The event basically involves setting up a challenging cross country 10km course next to a large campsite. People turn up at the campsite and set up their tents. They then run round and round the 10km course as many times as possible in 24 hours. Some mad fools compete as individuals (yep, just walking / running round the course continuously for 24 hours with the occasional stop for a chat), some compete as pairs (in a continuous relay), and some in teams of 5 or 8 (also a continuous relay). The winning person / team in each category is the one that has completed the most laps of the course when the 24 hours is up.
A few running club mates had done Thunder Run in 2014 and raved about it so when I was asked to put my name down provisionally to be part of a 5 man team in 2015 I said, "yes, why not?" What I missed at the time was that Thunder Run was the same weekend as Tramlines, which didn't go down too well at home. I also hadn't really thought through that signing up would mean running between 60km and 70km on rough ground in 24 hours with very little sleep. A challenge that I actually warmed to the closer I got to the event (perhaps as an antidote to my new low-mileage training plan?)
Most of the team got down to the campsite on Friday evening and set up camp in the driving rain. I was out for a couple of beers and a bbq on Friday at a friend's birthday party but got into bed reasonably early (whilst Deb went out partying at tramlines). I picked up a little hire van on Saturday morning, slung a mattress and a kit bag in the back of it, packed a picnic of easily digestible food and snacks, and set off to Walton-on-Trent at about 9.30am.
I arrived at the campsite at about 11am in glorious sunshine and was really pleased that the team had nabbed a really good spot. We were close to the start / finish line, near to the flushing toilets, and not too far from the showers. We also had a great view of the last killer hill. All of the talk was about the state of the course after the torrential rain. The prognosis wasn't good - with reports from 'scouts' of trecherous slippery mud covering some ofthe rougher sections of the course.
An hour later Alex Plant set off on our first lap. Our plan for our 5 man team (named in honour of Steve Way #dontbesh*t) was to run 2 single laps each for the first 8 hours or so - and then all do a double lap overnight to give everyone a chance of a few hours of consecutive sleep. We would then all do one or two more laps the next morning depending on how much time we had got left and how much we had in our legs.
Alex P finished the first 10km lap in around 38:43 doing his best to avoid racing hard given that this was in effect the first lap of at least six or seven. Alex's lap was still the 43rd fastest of the day though (and 11,300 laps were run during the 24 hours!) Alex confirmed that the conditions were slippery - so I dusted down my cross country spikes in preparation for my first lap (due around 14:10). Alex Collings was next out - running just under 42 minutes and coming back with one side completely covered in mud. Ben took the baton from Alex C - and put a decent 43:10 effort in.
My plan for all of the laps was to run at around marathon effort level - about 144bpm. I figured that this would prevent me overdoing the early laps and help me recover more quickly in the 2 hours 45 minutes I expected to get between most of my laps.
I took the baton from Ben and started off across the smooth grass repeating 'smooth and easy' in my head. I dinked up the first incline, through the forest trails, and reached the end of the first mile feeling good. I looked at my heart rate at this point: 153bpm. Hmmm, supposed to be marathon effort not half marathon effort!
I focused on trying to calm everything down but the race environment and the constant over-taking were too exhilarating so I just rolled with it. The twisting and turning through the forest trails was a good laugh, and although I slipped about a bit on the mud, my spikes held pretty firm. Before I knew it, I was at the end of the first lap: 38:04. I handed over to Tom A who knocked out a solid 50 minute lap - putting us in second place 4 minutes behind the leaders (after one complete cycle of runners).
I tried to relax for the next couple of hours - lying down for a bit in my new home in the back of the hire van, eating a bit of pasta, and staying hydrated. Alex P went out again after Tom, running what turned out to be our fastest lap of the 24 hours: 37:35 (15th overall and fastest of any 5 x male team). My next lap, and the team's 9th, was pretty close though: 37:39 (16th overall and 2nd of any 5 x male team). The ground was drying out quickly now - and the course was holding up well to the bombardment of 470 laps per hour! I handed over to Tom again, who picked up the pace to knock out a 49 minute lap. After the second cycle of runners we were still in second, but 8 minutes behind. It was already becoming clear that we were up against it if we wanted the win.
We now moved into an evening of double-runs. Alex was first out - running the 12 mile double-lap bang on target in the evening sunshine: 39:24 and 40:30 (1:19:54). We were briefly neck-and-neck with the winning team at this point. Alex C and Ben both ran their 'doubles' well within target time as the darkness descended and the headtorches came out .
We were already way ahead of our team timetable at this point and this meant lots of recalculations to see when people would need to wake up to do their 'middle of the night' lap! A little admin table in the club tent became the centre of timetable control - and Ben and I did the sums to keep people informed about their schedule. Claire S and Sarah L from the club were running as a female pair (the nutters) - and the lap times and notes they put on the whiteboard grew increasingly impressive as they progressed to an easy win. Sarah and Claire chalked up 110km each - with average laps of under an hour. They even finished a couple of hours early knowing that nobody could catch them!.
I headed out on my double lap at about 11:20pm [click for strava video!] with headtorch on full power. I have never enjoyed a run so much - I ran hard and steady for the 12 miles, threw caution to the wind, and had a proper race with a couple of runners that resisted being overtaken. I nearly turned my ankle a few times on the rough ground and the caution of others made it difficult to overtake - but I still managed to sustain a decent pace. It turned out that one of the decent runners I caught during my second lap was Simon from the leading team - meaning that I completed my double with the team in first place by nearly a minute. My times were 40:06 and 39:49 (1:19:55)
I managed to get a bit of sleep after the run although it was fitful at best given the adrenaline and surrounding noise. I was back up again and on the start line for my 5th lap at 4:50am - with the team 13 minutes behind. I was starting to feel a bit tired now - and some of my team mates were suffering with cramp. It was becoming increasingly clear that we were going to need to swap things around a bit if we were to have any chance of catching the leaders. So, I knew I was probably looking at 3 or perhaps 4 more laps. I ran pretty conservatively as I weighed up the prospect of another 20 or 30k - clocking 40:01. I also passed Simon from the leading team again - although he was struggling on the 2nd of a double lap that turned out to be his final lap of the event. The good news though was that we were now 7 minutes ahead.
The rest of the morning passed in a sleep-deprived, leg shredding blur. We fell behind again by about 13 minutes with around 5 hours to go and despite heriocs from everyone (particularly Alex P who chalked up 8 laps with an average time of 40 minutes) the gap stayed at about 15 minutes until the last lap when, knowing we were going to get second, Tom A went out easy to complete his 60km. I ended up abandoning my attempt to run my last two laps (6 and 7) back-to-back as my stomach rebelled against the extreme break in routine, and my legs begged for a rest. Alex P did the same straight afterwards - using my lap as a break in his double.
We finished 2nd (of 28) 5 x male teams. running 330km between the 5 of us in just over 24 hours - averaging around 45 minutes for each 10km. Alex ran 8 laps in an average time of just over 40 minutes - I ran 7 laps averaging 40:21. I am obviously pleased that Alex is my partner for the Gruesome Twosome in October (#fancyingourchances). As always at these things, we waited around for too long to collect our trophies as the rain came down hard. We then drove exhausted back up to Sheffield.
TR24 is a great event. A real carnival atmosphere with lots of friendly runners drinking, eating, camping,running a lot, and generally being merry. I guess we didn't get the full benefit of the socialising at the event because we were in 'competitive' mode (some runners were drinking a few beers between each lap!) Would I do it again? Never say never. But not if it clashes with Tramlines.
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