28th June: North Devon AONB Marathon

Just over a year ago whilst hobbling across the finish of the 2014 edition of the Endurancelife ‘Classic Quarter’ I made a promise to fellow hobblee Phil, with whom I finished, that I would enter this year’s North Devon AONB Marathon - which he was deferred in to and would be running should he be fit enough… So here I was lining-up in the rain and good to go this June Sunday morning a week after completing the South Downs Marathon.

The North Devon AONB Marathon is run in aid of the local North Devon Hospice hospice centring on Woolacombe and looping south to Croyde and north through Mortehoe and nearly touching on Ilfracombe.

Croyde is a place I’ve been meaning to visit in years. All the ‘Hook’ crowd that I have known since moving to the village some 17 years ago have been making the journey down to the seaside village every Easter for surf, beer and a party. They’ve been captivated by the quality of all three for plenty of time since they’ve been doing this now for over 20 years since some of them discovered surfing in their teens.

Following my normal plan I arrived in Woolacombe at midnight and kipped in the van ready for the early start and registration… In the pouring rain. Hardly the weather you expect for June, but hey, you take what your dealt in this card game.

Milling around under angry skies for the start.

Mercifully the rain decided to ease as I waited around for the start after registration and come the off we were away under grey skies of low cloud with a threat of more rain on the figure of 8 course with the convergence point of the loops the esplanade at Woolacombe, First up we were all haring-off on the southerly loop with a 15 minute head start on the half marathoners who would soon be chasing us down.

Surf central!

Following the coastal path we filed past the car parks for the day-trippers and on to the sand dunes, narrowing down to single file at times before climbing up on to the coastal path running parallel to the Woolacombe beach as it stretched on for a mile or so, with plenty of early morning surfers out even in the inclement weather.

Where's Bez with his maracas?

Reaching the end of the beach we rounded on to the headland of ‘Baggy Point’ (where I couldn’t help but think ’You’re twisting my melon man, you talk so hip man you’re twisting my melon man.’ as I passed the sign - showing my age here with a ‘baggy’ reference!), before sighting Croyde ahead and the famous beach beloved of my mates.

The end of the beach crossing at Croyde.

Descending in to the village we were led across the beach that was strewn with moon jellyfish at the high-water line, before climbing through the village up in to the hills that surround it to reach the furthest south part of the loop.

The helicopter approaches.

As we were up on the side of the hill overlooking the beach, an Air-Sea-Rescue Sea King helicopter flew past us pretty much at eye level whilst it was out on a training exercise.

From here we turned inland to run over an undulating stretch of farmland before rejoining the coastal path north of the village and returning from whence we came for the end of the first loop.

As we bottomed-out on this part of the loop us marathoners began to be caught and passed by the half marathoners, so it was tricky at times not to get caught trying to hunt-down the person in front of you who had just overtaken you when it was at the back of your mind that they could be paced faster for running just half the distance you were.

Back in to Woolacombe and we were funnelled left and right for marathon/ half marathon as we approached the finish line, with us marathoners having the benefits of an aid station just beyond it, where I paused for a couple of cups of drink.

The path ahead.

So far the course had been pretty easy, unchallenging really with a difficulty level of 2/5 at the most. The few hills encountered were short not too steep by comparison to most of the runs I have been on. With the weather continuing to be overcast with the occasional drizzle it had been perfect conditions for maintaining a decent tempo without suffering a great deal, so I climbed-up the hill out of Woolacombe to the north in a good time for me, joining the coastal path on the left just past a particularly picturesque hotel.

Well at least the sheep were amused.

Back on to the coastal path and some sheep that seemed to be laughing at me, I soon discovered why: This was a race of two halves. The first half had been a gentle jog, this was where the real running began. We had a 10k section of combined ‘haggis running’ around the side of hills, up and down other sharp steep inclines and plenty of rocks to contend with on the path as we skirted the headland past Mortehoe and Lee.

Pointy rocks beside the path.

The long and winding road.

Soon after starting on this beautiful yet stunning stage, in the space of a few minutes it seemed the cloud lifted, burnt-off and all of a sudden the sun was beating down upon us with terrific humidity through all the moisture left behind from the duff weather so far today… The suffering commenced now for me, the conditions just draining all my energy with the combination of the heat and hills.

Below us Ilfracombe.

Struggling onwards I finally made it up on to a ridge looking down upon Ilfracombe and the turn to the south for the final 10k leaving the coastal path behind. At least with what goes up must go down so I had a section of descent off the ridge, winding my way down on the country lanes until the shade of a turning off the tarmac into the Slade Reservoirs… and the delightful sign of ‘no shooting’, which makes you wonder what on earth the locals must be up to when they get bored!

Climbing up past the reservoirs I could really feel my hammy tightening and becoming increasingly uncomfortable, so I decided to take the time to give it some rest and massage some deep heat in to it as a restorative remedy ready for the final leg back to the finish. As I sat there tending to myself and munching on a breakfast bar I waved-on those runners who passed me asking if I was ok… This is something I love about trail marathons - the ‘competitors’, if you can call us that, ALWAYS look-out for each other first: offering shares of pain killers, deep heat and food to those they pass on the side of the trail who are looking the worse for wear. On these runs its more a sense of comradeship rather than competition when you are outside of those with the sharpened elbows fighting for a podium place. It certainly is the case that the first ‘law of the trail’ is look out for your fellow runners :)

Hamstring all larded with deep heat I was back in to action and up the short flight of steps from the last of the reservoirs. I found myself on the cycle path that the former railway bed has become that leads out of Ilfracombe, winding its way south across the county to Plymouth… and the dawning realisation I would be cycling along here in a matter of a few weeks on my coast-to-coast jaunt!

Three miles of a steady ascent on the cycle path over which I took it easy and I came to the point where the route turned off on to a path across some fields via the final aid station heading downhill towards the finish back at Woolacombe.

Crossing the line, there were cream teas in the marquee awaiting all of us finishers, which would have been rude not to partake in, and I lay in there eating and resting after the exertions of the second half of the run that had pretty-much wiped me out.

The event was well organised, signed and marshalled with one particularly good touch, especially on the second half of the run in the heat: buckets of small wet sponges with which to soak yourself and carry along with you should you desire. It certainly is a contrast in difficulty of the two halves of the race with the second being twice as hard as the first… And you hit the hard half after you have burnt plenty of energy on the fast-paced ‘easy’ initial loop. Chatting to some fellow marathon finishers who were in agreement with me; the organisers should mix it up by reversing the order of the loops each year, so the half marathon every second year is pretty fiendish rather than being a leisurely plod. At present those finishing the half will be thinking the full distance would be pretty straightforward if they have not set-foot on the northern loop, which would certainly bite them on the arse in the future should they wish to step-up on to the longer run. Apparently this is something that has been mentioned but the thinking is that having a half distance that difficult it would scare-off a lot of potential runners!

Will I be back?.. Maybe to make a weekend out of it with LSS & Spud, oh and there was no sign of Phil at all!

Eat pies.
Drink beer.
Run far.