Rowbotham's Round Rotherham Trail Ultra

Rowbotham's Round Rotherham 50 Trail.

Exactly 4 weeks to the day I was doing the Cumbria Way Ultra and come away with a touch of tendonitis which had I of had a phone signal would of ended the race for me. So the last 4 weeks has seen a trip to a sports therapist and a physio.  It also saw a much reduced running month, even the runs I'd done were low impact, the longest I did was a 8.5 mile run and was a suffer fest.  

Not the best prep for this one but it is what it is, at least the knee felt ok going into this one. 

I had booked this one ages ago and it will be the last ultra of the year for me. It's a no nonsense event and a great price also, £24. You dont get a medal but who cares at that price. You could order a T shirt but I never. 

All the previous week on social media has been about the weather and the conditions.  People had been out on the course and come home with tales of woe about how bad it was. The rain had left it very muddy, loads of big puddles etc. Trail shoes were decided on but weather and conditions did not match up to expectations on the day.

My race day plan was to go out at a sensible pace, take it steady and hopefully put in a good shift,  though I was a tad concerned that the conditions underfoot would play havoc with the pace. 

WEATHER 

Well, turned out to be near perfect, wasn't perfect because at times it was too hot. Not a drop of rain fell on us. Conditions underfoot were unfounded,  they were again near perfect. Yes there was the odd bit of mud and a few puddles but nothing to write home about.  

COURSE

50 miles circular route around Rotherham.  There was according to garmin 2400ft elevation but over 50 miles that's not much. None of the route was particularly inspiring, certainly no spectacular views,  the best thing was running past the ruins of Roche Abbey.  It's all made up of run of the mill paths. Bit of canal path, woods, fields,  road, farm tracks. 

Conditions underfoot were good, there was a few bits of mud but nothing you couldn't navigate and certainly no danger of going over. 

Even the ploughed fields had good runnable  paths on them. The worse part of the whole course was the last 2 or 3 miles, a cycle path running alongside a dual carriageway,  soul destroying at best. 

The climbs on the route were all runnable, though after 35 miles they were walked. 

KIT AND FUELLING 

The only mandatory kit was a fully charged mobile. How refreshing is that. Though I still had my backpack on with a first aid kit and a waterproof jacket alongside 2 water bottles.  

Shoes were New Balance Leadvilles, they dont make these no more and not sure how much more I can get out of them. 

I started with the trail shoes, short sleeve shirt and shorts. Numerous times I wished I'd had the road shoes on and numerous times I nearly put them on, but as the race went on I thought, no, me and my trails have done ok so far so finish together. 

Fuelling was a malt loaf beforehand and on the run was wine gums and pork pies, topped up with various chocolate bars at checkpoints.  Real food is the way to go folks. 

THE RUN

I always start sensibly,  never go off to quick and this was no exception.  I watched virtually the whole field go past me. But I stuck to my guns and stayed at a steady pace. The conditions underfoot were not an issue so just plodded on.  After 4.5 miles I started to overtake a few people. There was 7 checkpoints on this event so just concentrated on getting to each one, no thinking of the overall distance.  At half way I thought I could possibly get a sub 9 hour run, at worse 9:15. Things were going ok out there, was no mental demons, no hitting any wall etc. I just plodded on as best as I could. Running by effort only, no pace watching.  I had the map on the watch and that worked well. We were given written route instructions and a strip map but they stayed in my bag, also, I couldn't read them as I don't wear my glasses on a run.

 At the 25 mile point I met someone I know from the running site, the Running Bug.  Was nice to see him Chris and to run with him for a while. The 2nd half of the run, I could feel it in the legs and the miles were taking longer to do. Still catching and passing people though so all still going ok. Got caught in bramble at one point which 1, raked the front of my leg, that stung and 2, ripped a hole in my bag. 

The last 10 miles I knew I'd have to sub 10 them to get a sub 9 hour finish.  That soon went out the window as though I was still moving ok, it wasn't quick enough.  The last leg, 5 miles it was try for 9:15. Turns out though this was the worse leg, longest mud section,  biggest climb and the cycle path of doom. I thought the end would never arrive. Plus it contained my only navigational errors, nothing drastic thankfully,  but it did mean I ended up passing the same person 3 times on that leg. Got to the end though, in 1 piece, It ended up 9:17:15

CHECKPOINTS 

There was plenty of them. 7 in total at miles at 9.5 miles, 16 miles, 23 miles, 29 miles, 34.5 miles, 38.5 miles & 44 miles. 

At each checkpoint Sharon & Molly were waiting with replacement water bottles and food top ups, including the various chocolate bars. 

Was always great to see them there, it gives a huge boost when you turn a corner and they are there. I thank you both immensely.  

The checkpoints went well, no hanging around and I never once actually went into a checkpoint or even saw what food was on offer. 

PHYSICALLY & MENTALLY 

As I said earlier,  not been the ideal month leading into this and I had no idea if the bad knee would resurface.  It never so really chuffed with that. Other than the expected achey legs there were no niggles at all. Pleased to come away unscathed,  though the toes are a tad tender. 

Mentally was fine. It all went pretty quickly which is a good sign. I dont really think of these things as 50 miles, just take each leg at a time. It all worked ok, there were no doubts creeping in,  no, " I cant do this " thoughts. All was good. 

THOUGHTS

I like these no nonsense events, and this was definitely a no nonsense event, your not molly coddled like you are at some events. You got your mandatory kit of a phone now get on with it. No Marshall's out there, your on your own. But I dont think it's one I'd do again, it's not the most inspiring of routes, though that does add to the no nonsense aspect of it. 

Running wise, I did the best I could and I'm not unhappy with the time. Earlier in the year I did a canal run of a 100k, at the 50 mile point it was 8:50, this was a much slower course so only 25 mins slower is not too shabby. The last third saw pretty achey legs but they kept on plodding,  if I went wrong anywhere then maybe an even steadier start was needed. Overall though I'm happy with it, it's a good result to end this years ultras on and had this run been 2 years ago I doubt I'd of got quicker than 12 hours.