The Gower Ultra Back 34
The left foot was still sore at the start of the event so my self-imposed challenge was to get through to the finish without having to drop out. True to form, there was heavy rain as I left the overnight accommodation and by the time of the start the ambient temperature had dropped so it was feeling cold. I showed the race director two pairs of shoes at the registration: Brooks Ravenna 8 and the Saucony Peregrine 8. He immediately told me the Ravenna were not suitable as the route was almost entirely trail. The Peregrine 8 turned out to be fine though when running through the soft sand dunes, the sand found its way in through the fabric and filled particularly the left shoe despite wearing gaters. This was slightly awkward because it was inconvenient to stop and empty the sand. Also, when running along one of the beaches I had to run through a pool of water, so the sand from the sand dunes clung to the inside of the shoe and the foot started to notice the lack of space. I say run but I really mean jog/walk. I was mindful of the sore left foot so I took it really easy (as far as possible). The steepness of some of the climbs up the mountainside was quite formidable, particularly both the soft sand climbs and the stairways (up and down). There were also plenty of rock strewn and embedded rock sections.
Orienteering is not something I have any experience of. We were given a map at the start. There were four places on the route where we had to clip the map, after locating the clip point. There were also several check points. Locating these was for me quite chancy. Some of the other participants had downloaded a GPS route on their mobile phone so had a better awareness of exactly where they were. Nonetheless, I noticed several participants who had gone off in the wrong direction and had needed to retrace their steps. I really only located the third clip point by chance. I was by myself at that time and happened to speak to someone who I thought was another participant but was actually a backup supporter. He pointed out the clip point on the top of the mountain but with no obvious way to get to it. I then saw two people approaching (not part of the event) and asked if they knew how I might get to the clip point. They were very helpful and gave me instructions but I was soon lost and about to retrace my steps when four other participants appeared. We deliberated for a while as the clip point was nowhere in view and the path seemed to be going down rather up. Anyway, we did manage to find the clip point and then I jog/walked onto the next checkpoint. I thought it was nearer than it was so it seemed a long way but the hot coffee and snacks were absolutely great. I was soon feeling a lot better and set off to the next check point.
At the next check point I needed to have a short pause to get the sand out of my left shoe. I had also been looking forward to another cup of coffee so I was there for about a quarter of an hour, still in quite good time to get to the next check point. Unfortunately, all the other participants had left the checkpoint by the time I was ready start again. Within about ten minutes I was lost and by myself and the time was moving on. I therefore phoned the race director who recognised where I was (descending on a rocky path, seeming to move away from the coast). He gave me instructions which put my mind at rest because I knew now that I was on the right track and going the right way. This sense of well being didn’t last too long though as it was beginning to get dark and I had reached what seemed to be an impassably dense forested area. Following another phone call, I was just about to retrace my steps and potentially get picked up and driven to the finish with a DNF result. At that moment another participant appeared out of the darkness, John who was doing the 50 mile event and had previous experience of the route. We crossed the stream on our right and continued to head south up the side of a steep mountain. By now it was completely dark. The destination was Southgate. We eventually located a Wales Coastal Path sign to Southgate but the cut off time was getting very close. We decided to take the direct route up the mountain. This was so steep that I had to lay flat against the mountain and crawl for about ten metres with my whole body touching the ground. Once we reached the top John declared that he was completely lost. We looked at the compass and realised we couldn’t go south because it was a precipitous drop. John thought we should be going south east so we explored looking for a way round the precipitous drop. Eventually we found a path and it took us to the checkpoint at Southgate. Unfortunately, we were 15 minutes late and were instructed that we had to discontinue even though there were only 5 more miles to the finish and plenty of time before the 10.30pm deadline. Still, that was it; we were out DNF. But nevertheless, a great scenic route with wonderful coves and bays, sandy beaches, soft sand dunes and even warm weather at times. I met some interesting people during the event, the left foot managed ok. Ultimately disappointing both because of the injured foot and also the DNF but definitely an enjoyable day out.
Gower Ultra Bach 6th October