Cross the UK Ultra-Marathon Men

Every time I see the footage of great events like the Marathon De Sables and Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc and think I wonder…….  I wonder if I’d ever be stupid enough to put myself through the training and the preparation for something like that (never mind completing it)?  Well it may not be the MDS or UTMB but at 55 miles the Hardmoors 55 is a significant challenge to take on. The event is a 55 mile Ultramarathon running from Helmsley to Guisborough.

As the event website states “The 55 mile race will take competitors through the North York Moors and the Cleveland Hills in quite possibly winter conditions. Do not underestimate this race!! There will be options for supported and unsupported runners. The race contains over 2000metres of ascent and has a time limit of 16 hours.”

What’s not to like?  Now you may be thinking it sounds awful and what could be more bloody stupid than that?  I’ll tell you what, letting ‘Fat Mick’ badger you until you cave in and sign up too.  Nice one Stoney!

I’ve completed two trail marathons now running the Lakeland Trails Coniston Marathon a few years back and the Dalby Forest Marathon a month ago so (which I did an extra mile on to run 27.5 miles so technically already an ultra).  Stoney has completed his longest run on the first day of our OMM with a 23 miles slog through the Dales so between us we know we have the legs for some distance but a 55 miler is an all together different beast!

Start of day one on the OMM Lite Yorkshire Dales

A brief section of road outside of Aysgarth on the OMM Lite Yorkshire Dales

Deciding our strategy on the start of day two on the OMM Lite Yorkshire Dales

OMM Lite Finish Day One in the Yorkshire Dales

We’ll be providing some regular updates including a comprehensive list of Stoney’s injuries en route.  We currently stand at chaffed toe, hernia and broken rib.  I feel this is an escalation so by calculations I’ll be putting my extensive first aid training too use in the very near future, after first taking pictures of said injuries!

We’re following the 16 week training plan to help us build up beyond marathon distance to the 55 miles so hopefully we’ll be fit to go in March and by that point we should (fingers crossed) have endured the worst the weather can throw at us in our training.