Dorset Coastal Trail Marathon

DORSET COASTAL TRAIL MARATHON

So, you think a marathon is tough? Well, I can safely say that anyone who ran the Endurancelife Coastal Trail in Dorset this Saturday will re-evaluate that point of view. Yes, marathons are tough but the Dorset Coastal was ‘horrific’ but in a great way.
Mark Hughes ran the half marathon. I passed him on the course twice and when we met up at the end he just could not believe the severity of the course. In fact he quite rightly said it WAS the hardest thing I had ever done….. And he only ran the half!!! He couldn’t get his head around the marathon.
Here we go then, I will try to give an insight, however, unless you were there it is difficult to comprehend. I have photographs that I took whilst running to ‘savour’ the experience. Hopefully you will get to see them. If you would like to look, go to my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009654&id=1134337672&ref=mf
I arrived at the race HQ at around 7:30am. Registration was really well organized. A signature on a declaration form saying basically that if you die during the event it is no ones fault but your own for entering in the first place – always a good sign. Then it was collecting your race number and then your ‘dongle’. The dongle is a form of timing chip that goes around the wrist. At certain checkpoints you ‘dib in’ to a control box and it records your split and obviously records that you actually complete the whole course.
We stood in blowing winds, cold temperatures and listened to how the ‘course’ was treacherous and slippery. It is part of these events that you need to be self-sufficient. So everyone was told to carry food, liquid, warm clothing, mobile phones and basically to be safe.
At 8:00am we departed from the Square & Compass Pub on an epic adventure. After about 800m of road we jumped a gate and then it was off road. Initially running through fields, negotiating gates, running through woodland and then in front of us a wall of grass and a backbreaking ascent to the Coastal Path. Little did we know that this backbreaking ascent certainly wasn’t the hardest on the course or was it the only one…
You pretty much have to go single file on the ascents and decents. Most ascents had steps built in and so therefore it was just a real physical challenge. The descents however are a little more treacherous. Slippery mud, steep gradients and quad crunching pain; oh joy.
This section was like being on a big dipper at the fair; up one side, down the other side, back up, back down. The hills were filed in with treacherous coastal paths with stunning views out to sea and the rocky cliffs.
At about 6 miles we had to run through farmers fields. Thick clay stuck to your shoes and made your feet twice the size and weight. A grass vertical wall confronted us; you somehow had to climb up it. Grabbing tufts of grass you would pull yourself up, secure your foot and then repeat the process; running? No, this was climbing!!
At the top we were rewarded with some good trail and a short section of road. A feed station and checkpoint came at around 9.5 miles and then it was climbing again. This time up stony, rocky surfaces to a new summit. Good hard terrain gave me an increase in speed and I picked off 3 or 4 runners who basically had started too quickly. Running along the cliffs we could see the course continue on the cliff tops opposite. Problem was a big gap in between. We descended, entered a valley and then had to climb out. This probably was the hardest section. No footholds, constant slippery mud and basically just hard graft. In a sick way it was fun. I had joined a couple of other guys and we helped each other through this section. It must have taken 20-30 minutes to cover less than 2 miles.
The summit one again treated us to some firmer ground and then we re-joined the course to be confronted by the half marathon runners coming at us. They had started some 90minutes later. We now had to re-negotiate the roller coaster hills from earlier in the day. One foot at a time and keep working. You can do no more. I saw Mark in this section. I was just amazed at how tough it was….. I heard a few choice words and ‘mental’ a few times and pushed on.
The marathon runners now went onto a second loop taking in another section of the coastal pathway. Although we had loads more hills to traverse they in general were not as hard as the earlier climbs. However, the conditions underfoot just meant you slipped everywhere. I was not having a good time here. My hips, knees and core were really feeling the constant compensations one had to make not to fall over. I had Salomon trail shoes on but stay upright.
Finally I reached the last checkpoint and feed. We had about 5 miles to go. Pretty damn tired now. Everything ached and you just wanted to be back at the finish. More climbing, more slipping, more falling. Down and up we went. You walked the hills. It just wasn’t practical to run. Finally we came down a hill to join the runners from the half marathon course. Guess what? Mark was there plodding on up the final climb. A quick hello and I pushed on at a brisk walk. At the top the finish was in sight. I ran down the farm track running and splashing through the puddles to finally join the road that led to the finish. Up some steps and home. I was absolutely happy to be back and so glad this race wasn’t an ‘Ultra’.
Everyone who came in had a story to tell. They all said how hard, how tough, etc etc…. BUT they all loved it and they all said how they would be back for the next one at the ‘Gower’ in early December.
In total there are 7 Coastal Marathons. One a month for the next 6 months. If you fancy a challenge and something to test you; Live outside the box and get yourself entered. Distances are 10k, half marathon or marathon.
Finally I need to make a mention about Nigel Addison-Evans. Nigel is attempting 8 marathons in 7 days in 2009 and I am coaching him. He decided that because I had done 8 marathons in 8 days in 2008 I was the perfect coach. I hope he still thinks so? He did a sterling run in 6:10 and really gritted his teeth to get round in one of the toughest marathons I have been involved in. Well done.
The winning time was a quite incredible 3:36 by a South African friend of mine, David Ross. I completed the course in about 4:08 (tbc)
Ian