50 miles through Wendover Woods on the edge of winter. There were highs, lows, climbs, and slides through the day and night. And as the woods echoed with whoops and cow bells as we crossed the line at mile 50 we knew this was something special.
The event
Wendover Woods 50 is organised by Centurion Running near Aylesbury, South East England. Entry is open to 390 runners, costs £85. Mandatory kit and qualifications applies. The course takes a winding loop through the woods tracks, gravel paths, and a few wider gravel roads. With the woods themselves being only a few km across, the route is very convoluted, and you must pass tantalisingly close to a check point before turning and taking in another few ks in a loop. The laps are 10 miles (~16km) and you do 5 laps.
Lets go!
I made the journey from Jersey to England Bus – plane – train – tube – train – bus, there I am in the Premier Inn in Tring eating Morrisons deli pasta having missed the restaurant. My gear is laid out on the floor, drop bag packed with gels, crisps, some extra things I probably wont remotely need! Even sunglasses! (well you never know). One last check then an early night for a 0630 start.
A quick breakfast then I took the short walk to the start line at Trig Point Field. We were extremely luck with the weather, the first dry day for a while so while the ground would be a bit muddy in places at least it wouldn’t be raining! The morning was crisp and clear, everyone excitedly milling through registration and kit check. Then coffee.
At 0920 we made our way to the start line a short distance into the woods, everyone hoping about to keep warm in the single figure temperature. At 0930 we were off! As usual the start was quicker than planned, with all the adrenaline and hype we all set off at more like 10k pace than 80k pace! I will try to recall the ins and outs of the course however the mind plays tricks on you during this sort of thing.
The route took us along a wide gravel road, past the Wendover woods cafe nice and easy then into a down hill before turning left onto the first climb on single track. By then the field had spread out a bit so there wasn’t too much bottle necking. I was sticking to the rule; walk the ups, run the flats and the downs. So power hike to the top and straight into a run on the flat forest section, nicely muddy too. Then a loop taking in all sides of a cross roads then winding through the trees to a nice soft descent, then a steep slippy grass slope to the Field, mind not to fall into the electric fence! Onward up and around to the next steep climb passing within 10 meters of the aid station but still having 3k to get there! The climb takes you under the treetop traverse at the adventure centre, this area was filled with shouts as people launched onto the blying fox. Then down hill to the aid station at about half way, this descent was lovely and sweeping, but just a little too sketchy to go all out on. After the aid station an up hill led to a long descent on wide track, this was killer on the final laps. This 2nd half contained the hardest climbs. The Snake wrapped itself over the hillside to double you back and around another loop. Gnarking Around was by far the steepest, hands were used on this one, but it marked a significant point, once this was finished you could almost taste the check point coffee. The final climb though was called Railing in the Years, it had hand rails! This really was the last obstacle in the loop, after this it was flat track then into the finishing field.
Strategy
My goal for this race was to finish without breaking myself, because I still have a 100k race later in November. I was initially hoping for under 10 hours, but finding the course deceptively climby I took a more realistic 11 hour stance. I followed the rule; walk the ups, run the flats and the downs. This is always hard to stick to early on with all the excitement, and there were a couple of rolling sections that I ran the first time round, but had to walk on the later laps. For nutrition, I had SIS gels isotonic, and electrolyte. Water, coke, coffee, and savoury things from the check points. I found I went for sweet things, then real food then back to the sweets as the race progressed.
I took a very aggressive check point strategy, I would enter each time with bottles ready to fill, get a quick coke or coffee, a little bit from the table, take a gel as I walked through the tent, get the drop bag get 2 more gels out, dump rubbish and get out. At no point did I sit down, because I knew that if I did I would stiffen up! With this no faff approach I left faster runners behind and easily saved an hour overall.
Progression through the race
The first lap was the fastest by far, I was running with a group so probably went a bit too hard there. Number 2 I slowed down but was still feeling fresh. On lap 3 I feeling pretty low but after this it was over half way done! By lap 4 it was getting dark and this was my lowest point actually, and for just the briefest moment the idea of stopping at 4 laps played on my mind. But from nowhere I found this massive store of energy for the final lap, it was really surprising to feel suddenly fresher and motivated! The last lap felt almost like a glory lap, by this point I knew the land marks and was ticking them off in my head as I went, for the last time. Finally I arrived at Railing in the Years the last climb, the feeling was indescribably!
Thanks to Centurion Running for putting on a great race! Massive well done to everyone who finished!
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