Next week 26th/27th/28th Sept sees the first ever 110 mile 5700 metre Hardmoors race. WHW family members
Shirley C, Murdo, Dave Rogers, Tomo Thompson, Mark Barnes (i hope I havent forgotten anyone) will be running the race and Mike Mason will be marshalling near Whitby Abbey (Dracula) in his red gillet (tmb finisher) remember guys if you need direction leaving whitby, just ask Mike.Phil Robertson (run the hills) will be marshalling at Scarborough.
So everyone wish them the best, it will be a very tough race with some tight cut off times and hard terrain.

Oh yeh, of course, I forgot to mention our man Jez will be there awarding prizes on the Sunday

Good luck all, and good man Jon for putting this together.

if my directions take you to Blanefield...I apologise in advance

Cheers Brian cheers Mike for all your help Cheers Dario for the advice

Good luck to all the WHW family involved in this. Any updates?

Hear, hear, Ian.

Spoke to Tomo today but not heard from him thus far. Good luck to all, though and to Jon for making the event happen.

DW

Tomo forced out by injury.
http://thepathlesstravelled.typepad.com/the_path_less_travelled/2008/09/down-and-out.html

Any more updates? I heard Murdo was through 90 miles at about 3pm this afternoon but haven't heard anything else.

1st - Dietrich 17h 29
2nd - Leach 2000hrs
Murdo 20:44 (posn TBC)
Mark Barnes last man but inside cut-offs.

(info from Mike Mason at Whitby CP)
all detail / posn's to be confirmes

there are, as ever, teething problems in the first yr of a race, but this really is a hard course over outstanding scenery both moorland and coastal.
Jon and his team have tried the hardest with limited resources to put on a class ultra. hopefully loads more runners will grasp the nettle in 2009

I believe Murdo finished 3rd in 27.34. Sounds like a tough one right enough

"Sounds like a tough one right enough" ~ you're right about that, Ian! One of the Americans who completed it described it as "brutal"; another as "awesome". I'd go along with those descriptions.

Star of the WHW Family participants was undoubtedly the Clan Colquhoun Ladies Team representative (Shirley this time, not Lucy) who came in 1st Lady & 4th overall in a time of 30:36. Mark Barnes suddenly came back to life from the dead to pull up 5 places in the last 10 miles and finish 13th in 33:51. I came in 3rd, and 1st oap / "senior" in 27:35. Tomo, sadly, had to pull up with a crocked ankle. Given what was in store over the moors for the next 20 miles in darkness, followed by another 60 miles, I'm sure he made the correct decision.

I'll now try to multi-task recovery with some kind of write-up.

Meanwhile, well done and many thanks to WHW Family member Jon Steele and his team for all the hard work in organising this event and laying on a new challenge.

Murdo

Marshalls View

What a great race! I was just glad to be a Marshall. Seeing the runners come up the 199 steps alongside the churchyard in Whitby really cheered me up! Fantastic weather...beautiful views, lovely Fish and Chips, little shops selling Jet jewellery....oh I digress. Yes the event was 'awesome....' I have to say that as we had 3 of our US cousins taking part. One had done Badwater and Rob Apple had now completed I think it was 530 Ultras!

Everyone commented on the 'relentless hardness' of the race. The cold of the first night was matched by the heat of the Saturday. The Physios at Whitby were great. Students from Hull University who needed to clock hours of actual physio work for their courses. Everyone who had the PT commented on how good it was.

Images of the event:

Whitby Abbey and the scenic beauty of the Youth Hostel Check Point

Escorting people up the steps and pointing out to one of the US runners all the 'culture and history' around him that obviously he was not used to

A text from Tomo as we drove down to Whitby in the early hours of Saturday morning that he was on way home after a bad ankle strain

Seeing the first 3 runners come up the steps - Martin, Ian and Murdo....fantastic

Being asked, and asking if people wanted their photos snapped together on the steps as I waited for the runners...should have charged for it

Chatting to Jon's Mum and Dad..no Jon your Mum is not 'mad as a hatter' and your dad was great. He told me about Captain Cook being born here and I said also Leo Blair (Tony's Dad)..at which he said...'we don't talk about him in our house..:-))

Julien's (Julien Pansiott) legs - everyone commented on the scratches (he had got lost and run through brambles)

Saying to Mandy Vine that 'I have to kiss you on Dario's instructions' and seeing her flinch when she heard Dario's name mentioned

Kissing Shirley ..because she was there

Not kissing any of the male runners even though they wanted me to....

Murdo recounting the story of his puking up after eating Jezz's recommendation of a nice 'weetabix and banana!'

Everyone else commenting about not being able to miss 'Murdo's vomit' many hours later when they came through

Mark with a strained knee soldiering on through gritted teeth

Mark recounting the story of vomiting.....inspecting it (why the hell would you do that) and finding a Tramadol painkiller he had taken 4 hours before still sitting untouched with the name clearly visible on it)

Jon keeping me posted with his and Mark's position as they descended into Whitby when all I wanted to do was finish my Fish and Chips

Me saying to Jon..'I think I will run it next year, ' before Murdo, Mark and Julien told me it was similar in hardness to the TMB...bastards.....ok I may Marshall next year..:-))

Views of the bay at Ravenscar and the lovely hotel

My wife Gill driving Steve's (one of Jon's mates and the guy who supported Mark from Ravenscar) - US type Nissan pick-up...well I only drive automatics! (She loved it)

The Filey Centre - seeing Murdo run in, taking his stockings off (was that a flash of suspender), Murdo falling asleep on the massage table...classic!

