The aftermath

Soon enough I'd caught my breath and shared celebrations with fellow racers and crew.

Catching up with Barry it turned out that Liam had had another day of mechanical woes and with Bruce (in 2nd) already home his deadline was rapidly approaching. As the minutes ticked by Bruce was looking more and more hopeful and we were more and more pensive.

As the ten minute mark slid by things were looking unpleasantly tense and as if a sprint to the line would decide it. When I'd finished there was a marshall on the track pointing out the arrow to the turn, but I noticed they weren't there any more; a missed turn could be fatal. I headed down to the track and started wandering up to intercept him and point him to the turn.

Almost straight away Liam careered into view, I shouted out the turn and that he had three minutes (it was 7, but didn't want him taking a break ;-) ).

He made the turn in a squeal of brakes and flying gravel and raced to the line, stopping the clock with 6 minutes to spare - perfectly judged with no wasted effort :-)

Much chatting followed, prizes were given out and we wandered down to Robin Hood Bay to dip our toes (or go for a swim) in the sea.

A major packing exercise ensued as Liam and I were both travelling back in our car. This meant cramming all our bags, two kayaks and two bikes onto and into the car. We all squashed in and were soon on the way home.

About halfway home there was a minor panic as a bang came from the back of the car and we all visions of bikes tumbling off the car. Stopping on the hard shoulder we discovered it was actually a tyre on my bike exploding as it was hanging too close to the exhaust; a pest, but not an immediate problem and once we were moving the burning rubber smell was blown away.

There was then the task of getting everything cleaned, packed away and returned to its rightful owner and the race was consigned to memories and the forlorn race bib hanging in the garage.

It was a truly brilliant race across some marvellous terrain. Getting to the end was a real achievement and Liam winning it was just great. Hopefully plans will stay in place and James will run it again in 2011 (there are apparently other plans for 2010). I will definitely be back to race it again; there are plenty of challenges left in it and it's worth doing just for the journey through some of England's finest areas.

All that's left is to sell on the kayak as I won't use it enough to justify keeping it, so if anyone wants an almost-new Prijon seayak and all associated kit, drop me a line.

That's all folks - hopefully I'll be back in just short of two years in the run up to the next one.

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Stage 17

Pulling out of transition for the final 25km to the finish the road immediately went straight up an absurdly steep climb. For the first time I hopped off on a road section and walked up, which so close to the end was annoying. Overtaking someone still slogging away justified the choice though :-)

The road wound along the edge of a valley in a seemingly endless set of ups and downs, but finally it descended to the river and it was a quick ride along to Ruswarp for a final steep climb to join the disused railway line which formed the compulsory route to the finish.

This was an almighty slog as seemed to head uphill for ever and straight into a headwind. Finally the sea loomed into view and the trail descended and looped around the headland.

The run to the finish was only interrupted by a bit of fiddling through Robin Hood's Bay village to re-find the railway which helpfully vanishes for a while. Back on track a big arrow came into view and I turned off into the finish field and across the line, stopping the clock after 30 hours and 49 minutes of racing.

There were loads of people to cheer us in and a medal was presented by the organiser all of which made the finish special.

There was then just the anxious wait for Liam.

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Stage 16

Out of transition we turned onto the Bridle way up to the Cleveland Hills to start the 30km off road leg and immediately had a long tough carry up the painfully steep path. Finally I made it onto rideable terrain and set off along the old railway tracks across the broad heathland. The track rolled up and down gentle hills but progress was swift as the surface was lovely grit. There was a fearsome wind blowing though which when the track wound to the South really slowed things.

A little road section took us from Farndale Moor to Glaisdale Moor where there was some terrific boggy, bumpy, rocky tracks to negotiate. Once again the semi-slick tyres proved superb and I flew through the terrain picking off a number of places.

The track then opened out into more wide gravel/stone tracks to blast along which coincided with reaching the peak of the Moor. From a peak of around 370m it was a long fast downhill for nearly 10km to transition in Glaisdale at about 100m.

The distance flew by and I was soon at the final transition for a quick snack before the final leg to the coast.
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Stage 15

Heading out onto the final run stage the legs were feeling pretty good and the morning was brightening so everything felt cheery. Just as well as the stage would be a tough one at around 13km with climbs over Live Moor, Carlton Moor, Cringle Moor, and Broughton Bank through the Wainstones as the path followed the Cleveland Way across the Moors (rather than the tempting forestry tracks that paralleled us along the nice flat ground at the foot of the hills).

