Friday, 18 June 2021

Tsunami Ocean Trails Ultra 60k

19th June 2021


The Tsumani Ocean Trails series of races is organised by Pure Trail Running (www.PureTrail.uk), a South Devon based outfit set up by two experienced trail/ultra runners, and focusing on trail running and events on Dartmoor and around the South-West.  The Tsunami series comprises events over 75 miles, 37.5 miles, 26 miles, 16 miles and 7.5 miles, all along the same stretch of the beautiful South-West coastal path between Bude and Westward Ho!, and all scheduled to finish at Bude Castle on Saturday afternoon.  I was entered for the 37.5 mile (60km) Ultra which starts in Westward Ho!, and Sarah was entered for the 16 mile (26km) race starting in Hartland Quay.


We picked this event because (a) the timing and distance fitted nicely into my preparation for the Dragons Back Race in September, (b) it had races that both Sarah and I could participate in – one of our resolutions given how much time she has given up to my race schedule in past years – and (c) this coastline has a reputation for stunning scenery and we were keen to visit it. 


The seafront at Westward Ho!

The races all had very strong local participation, and I sensed that the vast majority of the entrants were from the surrounding area – certainly the local running clubs all had a large number of entries, and everyone seemed to know each other at the aid stations. 


We stayed the night at a B&B in Westward Ho! so as to be close to my start at 7am on Saturday morning.  Sarah dropped me off and then went to sort herself out and get to Bude to park our car at the finish.  From there she could get a bus to her start at Hartland Quay.

 

The "Haunted House" at Seafield car park
My start line was in Seafield car park at the western most end of Westward Ho!, just beyond the last of the endless holiday villages and caravan parks, and overlooked by a derelict Victorian mansion claimed to be haunted and straight out of an episode of Scooby Doo. After a minimal race briefing from the Race Director, 52 starters were set on our way, and those aiming to play at the sharp end set a blistering place up an easy path leading to the cliff tops.  I had set myself a scheduled finish time of 9.5 hours based on the results from the last race in 2019, and an analysis of runners in that race who had similar results to mine in other races like CCC and SDW100.  I knew that in 2019 this finish time would have placed me in the top 20, so I slotted myself into about 20th position and hoped that represented the right pacing for me.  In retrospect I may have been over-optimist and my pace over the first 18km section to Clovelly was under 7 minutes/km and probably too quick for what was turning into a very warm day.

View from cliff top towards the white cottages of Clovelly and Hartland Point in the far distance

Buck's Mills
This first section was perfect with some lovely running in shady woods along the cliffs. After dipping down to Peppercombe bay we passed through the impossibly twee little hamlet of Buck's Mills.  I had fallen into running with a chap who lived just outside Westward Ho!. It was his first ultra and he was keen to have a pacer; his knowledge of the route was quite useful for me.  


The first aid station was at the traditional picturesque harbour village of Clovelly.  Our route didn’t take us down to the seafront because that was the starting point for the marathon, with their route leading up the famous cobbled high street to join our path on top of the cliffs.  I arrived at 9:03am, just after the start of the marathon, and ran right into the middle of their pack.  It felt strange to be suddenly surrounded by runners.  Rather annoyingly this caused me to switch off meaning that I blindly followed a group of 30 marathon runners as they carried on straight past a right turn sign.  It was about 5 minutes before someone realised that we had made a navigation error, and after a bit of checking the GPS we backtracked having wasted 10 minutes and adding an unnecessary 1.3km.

Once back out onto the cliff tops, the next objective – Hartland Point – was clearly visible in the distance ahead of us.  Hartland Point is where the Bristol Channel meets the Atlantic Ocean, and is famous for the Grade II listed lighthouse built in 1874.  More visible – and ugly – is the modern Civil Aviation Authority air traffic control radar tower next to the lighthouse. Resembling an enormous white golf-ball stuck on top of a concrete pillar, apparently it can be seen from 10 miles away.


Hartland Point

At Hartland point the coastal path turns south and starts to become even more rugged and spectacular, and the comparatively “easy” running of the past 30kms would now become more challenging with steeper stepped descents down to pebbled coves, followed of course by sharp climbs back out of them. 


Looking back at Hartland Point from Hartland Quay with the CAA "golf ball" just visible in the far distance

The next aid station was at Harland Quay, 2km past Hartland Point, which I reached in 4 hours and 25 minutes, 30 minutes ahead of my schedule.  This was the start for Sarah’s race, and she had set off about 40 minutes before I arrived.  I would pass many of the runners in her 16 mile event over the following hours, although I would never catch Sarah as she ran the remainder of the route 20 minutes quicker than I did.

