” so they would let me past on the single file climbs. We even passed a few Cannabis plants.
I was moving well again now but every so often I would hit a low and gas out, breathing heavily- then I realised what it was! The sun was out and it had started to warm up again!
I felt drained now but kept digging deep, slowly picking people off, they wasn’t in my race but it still motivated me to keep pushing. Eventually I came across Tomohiro, I asked him if he was ok, he was limping abit, but he said he was ok so I cracked on. I had to keep moving fast now in fear Tomohiro would catch me up.
I got to the top of the final climb, collapsing my poles and I could see Topas Ecologde now right down in the bottom of the valley! There was a 2 man band playing traditional Vietnamese music aswell- what a nice touch! I did a stupid dance as I ran past them- they probably thought what a nob ha!
My watch battery died! I was absolutely wounded! I knew there was only about 3 miles left though because it was on Mile 59 moments ago. Then there was a horrrible steep descent on a concrete road all the way to the bottom. When your legs are already shot and you have lots of sharp stones in the front of your shoes it sure makes you wince abit. My quads were on fire now but it didn’t hurt any less to walk so I let go and ran gritting my teeth, making sure I was still landing on my forefoot and not heel striking. I passed lots more 40 & 21k runners. Definitely just lost a few toenails I remember thinking!
“Nearly home” I kept saying out loud to the amusement of some people! I’d been saying this to myself for 2 hours now. Then I saw the 2k sign – I was highly relieved. When we hit the tarmac at the bottom I knew we was really close to the finish, it was ever so slightly up hill aswell but didn’t feel to bad to be running up after that sharp descent! At a nice steady pace now I was running along side a lady from the U.S. She was actually racing so she put some effort in and left me ha.
I could hear the crowds now cheering people in. A man diverted me off the tarmac onto a nice paved footpath which I recognise from the VMM trailer. I was on the final 100m stretch to the finish and it was downhill so I picked up some speed, passing all the nice flags representing the country’s of the runners.
What an amazing finish line and what an amazing buzz you get coming over it! 
I stopped a few metres over the line and had a medal put on me before being told I was 5th overall. I’d not quite managed the sub 15 which I thought was easily achievable but I wasn’t bothered as I’d found it abit tougher than expected. It was less technical than what I am used to, allowing you to run faster (if you was fast and I’m not ha) and the climbs were slippery, luring you in to falsely surmising your normal race times. But an amazing, brutally, beautiful, tough course though non the less!
I was really happy to find out id made top 10 as I had no idea of positions all the way around the course. I came home in 5th overall out of about 230 starters in 15hr 40mins. I can’t possibly be unhappy with that.
I had my pic took, said thanks and then found somewhere quiet for a minute. I collapsed in a heap on the floor- back against the wall & head in my hands, letting what had happened in the the last 16 hours slowly sink in.
My legs were pulseing & twitching, it felt so good to be sat down! I needed something cold to drink fast. So I slowly got up again & made my way over to the recovery radler station where they was serving a free finishers drink- it tasted amazing! I had 2 cups and felt tipsy ha.
I found my drop bag and grabbed a quick, much needed cold shower and got into some fresh clothes and flip flops. I felt a lot better after the shower. So I made my way to the food area with the other runners for some soup and bread & a chat!
What an experience it was & a very well organised race & beautiful route- but tough in its own right! I felt welcomed by the people and really well looked after too. I said them famous words “never again” but I’m already thinking should I go back one year and run a race in Borneo the week before aswell, who knows!?
Kit:
Montane Gecko vest
Montane Fang Shorts
Montane Chief
Montane soft flasks
Montane Fang Zip Tank Top
Montane minimums stretch ultra jacket (in pack)
Injinji lightweight mini crew socks
Salomon sense pro3 shoes
Raidlight compact carbon ultra evo poles
Petzl Myo headlamp
Gore headband
Here’s a link to the GoPro mini film I made:
https://gopro.com/v/vPMzE76Ze3evW
I forgot to film coming over the line ….
I did well at the cheviot goat, which was a B race used as a training run for the spine challenger testing out nutrition, kit choice, running with poles, hydration & energy systems. In all of the sky races I was plagued with cramp. I had little knowledge/experience about hydration . I went to a company called precision hydration for advice and began using there supplements and we resolved the cramping issues. 
The first time I used them in a race was on the mourne sky line. I think we got my hydration strategy about 80/90% right as I cramped pretty bad in the last 5k but that was remarkably better than the previous races. I missed a top 20 finish in Ireland because of the cramp. We tweaked it and at the cheviot goat I had no cramp at all finishing joint 6th overall with Tom Hollins (top bloke btw).
