Report of the Classic Quarter Lizard point to Lands end.

I have returned to running in the last few months after a four year gap (initially due to a slipped disc and latterly due to general lethargy!) In March I did the Endurance life coastal 1/2 marathon at Cape Cornwall and saw the adverts for the 44 miler in June. I didn't think much about it again until a couple of weeks ago on a Carn Wednesday training night, when I saw Chris wearing his "I dunnit teeshirt."  I spoke to Chris about it and also to Kensa  (who told me that she still hadn't totally recovered from last years exertion). Rather impetuously I went home, applied online and started collecting sponsors for the Cornish Hospice Care Charity. Erm........ two main stumbling blocks.

First of all I hadn't done a run of longer than 8 miles in the previous 2 months and secondly I didn't have any trail shoes! I bought a lovely pair of Lafuma Sky race trail shoes online, 4 days before the race and frantically tried to break them in by wearing them at work all day for the remaining days before the race!

Lined up at 6-30 am on the morning of the race with the aim of "taking it steady" ; walking all the steep uphills and running the flats and downhills. A few miles later, running over Predannack Downs I came across a bunch of runners who had slowed almost to a standstill due to the presence of some rather scary looking, long horned highland cattle blocking the path. I became the hero of the day, when with a cry of "don't worry I'm a Vet !" I chased the cows out of the way of the runners enabling the race to continue!

There were checkpoints with food and water every 5 or 6 miles and my strategy was to drink as much as I could at each and then carry one water bottle with me till the next station sipping along the way. I  felt fine until I had done about 15 miles, when I realised that my lovely new trail shoes were rubbing blisters on the soles of both feet. A quick mobile phone call to my wife resulted in her very kindly bringing me a pair of road shoes to Praa sands for me to change into. I ran on feeling much more comfortable and felt great until I had covered about 19 miles, when I think I hit the proverbial wall; feeling light headed, a bit disorientated and almost a bit panicky. This passed a couple of miles later at the next checkpoint at Perranuthnoe where I stuffed my face with malt loaf , bananas and sweets before carrying on with the run. One slight problem here -  in my "giddy" state, I had forgotten to "dib" my electronic tag at the checkpoint. I realised this a couple of miles later and worried that I was going to be disqualified until a nice lady at the next checkpoint put my mind at rest.

I hit the marathon distance at Penzance in just under 6 hours which sounds quite slow but bear in mind all the steep uphills on the coastal path! The worst bit was running from Marazion to Mousehole along the roads. The field had spread out by now and I ran this boring stretch on my own. I felt a sense of relief when I hit the coastal path again leaving Mousehole and despite having run nearly 30 miles, I still felt quite strong without too much leg stiffness or pain. Approaching the next checkpoint at Lamorna though, things took a turn for the worse and I slowed down quite considerably. Blisters were playing havoc with my feet and I stubbed an already painful toe climbing over one of the many boulders on the path down into the cove. I hobbled down into Lamorna and spent some time there applying Compeeds to my feet before restarting my journey.

For the next couple of miles the path was more like an assault course and involved more scrambling over large boulders than running. When I arrived at the last feed and drink station at Porthcurno I was pretty exhausted with very sore quads and blistered feet. Despite my GPS watch stating that I had done 40 miles, a lady dishing out drinks was adamant that there were still another 7 miles to go. I managed to keep going, doing a sort of "lope" somewhere between a run and a walk. The downhills were now more painful than the uphills due to my sore quads and the blisters were becoming nearly unbearable. I persevered and felt amazingly uplifted when the Lands End Hotel came into view. I felt extremely emotional and ( to my surprise) burst into tears!  With the finishing tape and my young children in sight I ran the last 400 yards at 6 and a 1/2 minute mile pace, sprinting towards the line! 12 hours and 37 seconds after starting out I had reached my destination! My GPS said 45.5 miles- not 47!  I would definitely do it again next year, but would wear well broken in shoes and do some long runs in training first! If anyone would like to sponsor me, my justgiving page is www.justgiving.com/paulriley1     

Paul Riley       

This year's Classic Quarter Ultra Marathon, 44 miles of coast path with over 2000m height gain and loss, from Lizard Point to Land's End took place on Saturday 28th June. Not fancying running the whole lot as an individual I enlisted 2 friends from Mullion plus my brother-in law-Darren to make up a team of four. Unfortunately 1 of the team had to withdraw but I was able to enlist the help of Suzy Bosustow from Cornwall AC (is this allowed or am I about to be excommunicated?) to take her place.

Saturday morning dawned overcast but the rain from the previous night had relented. Registration was at 6am at Lizard point with the race starting at 6.30. Darren took the first leg as he was familiar with this bit of coastline and put in a credible effort coming in to the first checkpoint 4 minutes down on the team from the Navy.

The second leg from Gunwalloe to Perranuthnoe was run by Mark Burch from Mullion, a keen unattached runner(I'll try and recruit him) who also has 2 Land's End to John O'Groats bike rides to his credit. He quickly caught the Navy and briefly enjoyed the lead before being overtaken by another team plus Pete Roper who went on to win the overall individual race. As the sun started to shine Mark B reached the second check point 8 minutes down on the leading team but with Suzy set to run the flattest leg through Marazion, Penzance and on to Lamorna, team confidence was high that we were still in with a shout. She didn't disappoint, not only pulling in the 8 minute deficit but arriving at Lamorna with a 5 minute lead over the next team.

So all that was left was the 11 mile leg round to Land's End. Being in front was a novel experience for me never having been there before and made pace judgement quite difficult especially in view of the terrain. Having passed the last water station at Porthcurno and ignoring the poster claiming only 7 miles to go( I'm sure it was only about 4), I pushed on over the last major climb out of Porthgwara and enjoyed the gentler run in to Land's End to win the team competition by 6 minutes in a time of 6 hours 45 minutes.

Overall a very enjoyable day with good organisation and thanks to an excellent team effort, a splendid result.

Mark Dorrell