 

I was able to keep up a decent pace to the next milestone – a water station at Welcombe Mouth, a ridiculously pretty little shingle bay with a small car park reached via some stepping stones.  With it now feeling very hot in the strong sun and with little breeze, the runner in front of me decided to ignore the stepping stones and go for a full wade and cool off in the stream.  I erred on the side of caution wanting to protect my feet by keeping them dry.


The water station and stepping stones at Welcombe Mouth
Over the next 5kms to the aid station at Morwenstow, I started to really feel the heat of the day and my fast pace during the first 40kms.  My legs were cramping on the large steps up and the steep descents, and I was working my way rapidly through my ration of salt tablets.  My pace slowed from between 8 and 9 minutes per km to over 14 minutes, and for the first time other Ultra runners started to pass me.  I was nearly an hour ahead of schedule at Morwenstow, but from then onwards I was really just battling to lose as little time as possible.  Fortunately the truly spectacular views gave me plenty of excuses to stop for a breather whilst taking photos.

Morwenstow church
Just over the border from Devon into Cornwall, Morwenstow was a lovely surprise.  It is (another!) extraordinarily pretty little village with an impressive Norman church – St Morwenna and St John the Baptist – and an absolutely stunning old Vicarage.  Apparently it was once the home of the eccentric vicar and poet Robert Stephen Hawker, the writer of Cornwall's anthem "Trelawny".  Next door is the 13th century Rectory Farm with its deliciously inviting tea rooms.  

Sadly the aid station in the tea rooms’ car park was not quite as inviting and not nearly as well stocked.  The marshals were exceptionally helpful, encouraging and welcome, but COVID restrictions meant that aid station supplies had to be limited with just pre-packaged snacks to eat, and water, squash or coke to drink.  It was not a major problem as I was carrying sufficient food, but at this stage some fresh fruit or strong cup of tea would have been most welcome.  As had happened to me in the past in “hot” races I was struggling to eat my usual foods and I failed to eat anything from this point until several hours after the finish.  I need to find something my body will accept in warm sweaty conditions.

 

GCHQ satellite dishes at Cleave
My pace over the final 12km remained painfully slow – over 10 minutes per km. I just about managed to run the flats but had to hike anything uphill and the steep downhill steps were particularly painful.  There were a couple of vertiginous descents into coves, including down to the last water stop at Sandymouth, which also appeared to be very popular with the Cornish surfer crowd.  We passed the impressive radio dishes of the GCHQ satellite ground station and eavesdropping centre at Cleave Camp.  Eventually a gradual grassy slope led down to the cutesy seaside tourist town of Bude and the finish at the Castle.  The wonderful thing about this being a “locals” race was that the route through the town and the Castle grounds was packed with family and friends cheering their runners home and there was a super atmosphere at the finish.

Duck Pool from Steeple Point

I was slower than planned over the last section but still managed to finish 40 minutes ahead of schedule at 8 hours and 49 minutes.  I was ranked 21st out of 52 starters, and was first in the over 50’s category, just one minute ahead of fellow veteran Jon Meek. Jon and I had been playing cat and mouse over the past 25kms with never more than a few hundred metres between us, and the two of us regularly comparing notes on our various cramps on the steep descents.  I was quite chuffed that I managed to just stay ahead of him over the run in to the finish.

Sarah had a great day as well, finishing her 16 mile race in 4 hours and 5 minutes, 35 minutes ahead of her most optimistic schedule, and she looked fresh as a daisy when she met me at the finish.  She placed 44th out of 82 starters and 4th in the female over 50’s category.  She absolutely loved it.

 

In summary, this was a super race.  Relatively low key, with a smallish field, and basic aid station supplies, but super-friendly volunteers and participants.  The star of the show is the stunning north Devon and Cornwall coastal path with its spectacular views of the rugged cliffs, shingle coves, and pretty little villages.  As a “B Race” in my preparation for the Dragons Back it ticked all the boxes – a tough workout with lots of steep vertical.  Whilst I certainly couldn’t go out and repeat the exercise for another 5 days, I will not be racing as hard or fast in Wales.  I certainly set a pace over the first 40km that was too quick for a warm sweaty day, and I paid the price for the last 20km, but that was a good test of how much I had in my legs at this stage of my training. All in all, a great day out!






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