Ridgeway Race Report; Start to CP1

Ivinghoe beacon; 88 miles to go, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

12.00 wave and the whistle blew. I was expecting the speech, the health and safety but no, off we went on the whistle. A great chance to talk to Helly D, Claire, Robby Elson and to meet COlin, fresh off the back of lakeland 100. The sun was out and after a bit of kit tightening and adjustment, we were on our way.

We needed to motor as CP1 was a 2 hour cut off. Rather tight but can you imagine being shut out after that time! We made our way up the Chilterns as a 3. Me and Jezza up front and Dave behind, his usual chatty self, gleaning hints and tips from all manner of runners. We were off at sub-9s which was about right but kept having to haul ourselves in from going faster as up onto the Chilterns, this was all uphill through gorgeous scenery.

We hit CP1 and what we should have done was organised the crew with what we wanted, a mistake that we would not make again. 6 minutes at CP1 was long enough although Jezza spent a lot of time in his bag. And off we went......