The Beauty of Ultra Running

This is a bit of a random post but just feel like blogging at the moment as I'm really excited about my running and other peoples! I realise it is a bit long so I have split it into sections so you can pick and choose what you want to read. By the end you'll probably realise I follow ultra running like I follow football :-)

I realise that for every runner I mention below there is another 10 I have missed out and another 50 I haven't heard of. That's the beauty of ultrarunning. To quote Scott Jurek from his Post race Badwater interview where he won "There are always unknowns out there".  (2 mins 20 seconds into video).

1. Scottish Ultra Running
2. UTMB 2011 - Bragg vs Clark
3  Testing Colquhoun
4. Problems with ultra races
5. Potential Solution?
6. Things gradually falling into place
7. The most important thing

1. Scottish Ultra running

Been reading blogs, blogs and more blogs. A post that leaped out was John Kynaston's blog about his WHW run with his running buddies. If you look at the picture of who was running and that's not even including Sharon Law and Debbie Martin-Consani who were also present (who as you can read in JKs blog will be representing Scotland in March). I could spend all day going through the achievements and potential of this lot and its great to see them all training together. This is a group of Scotland's best ultra runners and to me is the Scottish equivalent of the American revolution going on in Boulder at the moment. Check out this video from Irunfar with 4 of the top ultrarunners in the US right now! I realise the Scots group in the picture is not all of Scotland's best eg Jeans, Brown, Harvie, Bradley, Cairns, Hart and Stewart to name a few. But It's exciting times for Scottish ultra running with more and more people actually treating ultras as races which can only be good for the sport, and hey maybe one or more of them may even give Jez Bragg a run for his money.

2. UTMB 2011 - Bragg vs Clark

Speaking of which, another thing which is going to be exciting this year is the battle of the Brits at UTMB. Some might think Jez will come first Brit, afterall he won UTMB this year and has been tearing up the British ultra running scene for quite a few years now. Don't get me wrong he has every chance. But I think at UTMB this year, with both being fit, I think he may have met his match in Nick Clark . A Brit now living in America. Now I could be wrong but I don't think these 2 have ever raced each other before in an ultra, certainly not recently to my recollection. Nick Clark came 4th last year in Western States where Killian Journet just pipped him to the line in 16.06. If it was the previous year when Bragg ran and a lot of other years he would have finished first with that time.  That's the beauty of ultra running though, it all depends on who turns up on the day.

3. Testing Colquhoun

This is especially the case for women's ultra running in Scotland where Lucy Colquhoun has dominated most ultra races she has run. How cool would it be if she was really tested against the likes of Lizzy Hawker, Krissy Mohel, Kami Semik, Tracey Garnaux, Jamie Donaldson amongst a whole host of others.

4. Problems with ultra races

What's preventing this happening? Geoff Roes hit the spot in his blog about a UTMB equivalent in the US where he highlights there is no equivalent in the US or really anywhere else in the world to my knowledge. The nearest is Western States but due to having restricted numbers a lot of the top runners don't get in. I know the top 10 men and women from last years race and there are certain races where the winners get entry. But take Jez Bragg for instance. He ran it in 2009 and I was told he was going to go for the win in 2010. But then of course he got injured and now has to go over to the US and win or come second in one the qualifying races  or go in the ballot like everyone else.  Going back and forth to the US ain't cheap! The thing is even the UTMB is going to a ballot now and that could quite easily get to the same point as the American ultras. The other American ultras have lotterys for everyone with no qualifying races and some let previous winners in or if you've ran it so many times.

There is a whole host of other reasons preventing the best coming to together which there is no solution. For example think of 100 meter events - they are only held on track and that's it. Ultras come in all forms - road, trails, flat, hilly, hot, cold, high, low and of course length. There are just so many more variables in ultras and no course is the same. Apart from races round the track eg 24, 48 hour races or longer. Then of course people have different strengths and weaknesses. Some are good on roads, some hills etc. I could go on but I realise I do go on and on and on ha.

5. Potential Solution?

My solution would be to have specific races for the best to race each other and rotate the locations around the world to keep things interesting.  I mean how cool would it be to see Journet, Krupicka, Jurek, Roes, Heras, Bragg, Clark, Jeans, Semick, Kimball, Colquhoun, Hawker, Garnaux, Donaldson, Frost and the rest going hell for leather up the West Highland Way! This would mean that people who want to race can all get together and people who want to finish can do so and can race if they want in all the other races. The reason why I think other people who do not want to race should still have an event. Is because they are covering long distances and anything can happen. Weather, out of food or drink, get injured.  For this reason checkpoints and/or support are important. Not forgetting that covering long distances is a massive achievement. At the moment I am in that position as I just want to complete distances. I see "races" as a safe way to run long distances. Also you get to share the experience with like mind people who love to be outdoors.