I started really slow, that was my plan (I only really seem to have one gear anyway), to just stay slow and run my own race & not get caught up in what anybody else was doing. It was a bit windy and drizzling, I was scared my cap might get blown off my head, but I needed the peak to protect my eyes from the elements. It was a case of hood up (I love hood time), head down and crack on! The front runners had really set a pace, a phenomenal one! By the time I was at the top of Jacobs ladder I could only see a few people. I had no idea what position I was in and to be honest I didn’t care, I just wanted a sub 30 hour finish which I was already starting to dismiss because of the wind. I chatted to Simon Bourne for a while on the way up to kinder but it was too windy to hear one another. Simon soon disappeared into the mist and I was alone. Just the way I like it. The wind had really picked up now we were on the plateau and I was taking my time so as to not trip- this is where I fell last year causing the minor injury which led to the bigger one. It’s ok to go slow I told myself – you have a long way to go yet! So I’d made it onto the nice slippy slabs leading to snake pass without falling and I let a few people past me too, as I was blocking there way slowing them down. I was drenched by this point it was pretty windy and pretty rainy, nothing like what was yet to come though!
I could see 2 chaps now and was slowly gaining on them on the way upto white hill. I’d passed them before I was at the m62 crossing and now onto black stone edge. Local territory and looking forward to seeing my mum at the whitehouse. The wind and rain was back with us now and it was foggy going over black stone edge. 2 friends Duncan and Fiona surprised me at the trig, it was pretty horrible up there so I didn’t stop. I waved and said sorry I’m not stopping and I cracked onto the whitehouse where sure enough Mum was there waiting for me. I gave her a quick cuddle and filled my bottle up again refraining from eating anything as I still had more than enough chia charge and shot blocks in my front pockets. So I waved good bye to Mum and cracked on over my least favourite part of the course, the flattest bit going from the whitehouse over to stoodley pike. This section was horrrrrrible. 
The wind had really really picked up again now. It was raining …and hard! It was dead exposed . I power walked this whole section, it wasn’t efficient to run at all. I was getting blown left to right and the rain was driving in at me from all directions. Gonna be a rough night I thought! Then I realised I’d dropped a right clanger I’d not put my headtorch on at the whitehouse. So I found a wall and crouched down behind it while I changed my cap to my beanie hat and put my petzl myo headtorch on. I cracked on up to stoodley pike and the weather got worse. I couldn’t see a thing not even my feet with the wind, rain and fog bouncing off my headtorch. Somebody was gaining on me too I caught glimpse of another headtorch behind me. Suppose I’d better put a bit of effort in then I thought on the descent to Charlestown, seen as though I’d been reduced to an efficient walk from the whitehouse. So I shot off down the hill, going with gravity and was surprised by a crowd of people just before the road crossing at the bottom. It surprised me as there was nobody here last year. I was blinded by the lights and just waved and smiled. Now knowing I had the evil climb out of Charlestown, I slowed right down and made good use of the poles. I cracked on with the climb and crossed the badger fields before hitting the tarmac section enroute to the checkpoint at hebden hey. I passed Simon on my muddy slippy descent into the checkpoint. He was on his way out. I said hello and to keep up the good running. I’d decided on a quick, smooth transition at hebden. I politely asked the staff if I could be left to be for 5 mins while I did my transition. I’m a terrible multi tasker at times and really didn’t want to miss or forget something. I changed my base layer top and put a fresh spine jacket on. Changed torch battery’s and put my new rations in my pack whilst drinking a mountain fuel recovery drink. I didn’t have a meal. No time. Rations where the same except I put a couple of cold McDonald’s cheeseburgers in, some cold pizza, a jam/peanut butter and cheese wrap and some mountain fuel cola jellys. I also added my heavyweight emergency layer to my pack now with it being the night section (montane Icarus vest) and my vortex gloves. I was chatting now and in good spirits – I’d done what needed to be done and knew 2 of the staff in there, Tony brown and Kevin Mccann. I realised I’d lost a goretex mitt between the cp and the badger fields so I asked them to keep an eye out for anyone handing it in. I said my good byes and off I went.
