A few more images from our splendid adventure paddling around the Isle of Wight, a few weeks back.
Archive for March 2012
Once more around the Island…once more 1 comment
Beachy Head 4 comments
This photo is a bit of a con. We were all walking/ staggering up the hill, until we spied a camera being pointed at us, seconds before. Obviously we started running, right away!
This was about 19 miles into a 34 mile trail race, and we were ascending Beachy Head, the summit of the tallest chalk cliffs in Britain. Sadly, Beachy Head is most famous/ infamous for something else entirely…at one point, I found myself running past small crosses and bunches of flowers arrayed along the cliff edge. Despite these sobering memorials it is a truly spectacular spot, with a classically striped red-and-white lighthouse at its base. I didn’t stop for pictures, but one competitor did; photo and report.
When I saw the results a few days after the ultra-marathon, I was extremely surprised to find that I’d come 16th out of 62. Not bad for a novice/ occasional runner on the wrong side side of 40, I reckon!
I ran the ultra-marathon to raise funds for the Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team Ashburton, a charity of personal interest to me. If you wish to support them in their great work, please consider following this link; the fundraising will remain live for a few more days…
www.everyclick.com/ultramarathon
All good.
Anyway, the following morning I eased my sore limbs with a short swim in a chilly and swelly sea. Here’s a picture of my wife, discovering that the sea is wet and moves around when you are not looking…
Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series – Sussex 5 comments
Yesterday afternoon, I experienced what was undoubtedly one of the weirdest/ most surreal moments of my entire life. I approached the finish line of a trail marathon, after nearly five hours of hill running. Given that I’ve only ever run a single normal road marathon before in my life, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. Crowds cheered me on, shouting such positive things as, “Nearly there now!”. Ten metres before the finish line, I reached a little sign which read ‘Ultra’, directing me off to the left. I followed this, and it led me away from the finish line and the crowds. Within minutes, I was totally on my own. I still had eight miles left to run…
This ultra-marathon looked rather brutal on paper; 34 miles and 5500 feet of ascent, on a blazing hot day. Surprisingly however, it was an almost entirely positive and enjoyable experience. It’s worth noting this, given that my previous road marathon was an unremittingly miserable and painful grind. The event organisation and culture helped a great deal; Endurancelife’s races are impressively professional and have a lovely ‘we’re all in it together’ atmosphere amongst the competitors; I shared the hills with over 1000 other runners, taking on distances from ’10k’ (actually 13k!) to ‘Ultra’. The scenery was simply mindblowing, providing easy distraction from your legs. The course traversed the undulating white cliffs of the ‘Seven Sisters’ and the amazing Cuckmere estuary. Beachy Head is Britain’s tallest chalk cliff, a literally blinding sight in yesterday’s bright sunshine. Impressive as Beachy Head is, I admittedly enjoyed it slightly less when forced to ascend it for a second time, in the final mile of the ultra-marathon. I really must get back soon with a kayak and paddle/ photograph this coast, it is something special. On the few occasions when the scenery alone wasn’t enough to keep me going, I dwelled instead upon happy memories of a great friend. All good.
After six hours and 21 minutes, I crossed the line. I’m told this is a credible/ creditable finish time, but I’m just pleased to have done it and enjoyed it. Part of my reason for running this event was to raise funds for Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team Ashburton, a charity of personal interest to me. I’d be extremely grateful if you were to click on this link and consider donating…
www.everyclick.com/ultramarathon
Many thanks,
Mark Rainsley.
Wrekin crud Leave a comment
After a few muddy hours spent mountain-biking the Shropshire hills, I could barely see a thing through my specs. But my grin spread from ear to ear. Many thanks to my friend Si for introducing me to the charms of the Wrekin and the other hills thereabouts.
I haven’t been able to squeeze much biking in recently, or indeed paddling; the reason is that I’m still spending most of my free time running around the local hills trying to get myself ready for a big run. I was supposed to have subjected myself to a coastal ultramarathon in Devon last month, but illness lead to me wimping out of that event. Instead, I’m entered for the next event in the series, which happens to be on the Sussex coast, next weekend. Whilst running has dominated what little free time I’ve had recently, despite this I still haven’t managed to run anything like far enough or regularly enough to be properly prepared. Oh well, I’ll just turn up next Saturday and give it a try; what could go wrong?
Rough Water Handling by Doug Cooper Leave a comment
My comments on Pesda Press’s latest publication, originally posted on UKRGB…
I’ve just flicked through it, in the bath – obviously not the most thorough reviewing technique, but it’s suited me up to now.
I like this book more than its predecessor, which wasn’t bad at all – in fact, I like this book a lot. It does what it’s supposed to do, which is explain/ suggest various strategies for coping with wind/ surf/ rocks etc. It stays away from whacky stuff (crossbows and suchlike) and isn’t afraid to explore a seemingly simple concept in depth. Hence, it takes the same somewhat eyewateringly in-depth approach of its predecessor (anyone here excited by the idea of 30+ pages on strategies for turning in wind, largely composed of small-text bullet points?) but the saving grace is that the content is pretty high quality…if you read it selectively and focus on particular skills/ strategies, there is a lot in here to work with. I’ve certainly taken a few ideas away just from my bath-time, and I really do need to re-think my use of skegs. The other big improvement on the prior book is the inclusion of numerous short pieces by various experts. I read all of these, they’re all pretty interesting/ useful.
Limitations? Very few really, as long as you understand that this is a ‘manual’ rather than something you’d sit down and read. The surfing section is slightly weird; the point is made firmly and repeatedly that you shouldn’t lean back whilst surfing, but almost every accompanying photo shows the author leaning back whilst surfing. Admittedly two of them are included to show ‘how not’ to surf, but there are many others. The photos of a paddler in a Delphin are much more helpful, showing some really good dynamic body positioning. The final sections (on physical/ psychological factors) use lots of made-up coaching language (‘attentional focus’ ‘arousal management’ ‘neutral self-talk’ etc) to make simple concepts sound impressive, but this is forgiveable as they are an engaging and useful read, finally breaking away from the bullet point structure.
http://www.pesdapress.com/product_info.php?ref=9&products_id=49&affiliate_banner_id=9
Once more around the Island… 3 comments
I try to find time to paddle around the Isle of Wight every year; it’s a great adventure, especially if compressed into one weekend. The variety of challenges and experiences is amazing; in 100km, you have to tackle very strong tides, cliffed out areas, large tide races, busy shipping and (at this time of year) quite a lot of night paddling.
I’d had last weekend pencilled in for quite a while, on account of the strong tides predicted. As the weekend finally drew near, it became clear that there was actually going to be great weather…yippee! Four of us launched from Keyhaven at 11 pm on Friday night. 41 hours later, we arrived back at Keyhaven, having spent about 13.5 hours paddling, of which about 8 were at night. We didn’t suffer last year’s Arctic weather or soul-destroying headwinds; it was all rather pleasant and civilised, in fact.
Corfe Leave a comment
Tonight I ran home from work in warm sunshine, wearing shorts and a t-shirt; spring has sprung. When I reached my village however, I found that the castle was holding back a bank of thick fog. ‘Corfe Castle’ is so-named as a ‘corfe’ is a gap in hills. The castle is perched on a hillock in the gap, between higher hills on either side. The last few hundred metres of my run were through chilly pea-soup…
Some day soon I’ll take a photo with an actual camera, not a phone. Maybe it’ll even be of some kayaking.
