Sandstone Way Ultra

This race has 100k and 200k options, and best of all it takes place in October, where there is a bit of a paucity of hard ultras. It is based on a mountain bike trail, and we all know that ultra runners can go where mountain bikes fear to tread. I might give it a go!

Comments

  • Ben, a nice practise run for you before having a go at The Hill next year?

  • Peer group pressure is a terrible thing!

  • You might want to check their Facebook Page as competition for two free places going.

  • I saw that an hour or so ago and entered image 

  • Thanks for posting this anything up in that part of the country is worth a shot.

     

     

     

  • So the picture has a phrase in it.... "I want a free place in the sandstone way so that I can"

    Then below the picture it says "Like or unlike" depending on if you have ticked it, "comment" , "share".  Click on the comment phrase there, and it should let you type a new comment. once you have clicked comment on a pc it will just give you a flashing cursor in a box below it. to type into. 

    If on mobile it depends on which device/app you use.

     

  • Okay, I'll have another look.  Thank you.

  • You see, if I read the thing properly in the first place I wouldn't be in this predicament!!  All done now says me all shame faced!

     

  • Hey guys..I WON !!! Entered into the 100k distance. .

    Having never ran an ultra & only 1 marathon

    Should be interesting! !! Wish me luck :
  • Congratulations blondescisors

    If you want any advice for your preparation, we will be happy to help.  

  • Thats great news Ben as I cant find a 100k training plan..any you can recommend?

    This is totally new to me... so i'm very much an Ultra Newbie... & a very nervous one at that !!! Ive read alot of articles/blogs etc but they all talk about general advice..increasing mileage etc.. but I think I need a plan to give me the confidence about completeing the distance..(i realise i'll be walking some of it because of the terrain), but its info like..how much walking is realistic at my level & nutritional advice would be great image

  • No problem.

    There is a thread entitled "wannabe ultra runner", which is a veritable treasure trove of information for a person attempting an ultra for the first time.  

    Here is a link to one of the more popular 100k training plans, which would provide a reasonable starting point.  

    http://www.ultramarathonrunning.com/training/

    In terms of pacing strategy, your best option will probably be to walk all the uphill sections from the opening gate, while running the flat and downhill sections. When the organisers publish a course profile, I will be able to recommend a more detailed strategy.  

    You have until October to prepare, so your marathon training plan is a reasonable starting point. The main change would be to introduce back to back long runs. For example while your long run might have been 18-20 miles for the marathon, you would do something like 20-25 miles on the Saturday, then do 15 on the Sunday while your legs were still tired.   

  • Is this one still on the radar of anyone on here? For reasons that would only make sense to an ultra distance runner, after the TDS late August I'm looking for a 100m+ in October sort of time. And despite 200k being quite a lot longer than 100m this is the most interesting option as no laps or returning to base after an out and back. I do love a point-to-point too, nothing better than getting somewhere image

  • This was tough as the course got more difficult as the miles rolled on. Early miles were pretty flat roads and trails out of Berwick, close to coast at first. Then we moved in land a bit before Wooler in a section that interspersed roads with sections of runnable trail. Night fell for me and Alan who I was running with near Ingram. warm at first, but the night cooled in the early hours as fog enveloped us. Got more hilly prior to Rothbury with a long section meandering every which way through woodland. I was pretty envious of those finishing the shorter course here.

    But for the 200k course it was back out and a mostly good surface climb to Simonside highest points on route through Simonside woods. After the woods I stopped for a few mins at next CP to have a few mins micro-nap (needed). 100m in and from here things started to get hard for me (probably everyone). After initially thinking we'd be done early afternoon this section of boggy, bumpy, undulating often unpathed off-road really gave my already swollen, bruised, bashed feet a hammering as moving at 3mph. Cheered up a bit near Bellingham as we were greeted by a runner who'd been tracking us and he offered to do us toast and a cup of coffee.

    The rest of the course was all small hills and near constant undulation, on and off-road. And again the off-road was sufficiently lumpy and wet to make things hard on the feet. With 10m to go I realised I would struggle to make my last train home if I didn't really knuckle down and absorb the pain of running a bit faster and more than was the least bit comfortable. Finished in 34hrs20mins and thankfully station just a short lift away for my train 20mins later.

    Lessons learned from this one I'd pass on to other runners in future editions.

    • Its easy to go off too fast, I was 6mph for about 20m, but course got so difficult by the end I was struggling for half that over some 10m segments.
    • Expect to navigate. Although its a marked trail there aren't signs at all the places you'd want them. Some people spent miles and hours off-route. I probably added a few miles as the result of a few mistakes and between the two of us running together for most of event we had a breadcrumb course trace on my garmin 910xt, sandstone way map and GPS with mapping on a phone.
    • Perhaps always true of a 100m+, but harder than you think. Less than a 50% completion rate of the 200k - 5/11 - and can't be attributed to bad weather. I think many suffered from going off too fast. A few others suffered injuries. At least one was very lost (none of the DNF even got to hardest section of course)

    Thanks to great organisers and checkpoint staff, some of whom in later stages were waiting for hours as the first two were more than 6 hours ahead in the end

  • Oh, and its a loooong night. Carry spare batteries for your headtorch. I'd even say carry a spare headtorch. I hadn't put fresh batteries in mine at start so spares were out before midnight. I lent my spare to somebody who had battery issues and had misplaced spare. I got it back at next CP and good job I did as my spare batteries were exhausted before the night was out!

  • Awsome work DEOT.  

     

    It sounds like a real beast of a course.  

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