Hurtwood 50km (II) 2021

December 5th 2021

31 miles trail

The Hurtwood 50km race takes place (normally annually) in the Surrey hills - a lovely wooded AONB not far from London.

This is the first ultramarathon I've repeated, and I do think that knowing the course stood me quite well. Last time I went at an extremely leisurely pace up to the top of Leith Hill (7 miles in), had a bit of a sprint around the middle loop, then somewhat died in the last four miles back to the start.

This time, determined to beat my previous time and also pace it better, I started off a little faster than I'm comfortable with, swept up by the other runners along Dorking high street (which must have been quite a sight at 09:30 on a Sunday morning!). However, I sensibly walked the uphills, jogging if they were gradual and making it to the first checkpoint well ahead of April's time.

The next section was a lump 6 miles, with a mixture of wooded trails, and field paths. This passed relatively quickly as there were lots of twists and turns and interesting buildings to look at - plus my audiobook was coming to an exciting end! Checkpoint 2 (&3) came at the half marathon point, and I didn't stop for long as I knew it was less than 5 miles until I'd be back there. I'd aimed to get there before anyone had finished the "loop", but two men did fly by as I neared the checkpoint, d'oh!

The middle section is the only loop of the largely out-and-back course. It starts with an extended downhill, but lots of this was on tarmac and my hips / pelvic floor started to complain, desperate for some softness! Thankfully an extremely muddy section followed. Knowing it would be reasonably muddy I'd opted for my speedcrosses which have huge lugs, and I happily flew past a load of people on this slightly uphill section, who were busy slithering around on what I would call light trail shoes. I generally found the course (apart from the first and last 1.5 miles through the town) very pleasant underfoot, and my mini gaiters kept my feet dry, warm and mud-free, unlike the majority of my competitors.

Now, this section seemed a little different to last time, with a long "flat" southerly stretch which was incredibly boring. This was probably the worst I felt all race, so I did a bit of panic-fuelling and desperately hoped my newly-begun audiobook would pick up (which thankfully it did). Ultimately I was relieved to get back to the checkpoint and made sure I took on some fuel (2x jam sandwiches and a third of a banana) and filled my bottles. The next stretch included a lot of climbing and I was keen to be prepared.

As expected the next stretch was lumpy, but I felt much revived and plodded on, with a fair few runners on the course in view. I wasn't really overtaking as I was still having to stride out the steepest sections, but equally I wasn't being overtaken either. At the final checkpoint, with 8 miles to go and the final climb, I refilled (probably too much with 7 miles of mostly downhill to go, lesson learned!) and took on some much needed salt. I managed to jog fairly easily the rest of the climb, overtaking a few as I went which surprised me. After the summit I felt like I was flying, with soft slightly-downhill terrain and my HR back in Z1. The 3-mile descent whizzed by and I found I could run on at a comfortable pace, taking in slight uphill sections easily. 

Having gone past many people on Leith Hill I saw no-one for 4 miles, until 1.5 miles from the end. Here a steep set of stairs marked the last mini-climb. Resorting to walking, I made my way past five or so more runners, including some ladies, before sprinting through the town (which seemed endless and bone-shattering in my shoes!) to the sports hall finish. 

Overall I am pleased with this effort. I was 23 minutes faster than last time but in a much more sustainable fashion. Aside from the last 1.5 miles, I feel I could certainly have carried on, and I didn't reach the lows of previous races. Possibly this means I was too conservative in the beginning, but I just don't know as it's a fine line!

I do feel I carried far too much, but the mandatory kit list seemed reasonably extensive for a race of this length. My hands were a little cold at times so the gloves were on and off, but otherwise I think I was well-kitted and thankfully in the correct trainers. I was also lucky to have accommodation with a friend just 2 minutes walk from the start line, meaning no waiting around and the ability to start happy, warm and stress-free, which definitely helped. Thank you to James, Amy and Hattie the cat.

Times
Total time:  05:33:11

Standings
Gender category:          6/73          8%

Age category                6/35        17%
Overall category:        57/237      24%