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Thames Path 100
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Thanks for doing that
I very clear explanation and totally the correct decision
I just want to add my words of admiration for all runners this weekend and my support for James and his team. Some great running and some amazing endurance shown in truly hazardous conditions.
My wife and I were sweeping the first half of the race up to Henley and so I did not get to see many of you on the day...apart from some lost souls I picked up in Marlow who had been lost for 1.5 hours. Just to give you a sense of the concern and the lengths James goes to get things better for his races, in spite of everything else he has had to deal with he has already been in contact with us to check on the quality of the marking, what we would have done differently, etc. With James at the helm these races will go from strength to strength and I for one will be running some and offering my support at others.
Once, again well done all!!
I think that I will end up helping out at one of these events sooner or later.
Partly because I feel guilt for benefiting so many times from other peoples good will, but also because I want to see one of these events from the other side.
I agree and 100% back James' decision. Centurion Running is relatively young still but after helping out at NDW and TP races I consider James to be extremely committed to organising great events and I think his series of races will become massively popular due to their ability to provide great courses with a great level of support to allow people to run the distances to the best of their ability.
Giggster - Probably another person I met at Cookham then if you were the sweeper that came through... Glad to see your pub lunch fuelled you for the duration!
Wow what a race, what great runners/organiser+marshalls/everyone at all the aid stations/runners crew, basically everyone. Last weekend had it all:
The start in front of the Old Town Hall was a fantastic setting for our epic adventure. We started with light drizzel, but thankfully by mile 7ish the weather started to get warmer. At this point I bummed into Paula aka Purplepig and ran togther for several miles, was really good to meet you and chat. You definately lifted my spirts and took my mind off the enormity of the race!! Great time as well and really chuffed you did it
Later on I was temporarily lost in Staines when I missed the turn at the bridge, looked across the river to see runners from our race on the other side. That made me smile as I didn't waste too much time.
The section around the Eton rowing puddle was hilarious reminded me of the movie The Great Escape. Basically 8 of us ended up running through it. After approx 4-5 mins of running this clearly was not part of the course with private keep out signs up. We ended up making it through 3 fences/ bushes back onto the Thames Path, with no damage done sorry.
Around 5 in the afternoon I had one of those flow moments when I was at peace the sun was at about 2 o'clock in the blue sky The Jam and Style Council were banging out the tunes and the setting was magical!
Anyhow I got lost again with another bridge in Marlow and decided to run another mile on top of the allocated 100 but we live and learn. By the way my fault as the red and white tie was there I just missed it. This did make me seriously consider the night run as not a good time to go it alone. Three times lost in the light was not a great omen for the night run.
I left Marlow with a couple of runners and then sort of got seperated but by chance I came across another runner and we started talking. After about 10 mins I realised this person must be on the forum, I asked their name and it turned out to be Hillheader!! We must of run at least 10 miles together, those women just before the aid station outside the pub in Henley were fantastic!! I have to say your account of the race were you came 10th in 21hrs was inspiring and kept me going. Having read your post above I now realise that I was also running with Lex for several miles..............Hello!!
By this time I was slowing down and decided it was time to have another walk break. Excellent times for both of you!!
Amazingly by 2ish in the morning I had a full hour of running must of been like a second/third/fourth wind and felt great coming into Whitchurch.
I have to say that the 21 miles were akin to something I have never experienced. The prospect of a 9 mile hike/run went from the usual 1.30/1.40 to more like 3 miles per hour hence, and the last 5 miles I probably did in over 2 hrs in those conditions.
Anyhow it's amazing the things that we can do when pushed and I want to thank the Finnish bloke sorry never got your name but you saved me in the last mile. Thank you !!
To summarize, it went from mild damp conditions, the sun came out and I ended up with a suntan on my legs and by the end I was fighting hypothermia with the shakes!!
Asked at the time would I do it again the answer would of been maybe I was desperatly trying to stay positive, ask me now and I can't wait for my next one!! even with a broken body.
Thank you to everyone brilliant
I think we helped each other out . It was great running with you , especially in the dark ! Not a big fan of it - we flew on those last 5 miles . Really glad we did sub 24 !
Hi all, what a race indeed!!!
Firstly let me say a huge thank you to h1ppo and the runner who was with him at mile 98. Without you getting me to the lock house and contacting the paramedics i think i would have been in a far worse state. Unfortunately i was one of the runners who succcombed to hypothermia. My temperature was 34.2 when the ambulance men arrived. It followed with a trip to the hospital who got me back together so to speak.
Many thanks go to the paramedics, all the marhalls at the check points and to James. Your phonecall today was much appreciated.
I'm sorry if my withdrawal led to the stopping of the event.
I have to say that up until mile 85ish when we hit the endless miles of mud and then deteriorating conditions i was feeling mentally and physically strong. I was completely in my element. The runners, marshals and scenery were making it an epic run. I had up until then ran pretty much the whole of the 85 miles and was on for a sub- 24 hrs time.
It was lovely to meet Mr F and purplepig. I also ran with Drew for the first 10 miles or so and later Fab and his mate Simon. You were all great company and helped me to push on.
I definitely will do this event next year as despite the end result, i absolutely loved it. What with the extra 2 mile detour we all had to take and 3 "lost" miles, i am so chuffed that i ran 103 miles in 25hrs and 30 mins. It just would have been nice to have crossed the line and received my medal. Hey ho it's all experience and a learning curve. Note to self, remember to carry a spare rain jacket!!!
