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Ridgeway 85 - 2012
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Must admit I like night running, it makes it so much easier to isolate yourself and get into the groove so to speak.
I was lucky with the weather yesterday, thought it was going to be wet at first but it cleared up and was quite nice by mid afternoon. Bit muddy along the Thames though and I had to go through a herd of cows just near Goring, I hate cows especially these as they had calfs and there was at least one big bugger with a ring through it's nose! Sill that's all the first half reece'd, glad I have as there are a few bits that you can go wrong quite easily if you are not keeping an eye out for the signs, especially in the bit between Wendover and Chinnor.
I hope he means 2 months.
Not quite ready yet.
Haha, me neither, I have a whole other half to recce yet, don't want to be doing that for the first time in the dark
You've got those delights to come, mr f. Greeting the dawn feeling like nothing on earth. Wait 'til you see CP8 - hard to drag yourself away.
I think the normal questions I have will pretty much be answered by the previous few pages of text but I have one that might need a bit of personal knowledge from someone who's done the course before. I'm working on the Sunday morning so I was curious as to how long this particular course might take me, I know it's impossible to say without knowing a person but for someone who's in sub 24 100 shape, how long could I expect to take?
I think Rex is the one with the detailed answers! As a mark though Lirish, a friend who did TPU with me this year and got to the 97.5m point with me at just under 27hrs completed the Ridgeway in 26hrs dead a couple of years back. This does have some pretty tough hills though
The joys of annual leave embargos eh!
Lirish, sub-24 100ers have been getting over the Ridgeway in 18-19 hours over the last couple of years.
I might be tempted by this event if I can recover from Lakeland in time!
Managed to recce the second half of the course yesterday from the car park just West of Streatly(abour 73km in) to Avebury. Easy to follow the route but boy were some bits crap under foot. I f*%&ing hate green laners!! Some paths were so churned up and rutted they were only walkable in daylight, it's goingto be interesting during the hours of darkness. The area before the descent past Osbourne st George was very bad as was the last couple of miles before the right turn into Avebury. I went over three times in that last ten miles
Hopefully we will get a couple of drying weeks beforehand to help dry out the course.
Lirish, if you are in sub 24 100 mile shape then I would have thought this would be a couple of hours quicker if the terrain is similar to the 100. but if it is compared to a flat 100 then probably about the same in which case a 12 noon start on the Saturday will see you a bit late for work on the Sunday
I would say the first third of the RW is comparable in terms of hills then the rest is slightly easier than the SDW. The big difference is the trails on the SDW are better marked and better underfoot so that would be a factor. If I was doing the SDW in about 20 hours I would expect to do the RW in 17ish I guess, give or take a few mins?
Personally I found the section between Coombe hill just after Wendover and Chinnor a bit confusing. But then I can get lost on a canal!!
mr f - at some point we get an email with, amongst other things, all the cut off times - they do vary slightly from year to year, but in 2011 they were:
Now, you other guys who are sub-24 100-ers (you don't say how far sub-24 you are!)
I'm a 30-hr 100-er. Well, I'm going to have to be or I will be a DNF at the NDW 100 11 Aug. My best for R85 is 21:46, so I would say you're looking at sub-17:30.
Hard to tell when you guys will be in darkness which will be the only time you're likely to have nav difficulties - there are no glow sticks, or race waymarks. I would say it will be getting dark by the time you leave Goring (depending on how long you stay there!!) And light by the time you hit the worst of the rutted section which is only about 4 miles from the finish.
The 2nd half is very stony - well, it is normally - so quite tough on the feet.
I use a map and a compass at night - on the Downs there are a bewildering array of byways, bridleways, footpaths, permitted paths, and our LDP route marked by posts with white acorns. That's assuming you can see the posts. Not sure how other people manage. I'm usually on my own.
If you can get round SDW in 20 hours you could win this. Unless Andrew James has entered again - he holds the course record of 12:25
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Well I asked my boss today for the Sunday off and he laughed and called me a twat. I'm taking that as a sign he's thinking about it and am going to start recceing the route next week, I've had a look on google maps and though it seems like the first third of the course is reasonably well served by train stations there doesn't look to be that many near the second two thirds, does anyone know of any?
Lirish, yeah, sounds very promising for the day off there!!! Good luck fella!
Lirish - Swindon is nearest for the finish - don't think there's much else.
btw folks - if you want picking up from Tring sta you'll need to email RO with arrival time. Allow 1.5 hours before start.
Isn't there a station at Goring/Streatley? Seem to remember stopping there on the train between Oxford & Reading. Can't be far to the rw from there and that's about the midpoint.
There's a station about half a mile from the half way checkpoint at Goring.
Lirish - in terms of route finding, you'd do well to study a map. It is a well signposted course but I noticed even the other day that some of the "acorn" signs can be covered by undergrowth. Places to be careful (imho):
Between CP4 and CP5, North Stoke. You follow a road into the village but the Ridgeway cuts right through the grounds of a church. Easy to miss the sign and head straight on (seen people do this)
White House Farm (think it's between CP6 and CP7 but could be just before CP6). Need to turn left and go south around the farm otherwise you take the wrong path northwest.
I know some people who said they had some trouble navigating parts of the Ridgeway but I didn't have any problem personally. (I'm slightly biased because I know the top half quite well).
Hopefully will be there. I'm entered but possibly clashing with a last minute holiday.
Sort your priorities Matt!!!
I'm running this but want to make it into a 100 mile event for myself so will be running 15 before the start. Anyone else interested in joining me? Ideally the initial 15 will take between 3hr 15 to 3hr 30.