Deeside Way Ultra 2015

Last Saturday a record field of around 350 runners lined up for the opening event of the Scottish ultra season on a calm, cold and cloudy morning in the Duthie Park on the north bank of the river Dee in Aberdeen.

The Race Director, George Reid, has been seriously ill this year and received many hugs and handshakes when he arrived just prior to the start looking a little more like his usual, ebullient self  (He has also been most put out, as a card-carrying SNP member, to be diagnosed with something called GB syndrome!) You may recall Morten Wieghorst, the former Celtic player, a professional athlete, at one point during his illness being flat on his back unable to move even a finger and barely breathing. Collections were taken before, during and after the race for GAIN, the charity which supports research into this debilitating but fortunately rare disease.

Having now run twelve ultras I know many of the lovely people who make up the fast-growing ultra-running community and spent so long catching up with friends, chatting to some who previously were acquaintances only through facebook and giving the afore mentioned George a big hug it only hit me seconds from the start that I hadn't taken care of the essential pre-race 'relief'. After a mad dash (a warm up?) to a handily-placed pissoir I made it back to the line, marginally lighter than before, just in time to hear Dod (George in the Doric) start the race.

The first five and a half miles passed in a blur of chit chat with yet another pal but, crucially, thirty seconds a mile faster than my planned pace. Given my poor winters' training I had no ambitions to run other than conservatively and ultimately was to pay the price for this serious lapse in concentration.

Reaching the first checkpoint at around eight miles I met two members of the AthElite triathlon club, Ellie and Lorna, who were both running their maiden ultras. Despite the usual, general camaraderie of an ultra I was seriously missing the expected friendship of Ruth and Jim, due to ankle and achilles problems respectively, so was very glad of alternative company. Yes, ok, I was only really missing Ruth as Jim, had he been there, would have been miles ahead!

After embarrassingly having to stop to re-tie an errant shoelace (it must be a decade or more since I allowed that to happen, again not enough attention to detail at the start) I let the girls go ahead when I had my first meeting with my support crew, a.k.a. Alison, just shy of the halfway mark.

Fed and watered I had no need to stop at the temptingly well-stocked food tables by the halfway point near Banchory so cruised around the turn and headed straight back in the direction of Aberdeen.

Following another brief kiss and a cuddle with Alison (it’s not just the body that needs sustenance during these long runs you know!) and with a very light tailwind my progress was brisk for a while but the wheels started to wobble before the third checkpoint at twenty five miles where I found myself a full ten minutes behind schedule. My hip was also giving me major pain which was not being suppressed by a second co-codamol of the day forcing me to adopt a walk/run strategy for most of the remainder of the way. This did however enable me to keep making progress while at the same time giving my legs a break from the monotonous shuffling action dictated by the ultra-flat terrain and helped avoid those wheels coming off the cart completely.

I belatedly realised I had been looking for a sighting of the AthElite ladies, to allow me to use them as a target and thereby pick up my pace. With neither of them anywhere in sight the realisation I must be losing ground to couple of beginners, if you can call Ironman-experienced triathletes beginners, (should that be Ironwomen?) probably contributed to my general feeling of defeat towards the latter stages of the race. Rather sadly I was mildly pleased to hear afterwards that they had gone for a ‘bathroom break’ at one point, only re-joining the race behind me and had been unable to catch up, indeed they were eventually to finish six minutes behind me, still an excellent start to ultra running for them both. I have heard today that neither have yet stopped eating since crossing the line!  

I finally dragged my sorry ass over the line in a personal worst for the D33 of 5:54:04 which was, of course, gun time – my Garmin showed 5:53:58, a much more respectable-sounding time you’ll agree! I have since rationalised my performance as simply a long, hard training session hopefully leading on to my much greater goals later this year. Most of you will already know my main focus is the West Highland Way Race where I will be following in Ian’s footsteps and hope to do a tenth of what he has already achieved, i.e. finish one! I have the Fling prior to the WHWR and three others afterwards to keep me busy (Run the Blades at Whitelee Windfarm, The Devil and Tiree).

The many first-time ultra runners were both surprised and delighted by the encouragement received from all the other runners. As the D33 is a simple out and back course everyone sees everyone else at least once and even the winner, in fact particularly so, Ross Houston of Central AC, below, was overflowing with positive comments for all he encountered on his triumphant run back to the Duthie Park to finish in a new course record of 3:10:40.

If his name seems familiar, it should, as he ran 2:18 in a Scottish vest at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games marathon last August. In the four years I have been running this brilliant event I have not seen such an overwhelming lead, in fact he eventually came home an emphatic fifteen minutes ahead of second-placed Ross Milne of Corstorphine AAC. For once it would not be hyperbole to say he had time for a quick shower and a bite to eat before greeting the runner-up! The female winner was Joanna Wilson of Carnegie Harriers in 4:11:03.

Some other finishing times were; Rosie Bell of Strathaven Striders in 4:30:28, David Meldrum, the RD of the John Lucas 50 and also of Strathaven Striders in 5:21:57, my companion for forty miles during the Great Glen Ultra last year, George Chalmers in 5:24:23 (he is currently in training for the 110 mile Double-Cateran Trail Ultra in May, good luck with that one George) and finally Lorna and Ellie finished together in 5:59:00, a time very close to but pleasingly not starting with a 6!

 

 

PS Continuing the D33 theme of stripped-down medals this years' effort was a resin-filled jam-jar lid with D33 hand-written on it, see below. Different it certainly is.