Endure24 6#in14

This was our first attempt at a 24 hour race and what a memorable weekend it was. Endure 24 is an event where runners solo or a team complete as many 5 mile laps of a trail as possible in 24 hours.  We arrived on the Friday afternoon to scope out the site of the event and to meet Kelvin to find our pitch for our tents we were very surprised to find that hundreds of tests where set up and the event was in full swing. Kelvin had found a nice spot near the edge of the course. We all went off for a wander and a look at the setup, we had a look at the food tent had a coffee and some very nice cake!.

Friday night we had few beers and sat around talking about the next morning’s parkrun at Newbury and the plans for our teams over the next 24 hours.

 

Sleeping under the canvas for the first time in years was fun but nothing is quite like your own bed. Woke up early to pop over to Newbury for the parkrun. This was the second time we had done it I was looking to beat my time on this course. James and Kelvin took it easy but I had a fairly decent run and did a time of 22:43 for the record James did a 24:30.

After an exciting parkrun we headed back for the main event of the day. The rest of the team turned up over the course of the morning and set up camp. 10am was when the rain came and we had thunder and lightning it hammered it down! We all had a meeting about what the day had in store and the order of the team that we had randomly picked a few weeks before. We did have a 8 man team but our best runner Andy Carter had to pull out sadly because of injury.

Frimley Lodgers

James Ball

Rich Jackson

Alison Lennaghan

Kelvin Gower

Duncan Ball

Simon Harvey

Richard Boese

We also had 2^nd team that competed and camped with us

Frimley Lodgers 2

David Lenaghan

Amanda Critchell

Dave Peddle

Denis Devery

Brian Holden

David Mcintosh

Louise Parker

Louise Mcintosh

The rain stopped for the start of the race and you could feel the excitement in the air and there was a really buzz around the place. James was running the opening leg and we all went over to see him at start line and see off the hundreds of other competitors. The team had bets on how long the lap would take James, kelvin insisted that the course was fairly flat so when James came back he was a bit upset about how tough and how muddy it was  he completed his lap in 39:40 handing over to Rich Jackson for the second lap. Rich is the most competitive member of the team and was looking to go for a fast lap more importantly he wanted to go quicker than James his time of 38:58 was impressive despite the fact that the rain had hammered it down again and the course was deteriorating into a mud bath.

The team settled in to a routine of changeovers and my first lap came very quickly I set off at 4pm as I waited for my change over with kelvin I was feeling very excited. I set off through the start area and passed our campsite giving our team a shout and a wave. The course started on a nice tarmac path up hill to a stony path for the first 1km. When you got to the top of the hill the course descended to very muddy path and was undulating as I passed the 3km mark the track got muddier and hillier by 4km you headed though a very tough densely wooded section very tight and rutted and very tricky you certainly had to be very careful and watch your footing. By 5km I could see what James was talking about it was very technical track and the mud and hills where not helping lots of twists and turns and it was very off road. Around the 5km mark the organizers had put a drink stop at a log cabin you could also pick up an energy bar if you wanted very cool. After this you headed up another hill that was turning very muddy even after only 5 hours. At 6.5km you headed downhill and this was quite steep and once you negotiated that you had a flat tarmac section down towards the start area and the tented village. Once you got to the field the course snaked around the solo tents up and down a few times before the start/finish straight and my change over to Simon. Quite a lap and conditions were not the best and the course was no way flat James was right!!

Over the course of the next few hours we sat around the tents chatting and talking tactics. The team board was being updated with details on who was running next and our individual times for each of our laps. Early evening saw the heavens open again it tipped it down. The tented village was a bog but it was worth the walk for the coffee and cake. As my second lap came around I was looking forward to bearing the conditions I set off at 8:30 and carried a torch it was just getting to twilight so I could see where I could going. Also knew what the course now so I was not as tricky but the mud

was a different matter it was getting very difficult to get up some of the hilly sections. My 2^nd lap was 39:57 was a bit quicker than my first so I was pleased. 

Back at the camp in the dark the team was upbeat despite the conditions with tails of epic laps and the deteriorating course. Andy who was supposed to have been running in the team but was unable to because of an injury was starting up the BBQ for the team that was much appreciated I can tell you.

We were now getting towards the hardcore part of the race the night section! We had plans for every swap over making sure people had a jacket and drink and when it was raining a towel. So I walked over to get the handover from Kelvin ready for my 2am night lap. I was pretty wired for it and set off into the night looking forward to the challenge. The course was well lit with glow sticks and taped off so you never got lost. The hardest parts were the downhill sections very treacherous and you really had to watch you didn’t turn your ankle. My 3^rd lap was a very slow 51 mins but given how hard it felt I was not too disappointed. 

When I got back to camp I got my head down for a few hours was thinking in my head that I only had 1 lap left but that would depend on how quick the rest of the team was.. I was woken by Alison for my 4^th lap I was setting off at 7:30 am. We had a dry night and the track had turned from slushy mud to more sticky mud I am still not sure what’s worse. I decided that I was going to enjoy this lap and I set off talking to a few fellow runners and encouraging people that were really struggling. The final couple of km I was really enjoying the atmosphere and as I crossed the line to hand over to Simon I felt exhausted but satisfied that I done my part for the team.

Over the next few hours the team completed their lap, James, Rich, Alison and Kelvin completed a 5^th lap!! It looked like I may do a 5^th lap but in the end it was 15 mins to short. As Kelvin come in we decided to run the last 100 meters as a team. 

What an amazing end to a brilliant and epic weekend it really did feel like we have accomplished something as a team.Endure24 is a great event and as the team packed up on Sunday we all reflected on what an experience it was. I’m sure it took us all a week to wash away the mud.

For the record James did the best lap of 38:42 ran 5 laps.