Buzzing with the fact I was reunited with my mitt off I went recharged. Putting a bit of effort in out of the tarn as I knew I’d be more or less power walking for the next few hours apart from the descents from fountains fell and pen y Ghent. The fog had come in and I couldn’t see again. I had a cola jelly and made it up and over fountains fell being hit with some ghastly wind at the top. I was bursting for a pee so after I’d crossed the stile on top of fountains fell I tried to shelter behind the wall and pee- I was facing the wrong way! I’ll leave it at that but I’m sure I felt some on my face ha! The wind was getting even worse! The speedy descent i envisaged down fountains fell didn’t happen. The wind was trying to blow me back up and I couldn’t see a thing with the fog, not even foot placement so I carefully made my way down, getting blown back and forth. Pen y Ghent next, woo hoo! My favourite bit! Anybody that knows me, knows I LOVE pen y Ghent! I made good ground on the tarmac section and was marching upto churn milk hole and all I could hear is this noise, like I can’t describe. Obviously it was the wind but wind like I’d never heard it before, it was howling eerily! I had another mountain fuel cola jelly before the climb. Excited but nervous I put my foot on the first step at the base of the mountain, with extreme caution and with each step I took the wind got noisier, harder and more severe. By the time I’d got to the top of the first steps the excited/nervous feeling had gone and was replaced with sheer nervousness and fear. She was scaring me was Penny, I was clinging on for dear life she was trying to blow me off the face of the mountain. I had to keep as low as possible and stick to all fours until I reached the middle bit where it flattens out and it died down a little bit. I let my guard down for a split second and she full blown blew me off my feet! I hit the deck hard cursing, I hurt my wrist. I can’t even turn back now I thought. So on red alert constantly now I managed to make it to the top where the slabs are only to be side swiped again!! All I can remember thinking is get the f##k off here and how are the smaller competitors going to manage this! I crawled to the trig and straight over the wall, now I was in the full force of it. Brutal but beautiful. I still couldnt see a thing it was that foggy. It was grim! I hit the guide ropes that led me to the steps and began my cautious descent as I still couldnt see where I was placing my feet. I was taking an absolute pasting off the elements! I didn’t know it at the time but I think I was secretly loving it! The lower I got the more it subsided but it was still bad , I was running again now but running for my life! I saw 2 headtorches in the distance. That will be a support crew assessing the conditions i assumed. But It wasn’t, it was my cousin Gemma and her friend. I bolted past them only realising who it was when she shouted my name and I shouted back “don’t go up there” ! Visibility was getting better and better and the wind subsiding as i was dropping into Horton. It was also becoming daylight. I finally hit the checkpoint near the cafe bumping into Matt and Ellie from summit fever media. 
I was then hit with a kit check. Sleeping bag & bivvy, gps device and goggles. I reluctantly took my pack off and got them out -understanding it was for safety reasons. As over the cam high road there’s a tracker black spot. In the midst of this I’m telling them how bad it is going over PYG while they made me a cup of tea & I got my next meal out…my cold half a pizza folded in half to make a pizza pie I called it and they all started laughing and told me its called a calzone ha! Bottle filled with ph1000 again I’m bagged up and off running again out of Horton in ribblesdale. I was feeling good. Really good! Just as I was pulling off the tarmac Duncan and Fiona had turned up to surprise me but had arrived to late! “Keep going” they shouted! Your in 3rd! All you’ve got left is 14 miles to smash out I told myself as I death marched out of Horton upto birkwith moor. It’s broad daylight now and I’m feeling much happier. Not looking forward to being on the top of the cam high road again though, knowing what I now know about the wind. As I passed Ling gill I popped another cola jelly. Big climb ahead to the Cam high road! Halfway up the wind started again and I realised I’d dropped another clanger. While I was being kit checked I should have put my featherlight vest on. I was freezing . I was alternating between running and hiking in the wind even though this was inefficient, just to stay warm. I crammed another chia charge in me as eating helps elevate body temperature. I was making assessments along the cam high road looking for shelter to maybe put another layer on but I couldn’t bear to stop and afford to drop another degree, I was freezing! I was again being thrown side to side but managed to stay on my feet this time round and before you know it I’m taking the right turn off towards rottenstone hill. All I could think of is getting out of this freezing cold wind and was hoping I’d be sheltered from it dropping down into Gayle. I was full on running again now so I’d warmed up nice and was also sheltered all the way down into hawes. Loving the wet muddy slippy descent , I felt like I was descending in a fell race going about 6 min per mile pace when in reality I was probably doing about 9 or 10 haha! I’d give it some going down into hawes so by the time I was on the streets in the town centre I was walking again. I alternated between jogging and power walking along the tarmac. I could see hardraw bunkhouse now in the distance and I was probably grinning from ear to ear! So much different emotions going on compared to last years dismal finish! I was on 26hrs 57mins or something like that as I came off the tarmac and back onto the little grass and slab trails through the fields to hardraw. “C”mon lad sub 27″ I thought. Jogging now, I could see people’s heads popping up over the wall from at the bunkhouse in the distance. Don’t you dare start walking now I told myself haha! 
As I came through the last gate there was a little crowd of people clapping and cheering me on the last few yards. I couldn’t help but break into a smile. 
I touched the wall threw my poles on the floor and stopped my garmin before I did anything else. I was absolutely knackered but absolutely buzzing at the same time, it was awesome! I was given my medal and did a little interview at the end, I was quite nervous with all the people there watching as you don’t get to plan what to say or know what your going to get asked but I think I did ok. 
My belongings where scooped up for me and I was ushered into the showers to get warm and dry before being waited on hand & foot in the bunkhouse. I had a little massage off the physios. My neck and shoulders were more sore than my legs. I then managed 2 portions of cottage pie it was the best cottage pie I’ve ever had in my life. After that I was awarded with my 3rd place trophy. 
I was totally over the moon. I’d of never of thought I could achieve anything like this when I 1st heard about the spine race and thought of entering the challenger. After the race i said I’m not interested in doing the challenger again or the full spine race anytime soon. But it’s been 5 days and erm, who knows. I might change my mind.
dracup84 