A final well done to all that took part. I look forward to racing with you in future events. I can't believe that other than a sore right hip flexor, my legs feel great. Off for a run now!! Only kidding x
Evening all
Well done everyone for the weekends efforts, what a great race
.
I was one of the people stopped at Abingdon, I arrived at 11.50am shivering uncontrollably, but quickly took my wet jacket off and was managing to warm up a little with the aid of two cups of tea. I was all ready (probably quite foolishly) to head out into the snow and rain when they said hang on a minute the RO is just deciding whether to pull the race. I was gutted I had to stop with only 9miles to go and over 4hrs left to do it in, but totally understand why they took that decision.
I was wearing a long sleeved base layer, a merino top, a normal running shirt, long trousers, and a gore tex jacket and it was still bloody freezing!!!!!! I also had waterproof trousers with me but was so cold I didnt want to stop to put them on out in the field! I put them on at Abingdon to keep warm. That wind cut right through you. 'Just' rain or 'just' snow would have been okay, but the wind made it horrific, particularly at the end of a 100m when people are physically exhausted and there is no energy left in the tank to keep you warm.
Big thank you to James and all the marshalls and volunteers, and to all the other runners whose paths I crossed and chatted to whilst we kept each other going during the event. I will hopefully be back next year to give it another go.
Oh no Vicky!! I was just about to ask if anyone had heard from you and then i read your post. I'm so sorry for you, you were running so strong when I was with you, and I have been saying to my OH "I wonder if Vicky made her sub 24". You poor thing - are you feeling ok now (I know you said your legs are good). I was so close to that state myself at mile 91. That long stretch before it wher we couldn't run much and just took forever in wet clothes getting colder and colder.
Somebody asked if I was the lady he spoke to about hokas..sorry that wasn't me either!
I wish I could see a phot of you all, becasue Tigerspaw, I reckon I probably spoke to you at some point too. You couldn't have been too far behind me. What's your real name? Sorry you couldn't finish either - such a rotton situation, but as everyone says completely understandable.
Hope everyone is well and resting and recovering. Happy Running.
Race No 110
I just want to comment on how well run and enjoyable an event the Thames Path 100 really was. James Elson is a credit to Ultra-Running and all the volunteers and runners at the weekend were solid proof that this is a cracking sport full of great people.
I was lucky enough to finish before the worst of the weather but the safety of the race participants and the volunteers must come first and I 100% believe James made the difficult but correct decision in pulling the race. Anyone still battling on in that weather truly deserves the medal and buckle as much as any one of us.
This is my 2nd experience of a Centurion Running event and both have been well run, great events and I will definately be entering more in the future. I will also be volunteering at these events in anyway so that others can enjoy them as much as I do!
Well done everyone who took part and I'll see you all on the South Downs. (I'll be helping as I won't be racing as my friends booked their wedding for that afternoon, who does that without checking for 100milers first?!)
Robbie
Blimey Vicky you did brlliantly to get to 98 miles !!!!!
You were the only forumite i met on the day (whilst queing for my number). Your report is inspiring and so up beat, i,m really struggling to come to terms with pulling out at 91 miles being firstly due to being hyperthermic but in hindsight what stopped me at least walking to the finish was the 34 hour or so sitting and being dealt with by the great medical team meant that my right leg just ceased up below the knee and i was unable to walk unaided. That combined with how weak i felt made the decision for me. Do you think James would sell us a t shirt, its such a shame not to have a momento ?
Well done to everyone involved in this race .I saw several runners run through at Datchet and it really was inspiring and motivating to see you all .I am training for my first marathon-Milton Keynes - seeing you all made 18 miles in the rain on Sunday seem bearable because I knew you lot had run all night .
I cannot believe that you all got so close to the finish and then had to abandon the race and accepted it-though I can totally see that the organisers made the right decision.
You are all amazing.I will definately marshall next year .If ultra running makes everyone so positive -then I want to do it .Perhaps I had better complete a marathon first though........................
Angela, You might have seen the best of us in the glorious weather at 25 or so miles. Some of us weren't quite so positive the next day...Good luck for Milton Keynes.
Anyone know why the Centurion site has been down so long?
Mark - I think you're going to get the finishers medal and running top - having made it to Abingdon and then the race being cancelled.
Hillheader - The site was initially down due to an overload of people submitting and trying to look up times I believe... Then following the abandoning of the race it was flooded by visitors again. Last report I heard from James was them trying to get it hosted elsewhere to cope with the strain. Plus, from what I can tell during the race the guy who does the website was driving around setting up and packing up checkpoints so was kept pretty busy all weekend
James is still working hard today with post race admin etc, he is also contacting people for feedback on how to improve already. Centurion really will be running the best ultras around! I will certainly be attempting the grand slam of Centurion races in 2013
Mark: Have a look at the e-mail I've reproduced on page 80-81 from James, the way I read it is that all runers who made it to Abingdon will get a buckle and t-shirt as it was felt in all liklihood they would have finished the race if it wasn't stopped.
Hillheader: As far as I know the site has been having problems with it's host over the weekend and they were planning to use another provider yesterday, they may still be having problems getting it uploaded
So glad you are ok Vicky, I was a little worried (your lips were very blue but I didn't want to tell you!) about you at the time.
See you next year then since I too am determined to get that sub 24. I was on target till well after Goring at 71 but my back and knees were slowing me down before the weather turned.
Stay warm!