John “Bosco” Ridge turned 60 this year, and what better way to celebrate than doing his first ultra trail marathon!
I’m still not sure how he managed to talk me into it; both my calves went at 28 miles when I attempted this in 2022.
On Saturday, September 21, John, Mark Williamson, Peter Hardy-Cork and I headed off early to Guisborough Rugby Club for the start of the annual Hardmoors 60 Ultra Trail Marathon, which follows the Cleveland Way from Guisborough to Filey. It covers about 62.5 miles of countryside and coastal paths (which we somehow turned into 64.5 miles! Like it wasn’t long enough already!).
It was an early 5.30am start for me and John, kindly taxied to Guisborough by John’s wife Jane, who was heading off after to do Guisborough parkrun. I’m beginning to think she got the better deal, and, as I write this on Monday morning, my legs would agree. Mark and Pete set off even earlier, about 4.30am, heading to Filey in the car so they could catch one of two competitors’ coaches to Guisborough.
We arrived in Guisborough in good time and good spirits despite the weather deciding it would change from the forecast of sun and white cloud all day to fog and damp drizzle. After checking in and getting our trackers fitted, we found out the race would be delayed and we would now start at 8.15am as one of the coaches had broken down. Thankfully, Mark and Pete were on the working coach.
Along with about 300 other runners, we headed out of Guisborough Rugby Club in jovial spirits towards our first checkpoint at High Cliff Nab, only two miles in but a nice steep ascent to get you started, and a very British queue as 300 people tried to get up a very narrow path. We headed off toward Saltburn and checkpoint 2 at Saltburn bandstand (roughly 10 miles) through what we assumed was stunning countryside, not that we could see much of it in the fog.
Running through the woods about half a mile out from the checkpoint, a runner in front of us took a tumble and went down heavily. Thankfully, his wrist wasn’t broken and he was determined to carry on. So, on we headed to the checkpoint. 10 miles in, all going well, only 52 miles (ish) of the Cleveland Way coastal path to go.
Checkpoint 3 at Runswick Bay was our next stop, about 21 miles in and our first drop bag of additional snacks. Not that that was stopping Mark – he seemed to have an endless supply of sandwiches in his Sport Billy bag. As I suspected, the steps started to play havoc with my calves, and I may have used some language I am not particularly proud of. Thankfully I had these three loons with me to keep me going. Although John did confess when we finished (spoiler alert) that he thought I was going to drop out at 20 miles.
We got to Runswick Bay around 1.15pm, picked up our drop bags, and started refuelling – chocolate milk and peanut butter sandwiches really are lifesavers.
Next stop, Sandsend Car Park, checkpoint 4, 26 miles, apparently! It’s not – it’s 28 miles and where I dropped out last time. Who measures these things? We headed off to our next destination, Ravenscar and checkpoint 6, where our second drop bags were waiting for us. We missed the turning, Mark didn’t, but thought it would be funny to let us run past it. He was wrong to do so – you’ll find his body on the beach.
But there was a promise of a cup of tea from our support crew of Clair Williamson and Wendy Taylor. “We are just outside the car park,” they happily lied. Two miles later (might have slightly exaggerated that, but it felt like it!) and with a cup of tea in hand, Wendy stuck a heat pad to the centre of my back. Clair told me I looked like death and wondered whether I should carry on – just the confidence boost I needed!
Off we headed towards checkpoint 5 at Hornblower Car Park (32 miles – probably isn’t), which would see us head through Whitby and past Mark’s favourite shop. John at last got to wear his sunglasses, which he had been carrying religiously on his head for 30 miles. Needless to say, the sun lasted all of 30 seconds, and he eventually gave up and put them in his bag.
Heading up the 199 steps to Whitby Abbey is always enjoyable, less so when you have 30 miles in your legs, but passers-by offering words of encouragement always helps – until they realise you have 34 miles left and suggest you may be completely mad. I didn’t disagree.
We reached Hornblower Car Park at 4.30pm. A quick fluid refill and we were off again towards Robin Hood’s Bay, where another cup of tea awaited us. But there was more – they had chips. Cold chips. “Well, you don’t have to have them!” “Shut up and give me carbs!” – best chips ever…
As we reached Ravenscar just after 7pm, we already knew the head torches would need to come out for the rest of the way.
We headed out into the damp, foggy dark to make our way to checkpoint 7 at Scarborough (53 miles). First one to fall gets the first round – you guessed it, I’m getting the first round. Just before Scarborough we were met by Clair and Wendy again, who had been joined by Liz Hardy-Cork and a surprise visit from Justine Lowe and Glyn Harker.
On we headed to the bright lights of Scarborough, running where we could before heading up to the checkpoint at Holbeck Car Park, dodging the odd staggering drinker, where Clair, Wendy and Liz were waiting with more tea.
A quick turnaround and we were off – the final leg, a last push on to checkpoint 8 and Filey, our destination. Very tough and slow going now as our 18-hour cut-off loomed. Eventually, we passed the Brigg and got to the final set of steps leading into Filey and civilisation. With six minutes to spare, we made it to the finish line. A total of 64.5 miles, 8,255ft elevation gain, and nearly 10,000 calories burned.
Next birthday, John – let’s just go to the pub…
Martin Middleton-Frankton