The one thing which I think needs to happen in order to bring the best together is bringing money to the sport. Geoff Roes highlighted this in another one of his posts. Look at the North Face 50 San Fransisco results. The depth of that field was ridiculous and there was a good 30 people going for the win in the mens race and the womens race was very competitive too. Why? try $10,000 prize money! It worked for a 50 miler, why not a 100 miler? Who won the nf50? Many apart from experts and folk in Europe would have never heard of him - Miguel Heras. Most in America would have put there money on Mackey or Roes. When I use to think of ultra running in Europe I would just think Killian - but there are loads of unknowns - but this guy is definitely known now. Why was he there? Would he have come over if not for the money? strength of the field? who knows.  It seems a bit unfair that just because ultrarunning isn't really TV friendly it shouldn't be recognised as a proper sport.

6. Things gradually falling into place

This is starting to get fixed though in Britain with the Highland Fling being named as the Scottish and UK ultra running championships which is a step in the right direction especially since the Fling doesn't have a limit. We just need the equivalent for 100 mile events, give or take 5 miles.

7. The most important thing

How people who run 100 meters get paid to run where as people who run 100 miles have to pay to run just doesn't make sense to me. But at the end of the day to even think about contemplate running 100 milers you have to love what you do (which is the most important thing) or else mentally you couldn't do it.

I realise this is a similar post to Geoff's about having a 'Championship race'. This is just saying 'Yo Geoff, I agree!' :-)

I'll finish there, ha!

Just my 2 pence

The Master plan

For 2011 I am planning a big year, that touch wood having no injuries, is going to be bigger and better than 2010. A challenge in itself, but one I am relishing. 2010 was about times, experiences and just having fun with my running. For 2011 I am going for experiences and fun but dropping the times to a certain extent. This is because my aim for next year is more of a stepping stone to 2012 which is to qualify for the West Highland Way race. I don’t just want to qualify, I want to get more experience in running shorter ultras which will give me the confidence, that all going well, I can go to the start line in Milngavie in 2012 as ready and prepared as I possibly can - mentally and physically.  The reason I said I am dropping times to a certain extent is because obviously I need to finish below the cut offs in the races to qualify. This doesn't mean I will be pacing myself to finish just within the cut offs, that to me would be madness. But whatever time I do finish in and if it’s under the cut offs will in turn be all I could want and more.

I have spent a lot of time going through all the potential races and have spent a lot of my runs thinking through what I want to do and now it seems to be all coming together. Next year I will have 4 main races with other races thrown in, in the other months. I have worked out some of my other races but I am waiting to see what the club championship races are first.  So my first main race will be the Highland Fling. I have already had a couple of training runs on this, in the last few months and will probably end up spending many more weekends on the run up to the Fling in April.

In June, Stephen from my club and myself are going to do the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon. After the Fling I’ll be spending time refreshing my navigating skills in the mountains. There are 5 classes in LAMM, and we are down for the “easiest one”, D class as neither of us have done something like this before. 

Next will be Clyde Stride. I enjoyed this race so much this year and will always be special as it was my first ultra. Once you have done a race once, it’s always tempting to go for a better time next time. I think by then I should be nearer to 7 hours but we’ll wait and see.

I spent long and hard trying to find a race for later in the year. I wanted to do 100k/60ish miles to give me a confidence booster ahead of WHW training. But I couldn’t find a race apart from the CCC in Mount Blanc in late August. As much as I would love to do this race, I feel it’s a big step up in terms of the ascent gain and is a long way to travel when I am still a rookie in ultra land. One day though! But then the Hardmoors 60 was created which is the last 60 miles of the Hardmoors 110. Ideal! In the run up to this I am planning to do a weekend recky of the course.

I realise that I might not even get into WHW race 2012 as its filling up quicker and getting more popular. I have thought about this and really the only other options I can think of in the UK are Hardmoors 110 or Lakeland 100. Obviously I am just going by what I have read and the results I have seen. But to me these seem like post graduate 100 milers, as the winning times/peoples times generally are a lot longer than WHW. At the same time I could probably be talked into trying one! I am not trying to say the WHW race is easy. Any race of which covers these kind of distances are going to be difficult. It’s just the other two look even harder! So if I didn’t get in, I would probably apply for the CCC or find something else and try the WHW the year after.

So there’s the Masterplan and coincidently here is my favourite Oasis track:

No Revolution this year so WHW analysis/WS Preview instead

I was planning on doing Red moss revolution hill race tonight but due to illness I’ve been kept on the sidelines no running – no nothing. I have been looking forward to this race more than most. It may seem a bit random, as there are loads of hill races and this is probably seen as one of the easier ones with 200 metres of ascent. But the reason I was looking forward to it is because I can see the hill the race uses from my desk in work! No exaggeration – I look up from my computer, out the window and there it is! The hill has been calling me ever since I moved desks a few months ago. Oh well maybe next year!

