The Forum of Benfleet Running Club

Graham · #3 Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 395

Due to kick off at 6pm today, three coastal marathons including 14000 feet of ascent down here in Dorset. Have until 6pm Sunday to complete the course and getting more than a bit excited and nervous. Starting to think London Tri might have been a better option. It's been raining all night and continues this morning so all those hills will be nice and slippery and muddy - two competitors suffered broken ankles a couple of years ago - at least I'm not accident prone.....

Omens are good. I managed to pick up the runners up trophy in the 1k sea swim earlier in the week, and netted gold in the beach biathlon, a short swim sprint then a few hundred metres racing along the beach. Alas the yard of ale got badly rained off so I missed the opportunity to embarrass myself. I held my own competition with me myself and I in the beer tent instead, and I think i performed rather admirably to be honest!

Right, need to go eat my 14th bowl of pasta. Hopefully I'll post a successful race report some time Sunday or Monday.

Andy F · #2 Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 272 Location: Hullbridge

Good luck to you mate!, at least the forecast is dry tonight.
Looking forward to hearing how it went.

bobby · #2 Joined: 06 Apr 2008 Posts: 257

We will be thinking of you. Enjoy yourself, although I will miss seeing you emerge from the Thames and stripping off your wet suit. Well done on the results so far. I think you should try to set the record for the first metre of ale. I am sure you can do it.

Jez · #2 Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 291 Location: Eastwood

Well Mr Booty, how did you do? Are you still alive?
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Jez

www.justjez.co.uk

Graham · #3 Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 395

Thanks Andy, Bobby.

That was without question the toughest event I have ever completed. The distance in itself was not too extreme but I cannot emphasize just how bad the terrain was. Never ending climbs, and with some of the gradients the wrong side of 50% you needed to really keep your concentration and watch your footing - especially on some of the night descents. I was so glad I'd run the route over 3 days a few months ago - my night navigation would have been woeful otherwise and I'd probably still be out on the course now.

As for the race, Ben the organiser ran through his pre race speech at the registration and finish line using all the same gags he did in March. There were 40 competitors, including 5 girls and going on previous results he predicted 10 finishers and at least one broken ankle! We were then all shipped to the start and sent on our way. Myself and George, a good friend from the Marathon Des Sables took an early lead and ended up running fromt he front together for the first 55 miles. We only really had one minor detour, both having completed the 3 day event and not really needing to rely our awful map reading skills. Running down Weymouth high St at 1:55am on a Sat night as the clubs and pubs emptied was a bit lively - certainly received our fair share of heckling! We finished the second marathon in pretty high spirits as dawn broke. Miles 52 to 65 are some of the toughest and as George started to struggle a bit we naturally drifted apart. I'd been holding back (some of Mike Mason's Ultra running postings that the majority of DNF's were due to over eager starts had been firmly driven home) so I felt pretty strong and dug in until the final checkpoint. After that my family came to support me through Swanage, which lifted me and then it was one last big climb before the drop down onto Studland beach for the final 3 miles. At this point I was reduced to pretty much run/walking in equal measures. Mind I did put my head down and push on through the naturallist beach section. Why is it that the only people who want to go naked in public weigh a minimum of 18 stone? I was feeling pretty nauseous at that point anyway. I crossed the finish line in just over 17 hours to claim the winners trophy - one of Ben's old trail shoes nailed to a piece of wood and spray painted gold - pure quality! I was so pleased to see George cross for second just over an hour later - a one two for tent 111. In all there were 30 finishers - including all the girls, and no major casualties. We were lucky with the weather - the rain passed before the start, and although the ground was a bit slippery no cloud cover and a three quarter moon gave out lots of ambient light for the night stage. A lot of the time I was running without my head torch.

Another great Votwo event. Impeccable organisation from Ben, his parents and his crew.

Have to say, there is not one part of my body that is not in pain this morning. Every thing hurts and aches - and I've a few sore bits where I didn't put enough Vas on - but we wont go into those!

bobby · #2 Joined: 06 Apr 2008 Posts: 257

Graham, what can I say. You are the oner. Fantastic result. You must be feeling so proud of yourself. But obviously you get out what you put i n, so all the training pays off in the end. Well done.

Jez · #2 Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 291 Location: Eastwood

Good work Sir.Enjoy your recovery!
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Jez

www.justjez.co.uk

debbie g · #6 Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 706

Graham I am absolutely speechless (well almost!). You are truly amazing when they handed out grit guts and determination you received the entire quota for Europe!

Really proud of you mate and in truth not really surprised you won, you are in a league of your own.

MikeBriggs · #1 Joined: 26 Feb 2009 Posts: 44

Super effort mate, was it really harder than des Sables? Seems like your a fan of that south coast route, 2 in 2 now isnt it? I agree with Deb, you've got more grit than East beach.

JBD · #3 Joined: 15 Sep 2007 Posts: 315

I never feel more inadequate than when I read one of Graham's race reports ! And I'm not sure he has any idea how mind-blowingly brilliant these feats continue to be for us mortals.

Bravo sir, doffing of cap, inspirational

Graham · #3 Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 395

Thanks for the kind words. And yes, definitely harder than MdS - the distances in Morocco were all quite managable, there was plenty of banter in the tent which gave the whole week a holiday feel and I was fortunate enough to finish the long stage in one go during daylight so no through the night running. And no where near as many hills. There were 4 2008 MdS vets there and we all agreed that it was tougher.

Official report:

http://www.votwo.co.uk/votwo2007/...p?start=&offset=&item=164

Stevie · #3 Joined: 10 May 2006 Posts: 452 Location: Benfleet

Heard about this at the club last night and have just read your report.
Amazing achievement mate, not only to finish but to win it aswell is incredible, I hope you are going to have a abit of a rest now

debbie g · #6 Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 706

Our Hero being presented with the quirky trophy!

erasedcitizen · #1 Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 79 Location: Benfleet

My goodness, well done! Like the trophy! Someone at work last night suggested I ran to and from work every day (work being in Central London, they had no idea where Essex was) - that would be easy peasy for you these days!

Moving on to some speedwork now when recovered?!

Mike Mason · #7 Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 1055 Location: Hockley

Graham, fantastic........I missed this and just read the Evening Echo (not sure if Debbie has shares)...yes you have moved to the dark side. I used your mantra 'smash it Mike' for Mont Blanc ...glad you took advice on fast starts. The next thing will be Ernies hair......well done!!
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'sometimes I am running so fast it appears that rocks and trees are standing still......' 'I may be slow, but you are ugly and I can train harder.' '90% is mental, the other half is physical'it's going to get a lot worse, before it gets worse'.

stevedavis · Joined: 29 Apr 2009 Posts: 19

phenomenal !!

I could not even dream (or nightmare) of entering let alone winning.

hope you have recovered by now.
steve