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Running in the flow - Thames Path Ultra 2008 |
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The Thames Path Ultra is a 50 mile foot race from Reading to London along the Thames Path At 9am, 169 runners headed out of King’s Meadows in Reading towards the Thames. We all had backpacks with supplies, mandatory spare kit and some water – mine was a comfortable 4kg. The pre race briefing advised taking great care along the Thames path which was severely flooded, and gave carte blanche to take any road detours required. |
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All too soon we were in
the water as the path dipped in and out of the cold wet stuff. The real
fun began after 3 miles at Sonning where people had turned back from the
river on the basis of it being too high.
Several of us decided to persevere - in retrospect not the brightest move - wading along the path between calf and knee deep, and then up to the crotch. The important bit was guessing where the path ended and river began ... sufficient clues were around, but I did hear of one person being dunked up to their neck! My mobile rang throughout the race, but Patrick explaining how much he was enjoying his chocolate croissant and coffee at this point was not the most welcome message of the day. My feet went numb whenever I waded for more than a few minutes in the cold water, but circulation was soon restored once I could run again. |
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Shiplake gave some welcome dry ground before another dunking approaching Henley at which point I took to the roads. Or tried to take to the roads. A farmer after Henley was keen for us not to run along her tracks being private, so it was back into the water for a bit. The person I was running with stepped off the path at one point and was promptly dunked up to his chest, but was luckily ok. I was then able to use roads to Marlow to warm the legs and pick up some pace. The river was too high even for us at that point, so it was onto the A road before reaching Maidenhead, the half way point, and was able to get back onto the muddy river paths. Tim, Martin and Debbie then joined me having run up from Windsor giving fabulous encouragement as we slipped and slid along the path, and then I spotted Murray walking towards me who gave an encouraging shout (thanks !). More encouragement from Wendy + Sharon plus a banana and flat coke recharge in Windsor itself (32m) was really welcome. I then kept to the river and got another short dunking up to the waist in a dip below a railway bridge ... and a poor route choice got me wet again at Datchet. The final checkpoint was at Runnymede (37m) before the last leg through Staines and Chertsey to Shepperton. It seemed to go on for ages, but breaking it down into "2 miles then walk for a couple of minutes” did the trick. A number of bemused walkers also gave support, and Wendy appeared again from nowhere with more very welcome supplies and helpful words. As darkness fell, the headtorch came out and the final miles were along roads with the moon overhead. Reaching the finish was fantastic - awesome support - and a great collective feeling of an experience shared. I was really delighted to finish 42nd in 8hr 35min and keep running up to the end with limited walking. My pace for the first 27 miles was around 10:30 min/mile, and then 11:45 min/mile for the last 20 miles which was fine. A truly fabulous day and I encourage anyone wanting to try something a little different to give an Ultra a go. Richard Gurd is of course our resident expert in these matters. This was my first Ultra so I am a novice, but am happy to share my limited experience with anyone.
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