What a way to end the season of Hardmoors races.
Abbie Morgan and Anna Jebson received their hoodies and plaques for achieving 1,000 Hardmoors miles and also ran with their 1,000-mile club numbers for the first time.
Sunday saw the last race of the Hardmoors marathon series, starting and finishing at Guisborough Sea Cadets.
The marathon, which is actually 30 miles with more than 5,000ft of ascent, takes in the beautiful Roseberry Topping that you don’t just run over once but twice.
Starting at 8am the temperature was still below zero, making it a chilly start but everyone soon warmed up, heading up through Guisborough Woods and then climbing up the Tees Link, which had a lovely frost, making it a dry start. It made a nice change to previous years which had been slippy mud during all of the climb.
Joining the Cleveland Way at the top of the Tees Link there was a bitter chill to the air, ice on the slabs and snow all around. Next they headed to Roseberry Topping, warned on their way to be careful. And they had to be, as there was compact snow and ice on every step. Going up was hard enough, but going down was something else. Bottoms were being used everywhere, as it was the only way down for most. Fantastic marshals at lots of different points gave us advice to keep us safe. The more runners who went up and down, the slipper it got, meaning the slower we went.
Taking between two and 2.5 hours to complete the first five miles of the race, they knew it was going to be a tricky day out. Leaving Roseberry, and making their way to Gribdale, then on to Captain Cook’s monument, before arriving at Kildale, there was still plenty of snow and ice on the ground.
Then it was up from Kildale up the long tarmac hill to Bloworth Crossing, with freezing fog in the air – it seemed to go on for miles. They then headed along the moors through the lovely villages of Castleton and Commondale.
Darkness came with the last few miles to go, so the head torches came out on the run back along the moors before the last descent back into Guisborough.
Temperatures below freezing all day made the sight of the Sea Cadets even better.
Massive congratulations to everyone who ran in those crazy conditions and a massive thank you to all the marshals for standing out in the cold for hours on end.
Huge thanks to Jon and Shirley Steele for another brilliant event that will certainly be one to remember.
Massive congratulations to all the Lonely Goats who have completed the Hardmoors marathon series this year and congratulations to Bradd, Anna, Abbie and Sean who have completed the marathon series as well as the ultra series.
Time to rest up for the start of next year’s Hardmoors event on January 7.
Results:
Chris Jackson – 8:41:35 Anna Jebson – 8:55:50 Sean Higgins 8:56:50 Bradd Braddock – 8:58:20 Jason McCoubrey – 9:10:31 Alexia Morgan – 9:21:11 Abbie Morgan – 9:21:15
***
Alexia and Abbie Morgan headed to East Park on Saturday for the weekly parkrun. After being another cold and frosty night there was plenty of ice on the course, meaning a steady run to ensure there were no injuries.
Results:
Alexia Morgan – 29:31 Abbie Morgan – 29:34