Jezz arriving for the prizegiving

The US lady (Susan Donnelly) talking about US ultras and mentioning that Rob Apple the other runner had completed his 530th (?) ultra

Vangelis TMB theme and Gladiator music
The presentation of the sword to the winner
Mark showing me the new Petzl ultra headtorch....like a car headlamp on your head!

You can imagine the West Highland Way race starting off many years ago when Dario was just middle aged, and how that event has grown in stature. The Hardmoors is definitely one that will grow like that and needs to. So bloody well done Jon and all those involved in the planning and preparation...it really was AWESOME!!

It was my first time in Whitby and to be fair this part of the world. Gill and I have decided we need to see more of it.

As Dave Waterman and I are beginning to learn..yes there are some nice places and people north of Potters Bar!

Sounds like the beginning of a real classic.

I'm just sorry I had a family wedding that weekend (honest!).

It's my local (I'm only 3 miles from the start), so it would be rude not to...

Well done to all involved, including the organisers for pulling it off.

Might give the route a recce next year as part of WHW training, with a view to competing (in the loosest sense of the word) in next year's race.

Thank you for all the kind words guys!!
It was hell of a weekend, thanks to all the hardwork of the marshalls, the competitors (especially the whw clan) and all who were involved. Mike Mason behaved himself at Whitby (wearing the red gillet) he proved to be a very valuable asset(giving people directions)no seriously thanks Mike and Gill. Thanks to you all.
Thanks once again Dario

Jon it was a brilliant event - tough but really well worth doing. I would urge others to give it a go and see some of our fantastic countryside here in North Yorkshire. Thanks so much for creating some lifelong memories.

Thank you Shirley
As ever you brought some beauty (apart from the countryside) to the event. Well done on 4th place and 1st lady!! er sorry I got your name wrong, a couple of hours sleep since Thursday night, kind of threw me a bit
look forward to seeing you at the whw

check out murdos ugly mug
http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/ClevelandWay/article.asp?PageId=3&ArticleId=17

You should see the one Mike Mason took when I was asleep during my massage @ the end.

Murdo

I was lucky enough to be marshalling at the Scarborough CP from 7pm. Unfortunately I missed Murdo who had flown through an hour or so before I started but I was delighted to check Shirley in who I have to say is an inspiration. To be so happy and bright after 98 miles is amazing! A great performance too.

Well done to all the runners who finished this gruelling event. I'd love to have a go at it one year. And well done to Jon for organising what will no doubt be an over-subscribed event in the near future.

Cheers.

As one of the Americans referenced above, I concur on the challenge and beauty of this course, not to mention the exceptional organization by Jon and his crew. The course was indeed extremely difficult, made even more so by the tricky navigation. I've done many mountain ultras (in the American West and elsewhere), and no other ultra held as much route-finding difficulty as this one.

You would do yourself a great favor by entering this race at your earliest opportunity. I believe that it's one of those "experience of a lifetime" races!

Greg Pressler

Great to see your post here, Greg; I've just been reading your blog report on Hardmoors race. Excellent!

Hope you are safely back in the flat lands ~ no dangerous cliffs to contend with in the darkness, just canals 'n waterways to fall into I guess.

Murdo

Canal swimming <=> directly proportional to <=> number of Heineken bottles consumed.

I'm no waterway engineer, but I believe that the above calculations are within 94% accuracy ( /- 3.7%) for both native Dutchmen and expats alike.

Murdo, safely back in Holland. Congrats on a superlative race effort!

Murdo asked me to post his race report here. Make yourself a drink and enjoy ... it's a great read

Murdo's Hardmoor 100 report

John

Murdo - what a fab report!
My report is waiting for photos but won't compare to yours anyway. Thanks for bringing back the memories and stirring those feelings of pain and pride.
By the way: I was never only half an hour behind you apart from at the start!!! However, maybe I helped in some small way to make you run a superb time!

Thanks Shirley. (Not Zack)

I nearly did a double-take when I saw the post seemed to be from Zack. "Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!"

Zack is indeed in real life a Yorkshire Terrier, and he has the good fortune to be a pampered member of Mike Mason's family. Mike said that if I didn't shift my a*se in the race he would set Zack on me to nip my legs (and just my legs if I was lucky). It's true I was told you were half an hour behind me @ Runswick Bay; so I had the double nightmare of you hot on my heels, and Mike's dog Zack being let loose to hunt me down. The fear and images persisted for the next 12 hours or whatever.

In the event I later learned that Zack could not be trusted outwith his Essx environment, so he was parked in a ***** canine hotel down Sarf, while Mike & Gill slummed it @ the Whitby ***** checkpoint.

All fond (?) memories now. (And Zack is safely back home as well.)

I'll certainly look forward to seeing your report, plus pictures!

Murdo