So 2 races I’ve been looking forward to reading about are arguably the 2 most prestigious ultras in Scotland and the USA. Last weekend it was the West Highland Way race in bonnie Scotland. In the history of the race, I don’t think there has ever been a more deserving winner. Ritchie Cunningham came 3rd last year recording the 4th fastest time ever. He just happened to be racing 2 other people that day who recorded the 2nd and 3rd fastest time ever. Meaning that had it been any other year apart from the year Jez Bragg set the record he would have won. So this year, in hot conditions, he goes and records the 6th fastest time ever and this time he comes first.

So what about the competition for Cunningham this year? The answer is some serious quality! When I looked at the results I didn’t even recognise second place Mark Godale. But after a quick google search (Assuming I’ve got the right Mark Godale!) turns out this is one seriously good American runner. Marathon PB of 2.38 and he completed the Burning River 100 miler in 16 hours 16 minutes. George Cairns, an experienced WHWer, came 3rd. Meanwhile race leader up until the 50 mile mark, Craig Stewart who also won the Highland Fling 53 mile race earlier this year was 4th. No doubt he’ll be back as if Ritchie and George’s results show experience seems to count for a lot as both of them have improved throughout the years and with his other ultra results it shows he is capable.

In the women’s race there was another incredible feet reached and like the men a highly competitive race. Kate Jenkins won the race for a 6th time. Second place was Donna Utakis who won the race in 2008. Third place was Jamie Aarons who as far as I can see is a newbie on WHW race scene but was 4th women in the Highland fling. Then you’ve got last year’s winner Sharon Law who came 4th. Other amazing stories include George Reid and Keith Hughes who set off 25 hours before the start from Fort William. They ran to Rowerdenan, slept for a bit, got a lift to the start and then completed the WHW race. Covering 168 miles in 53 hours! Then there is Jim Drummond who ran the race for the 12th time, equalling the most number of times anyone has run the race, joining Adrian Stott and Alan Kay. So all in all, a high class field and really for anyone to complete the course, never mind in those conditions is just awesome and I’m enjoying reading all the reports. But like all ultras, the real winners are the ones that have the guts to be on that start line in the first place; whether they finish or not.

Now on to Western states 100 mile endurance run which takes place this weekend in the Sierra Nevada hills in California. Some might say other ultras in America are bigger but for me it looks like WS has the edge. Especially when you see this year’s line up! It could go anyway but the 3 names that stand out, and could potentially get under 16 hours and maybe even Scott Jurek’s record are Killian Journet, Anton Krupicka and Geoff Roes. The most exciting thing about these 3, is that this is the first time any of them have raced each other and first time any of them have done WS. Here is a brief background to each:

Geoff Roes – Lives in the Alaskan mountains. Geoff has won every 100 miler race he has entered. This year he has done 2, 50 milers. One called the American River 50 coming first in 5 hours 50 minutes and the other being the Bear Mountain 50 miler which according to his blog he just ran ‘steady’ to finish first in 7 hours. - blog is Fumbling towards endurance (on my blogs I follow section).

Anton Krupicka – Lives in Boulder, Colorado so altitude shouldn’t be a problem. Anton has won every ultra race he has finished. He has won the Leadville 100 miler twice and DNF (did not finish) once. This year he did the Miwok 100k in just over 8 hours which is the 2nd fastest time ever recorded on that course. - blog is Riding the Wind (on my blogs I follow section).

Killian Journet – I think lives in Spain – he is Spanish! He has won the UTMB (Ultra trail mount blanc 100) for the last 2 years which is the biggest ultra event in Europe. Has a blog which can be found from Anton's blog but I can't read Spannish, d'oh!

All these guys live and breathe the mountains and with the randomness that comes with ultras, anyone could take this. These guys are obviously the favourites but there are others of course who could win it. Hal Koener has won Western States the last 2 years and there are always people I have never heard of. So his experience of the course may pay off. Also the leaders could easily burn each other out! Britain’s representative/contender would have been Jez Bragg who was 3rd last year. But unfortunately he is just back from injury so is having to pass up on his place and focus on UTMB instead.

The women's race is set to be just as exciting with a number of women capable of breaking 20 hours and many 19 hours. Nikki Kimball has won the race 3 times and came 4th last year and is probably the favourite as her PB at WS is 18.12. Tracey Garneau has never ran WS before but is an experienced ultra runner, running 6 hours 43 minutes in the American River 50 miler earlier this year. Anita Ortiz won the race last year in a time of 18.24. Beverly Anderson-Abbs was second last year and has a PB on the course of 19.16. Then of course there are loads of others who could be up and around the podium positions depending on how everyone's race goes.

I can’t wait to see how it pans out!