Hardmoors 30, 24th April 21. 33.5 miles, 1st event 2021. 1,304 m of ascent. 7 hours 10 mins 09 seconds. 21st lady of 77 (7th F50), Joint 138th of 222 finishers.
For the Hardmoors 30 we had to predict how long we thought it would take us. Having done it nine times before we plumped for six hours 25 halfway between our fastest and slowest times. This gave us the 8:34 start time slot. We were set off in groups of 6 every two minutes. The weather forecast has showed a little bit of cloud with sunshine and around 12° with no wind so I was quite happy with shorts and vest top with sleeves just in case. It was a minimal kit list although we had to take a head torch even though this is April and not the 1st of January and we were guaranteed to finish before sunset at 8:30 pm.
When we arrived at the abbey car park at Whitby it was quite overcast and I started wondering whether I really needed a T-shirt instead. There were two portaloos so we queued for this saying hello to all friends and new. We took turns to register as we queued and then were allowed to jump the loo queue as it got close to our start time. We said a brief hello to Ralph McDermott from the Pudsey Pacers he’d arrived very early for the 15 mile race.
The rest of our start crew disappeared in no time and I was surprised by being overtaken within the 1st mile and a half but perhaps 10 days of fatigue and not as much training as we should’ve done meant we weren’t on for a PB this year. The course is different more of a lollipop heading along the coastal path to Robin Hood‘s Bay then onto the coastal path and all the way up to the beacon above Ravenscar so quite a bit more elevation and road than normal we then headed along the cinder path to south of Heyburn Wyke to make up the extra mileage that we were missing by not going through the streets of Whitby. Along the cinder path I tried to push myself as I kept getting into a steady plod at the same distance behind Andy so I pushed myself to run alongside him and get the pace going a little bit more. We made a good pace to that checkpoint at Cloughton Wyke at 17 miles before heading back on the coastal path. Here we slowed down on all the ups and downs that lead us through Heyburn Wyke back towards Ravenscar.
It had been warm on the cinder path but breezes cooled us on the coastal path. We kept seeing the same people as we were quick through checkpoints and they’d overtake us later. There was a diversion before Boggle Hole to get to the checkpoint and on to Robin Hoods Bay. A short section of cinder path before the last fast section of coastal path. It was all very dry so I was pleased I was in road shoes. Very pleased with how it wentespecially the push we made at the end.
Cheese and onion pasties and a few protein ball snacks. Just enough water stations to start with a litre but only fill up 500mls when I needed to afterwards. We didn’t hang around long afterwards and managed to get to Thornton or Dale for Baldersons icecream before it shut!
Making lifes adventures - Sarah Norman 