I soon caught up with Ben Joynson who I'd been trading places with throughout and before long familiar faces were being passed and passing me. The weather had finally given us a break and it was a beautiful clear, but windy, day as we ascended along the ridge line at the top of Clay Bank, with the lower Moors set out to our left and the flat tops of the high Moors we were climbing to our right. The terrain had changed again and we were now in rolling hills of heather and pine forests.

The trail was very up and down but the gradients were gentle and the ground good so the miles ticked past at a fast rate. Ben started having knee trouble on the descents and I was feeling strong so we parted company as I ploughed on. By the end I'd put over an hour on him so it really slowed him up as we'd been neck and neck to there.

We passed a gliding club up on the tops which must be quite a place to fly from as it's perched right up on the top of the plateau and very exposed.

The ups and downs came and went and soon I was on the final climb up to the Wainstones, a jumble of huge rocks on the peak. It was then just a quick descent down the good trails to the car park for transition to the bike for the penultimate leg to Glaisdale.

The run had taken over two hours but had flown by - I was feeling good, the sun was shining and the end now felt reachable so everything was right with the world as I donned bike kit for the last time.

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Stage 14

It wasn't a pleasant sound when the alarm went off to get me to the 6:30 start slot. A quick tin of rice pudding soon had me feeling better though and I staggered downstairs to grab the bike and dump some kit with dad before he returned to bed for a lay-in.

The gentle cycle across town to the start loosened the legs up and soon enough I was powering away on the final of this adventure.

We'd recce'd the route the night before which meant there were no navigation worries so I could settle back and enjoy the early-morning scenery.

The route turned out to be easier than we'd expected from the recce on which it felt like some of the hills would be real killers and the 16 km were bashed out easily in 45 minutes. I survived the absurdly steep downhill hairpins and even negotiated the camera-mans position at a fast cattle grid with incident.

Cruising into transition I surprised everyone by coming in along the side road I'd picked up at the last turning rather than clambering over the narrow footbridge like most others (good idea looking at the course beforehand!). Once support crew were called back from their station out on the road where they were to helpfully flag me in I was quickly changed and out on foot (thanks to the guy who reminded me to remove my helmet as I shot off down the road with it on my first attempt at leaving!) for the final run leg over Carlton Bank.
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Stage 13

After just a quick pause for a drink and food it was straight back on the bike for the road leg to Northallerton. Liam hadn't come past yet so his crew were at the transition too to give some encouragement.

There was a tough steep climb for the first few miles away from transition which took us up on to the open Moorland of the final national park we'd visit; the North Yorkshire Moors. The terrain had again changed and was now wide open heather covered moorland dotted with forests.

Once up on the moor the road became an almost straight undulating ribbon of smooth tarmac. The road was descending all the way to Catterick which gave an absolutely brilliant 15-20km which was dispatched at great speed as I improvised a tuck position with elbows on the bars. I think there was about 10 minutes where I barely dropped below 30 mph without much effort at all.

A quick wiggle through Catterick had me on the road to Northallerton with just a slight detour when I missed an unmarked turn. Sticking religiously to the rules I added a few kms to the distance to avoid being on a B road for too long. In Catterick we went past a market complete with burger bars whose was a bit like torture as I cruised past sucking in yet another gel.

Just outside Catterick Liam came past rapidly followed by Anthony Emmet both looking like they were on a real mission.

The road turned South to Northallerton straight into a viciously strong headwind which made the last leg a real slog into town.

The finish was at the leisure centre and in a surprising bit of foresight I'd checked the road names I needed. This turned out to be a really good move as the two teams in front cruised past the turn that looked like a dead end and I leapfrogged them to the finish, crossing the line after another couple of hours giving a total time of just over 7 hours.

Liam was still loitering so he really hadn't got there much before me which was great. He'd lost a bit of time after an incident saw his front wheel part company, but was still firmly in the lead.

A quick chat and we headed off to B&Bs, me cycling the few miles through town to cool the legs down. I had a room all to myself tonight in a B&B just over the road from mum & dad and Liam which made the logistics easier and I soon settled for a very long shower to try and remove the huge amounts of peat and mud I'd brought back with me.

Later on me and Liam and his crew drove out along the first stage of the morning to check the route (hilly!) and had a lovely huge meal at the pub where transition would be. A quick briefing and we were ready for the final day.

Starts were an hour earlier so with a 6:30 slot it was an early night for me.
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