Another funpacked ultra weekend for Jenni Coelho as she took on the Glenmore 24 Trail Race on 6th/7th September.
This is either a 12 or 24 hour event where competitors run as many of the four mile loops through the Glenmore forest as they can in the time allotted. Last year I did the 12 hour event, covering just over 50 miles, this year the 24 hour event beckoned.
The week leading up to the race was not ideal with a bout of sickness and trots on the Monday and Tuesday, however, everything seemed to have firmed up by the end of the week, so off I went with the SB, Tomas, as my faithful support crew. We arrived on early Friday evening and managed to get the pitch I wanted for my tent and fodder table. There was a pirate party in full swing by about 8pm, I said a few haaarrrrrs and then decided to be sensible and retire to my tent with a Becks Blue and see if I could get a decent night’s sleep.
Saturday morning arrived with no sign of the beautiful sunny day that had been Friday 🙁 The morning passed fairly swiftly, remembered to register, and then it was time to get changed. The race briefing was held in the rain at 11.30am and then we all took shelter until the start at 12 midday. The four mile lap starts at one end of the Hayfield where we were all camped, passes round the outside of all the tents, up a small incline (which became a steep hill by the end), and then out into the woods. The first mile or so is along lovely wee tracks, then onto good forestry track for the rest. There is a long hill, with a merry marshall watering station at the two-mile point to take your mind off it. Then the last mile or so is downhill, with some tricky wee steps bringing you onto the home straight and back to the start.
It rained. And rained some more. The lovely wee tracks became muddy and waterlogged. The marshalls sang. The thunder roared. The rain
No problems this
poured. Oh, and then, there was a massive dump of hailstones. At which point I retreated to my tent and had a change of clothes. I then wrapped a sleeping bag around me, stole some of the SB’s Terrys Chocolate Orange pieces, and had a wee snooze. The rain stopped, and out I went again! By this time however my stomach had already been giving me trouble and every time I started going uphill I thought I was going to be sick. Not ideal. By the time it got dark, I’d decided I was going to have to try and eat something and have a wee lie down til I felt better. So, at the end of lap eight (32 miles), at just after 9.00 pm, I returned to the tent, had a wee snack, then it was pjs on, into my lovely cosy sleeping bag, and onto my oh, so comfy airbed. And I slept. And slept. And slept. I did wake up a couple of times, hearing the rain battering down outside, pulled my sleeping bag up over my head again and slept some more.
Eventually I woke up as I needed the toilet. The SB suggested I should really be getting back out and running again. After a few protestations about how I would wait until it had stopped raining (it did then stop raining), I finally manned up, got a fresh set of running clothes on and out I went, much to the amusement of my neighbours! It was approaching 9.30 am.
I managed to squeeze in another couple of laps. Still felt a bit queasy, so just ran when I could. During the last hour, when you finish the big lap, you are directed onto the short loop, which is a 400m loop around the campsite. The support and atmosphere for this is amazing, especially as midday approaches. I felt as if I was sprinting round the loop, bounding down the hill past all the hardy souls who had actually been running all through the night clocking up amazing mileages, quite a few achieving the 100 mile “horn”. I even managed to run up the horrible hill of hell the last time round! Then, it was all over, smiles, laughter, tears and people collapsing on the ground.
The rain managed to hold off for us to take down our tents and attend the prizegiving. Top mileage of the weekend went to John Duncan, getting just over 130 miles (still to be confirmed). Personally, I managed to rack up about 41 miles, which was not even half of what I had originally hoped for when entering the race. However, sometimes you have to listen to your body and be sensible (aaaargh).
The final prize of the day was the Rip van Winkle award, which was given to the person setting a new record for the most hours slept during the 24 hour race, breaking the previous record by two hours. Hmmm, I wonder who received that then ….
