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Recommend a good 45/50 mile Ultra for April / May 2015
Dank-art
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So just found out I didn't get into London again!!! 
So will be looking for a suitable replacement race in end of April / May time. I am running in the Tokyo Marathon end of Feb, so thinking that i'll need recovery and then back to training so is May better time for a 50 mile ultra? If so can anyone recommend one for my second ultra, this will be a step up from my 30 mile Salisbury 54321!
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http://runwalkcrawl.co.uk/events/brecon-to-cardiff-ultra.html 42 miler not too tough....24th May
or http://www.enduroman.com/#/festival-of-ultra-events/4585000329 31st May... 50 miles if you like a great supported one going around in small laps......
Thanks for that, I'll be doing Salisbury 54321 again and hopefully royal parks ultra, but really keen to do a 50 mile,
http://www.mightcontainnuts.com/events/
the dates will be released in afew weeks but they have said the weekends will probably remain the same for 2015........the 50 miler in the brecon beacons looks good....
also of you wait till the end of July the lakeland 50 have just released a few more place for next year
where are the additional places for Lakeland? Couldn't see them on their site
sorry just realised they are local charity places.......so on top of the £70 entry fee you have to agree to raise £100 in sponsorship...
not a lot but can still be off putting for some..............the main eateries sold out in 20 mins which is so rare for ultras...shows how great a race it is
https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=1598
Ah right, yes doesn't seem to bad raising £100, managed to raise nearly £2500.00 for the London marathon this year! Only thing that I am questioning is my suitability, looks quite strict, I have only completed two marathon or longer distances, so am I 'experienced' enough, and the navigation aspect worries me, is it a tough race to navigate, I have no experience at all navigating, but of course am prepared to learn for the event, just wondering how tough that aspect would be.....looks tempting though
It is strict for the 100 miler.but the 50 miler is easily doable for good fast walkers
the navigation is easy as there is a book and a map and you can use GPS if you want to... also loads out on the course to help each other.....
hardest part is the last couple of sections in the dark if you arent a speedy runner.........but then people group together from checkpoint
It really is amazing.and as long as you are prepared to put some training in the hills somewhere they I can thoroughly recommend it as being one of the best...an amazing experience....you have lots of time to train as well.
Does look good, and the Lake District is beautiful, just checked my diary and have snowdonia trail marathon booked in for a month before, is that too close, or can this be part of my final training before 3 week taper up to the Lakeland 50 miler?
I would think it would be a good one 3 weeks before....
wonder how quick those extra places will go, need to think if this is the right 50 miler for me, and it's not cheap to enter!
Ooo. Thanks for the links Seren. I might dip my toe into the ultra runs next year. Only 1 event as have a few others to concentrate on as well.
Isn't Connemara around then? 39 miles road IIRC
of you are looking then another which is only 35 but a great organising team ius the ox ultra on May 25th http://www.whitestarrunning.co.uk/racePage.php?rid=7
a bit short for Dank Art but might be of interest to others..
Dank-art, personally I feel that when choosing 50m+ ultras the key thing is that it leaps out and makes you go "I REALLY want to do that". Especially for something like the Lakeland 50 where you are going to do a good proportion of walking up big hills, some of it in the dark, probably in the rain for some of the time and probably on your own for quite large patches. Although it is very doable because of the generous cut offs, if you don't REALLY want it, then I doubt you will get past halfway! It is a mountain race, not your standard runnable ultra. However, if that is what you fancy then it is absolutely awesome!
For other options, have a look here: http://www.ultramarathonrunning.com/races/uk.html
or here:
http://www.100marathonclub.org.uk/new/events/uk_ultra_list.shtml
Loads of options to choose from.
After some more thought, I am thinking a trail / road 50 milet would probably be better than a full on mountain ultra with massive elevation, so can anyone recommend a good ultra around 50 miles that fits this, maybe an ideal first 50 miler,?
= 2 x VLM + 5 x Box Hill
Plenty of stuff on Youtube, take a look and see what you think.
Coventry way 40 is a fantastic entry level trail ultra. Great route, excellent support and cheap. Mid April. I've run it twice and it is fantastic.
If you can still get a place the SDW 50 is at the beginning of april and I cant fault the organisers or the views.
I personally feel it makes quite a good first 50 as it isn't overly challenging (did I really just say that about an ultra?) and the good amount of hills means you don't feel you have to run the whole way as you might in a pancake flat race.
Also the fairly large field of 400 runners means that you are unlikely to spend too much time without seeing a friendly face.
Entries opened a while ago so it may be full but that's why they made wait lists
At Lakeland you don't get the route card and map until you're there at registration. I prefer to be a bit more prepared than that. So from Great Langdale (where it always rains heavily) onwards I was struggling with the navigation in the dark and glad to have someone to run with who knew where he was going. Unusual for me - I'm usually fairly solid with the nav. in races because of being able to prepare my own map beforehand.
I think you can get hold of previous years' maps from them - I don't think the route changes much, but I've only done it once so can't be sure on that point.
There's the Cardiff ultra - 50 miles on the Taff Trail Brecon - Cardiff - which, if it's running in 2015, would be ideal for you. Quite a lot of hard surfaces and just about enough trail to keep the off-roaders happy.
Sorry, looks like the Cardiff ultra that I was on about has been replaced by the 42-miler seren mentioned. Only goes as far as Nantgarw.
sdw50 has no more entries which is annoying as that looks amazing! is stour valley path 100km a good second ultra, looks like lots of DNF from this years results, wondering if that's too Much too soon!? Looks good though as nice trail run ending in Essex,
Anybody want a place in Sundays Royal Park's Ultra? I have unfortunately come off MTB 2 days ago and broken a few bones and damaged some ligaments. I'm in Henley and have the race number etc.
Reading up on Comrades ultra and watching videos on youtube, looks really good, have got a quote as well for 4 nights travel £1500 which seemed reasonable to run such an epic race, jut thinking is a road ultra with huge crowds what i am after....maybe too full on, i did enjoy the quiet and solitude of salisbury 54321, and not the mad crowds of London Marathon
The 'Classic quarter' is a 44 miler in early june along the southwest coast path.
Its toughish but very do-able and super scenic.
Been reading up on Comrades and the hills look very tough, huge amount of descent this year as it's an 'UP' run, is Comrades considered a very tough 50 mile Ultra, I think i'd prefer to do my first 50 mile ultra with something thats not regarded as very tough, or am i missing thew whole point of Ultra!!!
I was speaking with a tour company who would organise the whole trip, with transfers and race entry etc etc, so though didn't think it was too bad a price, maybe it's a little high?
EnduranceLife are doing 44 mile ultras now, I have entered my local one in April. The courses are 'scenic' shall we say!
I love the idea that you are looking for an 'easy' ultra, good luck with that