The 11 mile event runs from Gorran Haven back to the race village at Porthpean outdoor centre. The first 6 miles to the checkpoint at Pentewan are relatively easy with hills a plenty, but all highly runable, then the fun starts in the last 5 miles, with a roller-coaster profile of steep descents and climbs, jacobs ladders (one section has well over a 100 steps to negotiate!), wooden bridges, styles, and oodles and oodles of mud glorious mud! Last year's race was a total mud bath and on the steep climbs it was difficult to get traction. I was looking forward to a firmer underfoot surface this year following a much drier summer, but an overnight downpour that abated briefly in the morning but then started again about 2 hours before the race start ensured that that wasn't to be the case. If anything, the surface mud, churned up by all the runners, made it even slipperier than last year!
On the coach on the the way out the the start I was feeling sick with nerves. I was so anxious that I would be even up to the distance as I had not done it for 8 months and I worried how my achillies would fair on all the punishing climbs. I do, however, know that it fairs better off road and, with the terrain as it is, you have no choice but to walk some of the jacob's ladder sections, which means mixing up the rhythm.
The race starts as it means to go on, with a sharp uphill climb out of Gorran. Immediately, a group of 5 of us - 4 blokes and myself - shot off the front and we had gained a 100m advantage by the time we turned the first corner. I suspected that unless I drastically blew up or injured myself, this is the position I would end up in. A glance back after a long open field section about 1/2 a mile in confirmed that there were no other challengers in sight and so I settled into my rhythm and started to enjoy the amazing scenery back in my old home patch of St. Austell Bay.
Start of the RAT 11 mile on the beach at Gorran Haven
The race has a unique format in that the starts for the different race distances are staggered to try and get everyone converging on the finish within a few consolidated hours, so this means that from the moment the hooter sounds, you begin to pick off runners from the other, longer routes, who started out earlier but are going at a slower pace. Everyone was really supportive of each other and I tried to lavish praise on anyone I passed wearing a green vest as these were 'Plague' runners who had already been out since midnight (it was now 1pm!) and were on the last 11 miles of their 64 mile run: incomprehensible!
Pressing on and taking advantage of one of only 3, short flat tarmac sections, at Portmellon.
As I approached the checkpoint at Pentewan, I realised that I was about 5 minutes up on my time from last year. I had no idea how this could have happened and worried that I had gone off like a lunatic and would pay for it in the harder second half. This is one reason why I didn't want to repeat the same 11 mile distance: when you return to a race, you have expectations of yourself and, even though I knew I had done no appropriate training for this - no hills, no long runs - and knew that I wasn't in the same shape as last year, a part of me - the hard task-master, competitive part - still wanted to improve upon last year's time. As I got to the last steep descent before the final climb into the race village I could see that my watch was reading 1h34 and I had less than a quarter of a mile to go. I ran the whole thing in 1h47 last year and I simply could not fathom where I had made up so much time this year as I took the descents very cautiously in the mud and I walked all the steep uphills to save my achillies. I thought it had to be my garmin that was faulty as it read 1:37:10 as I crossed the finish line: shaving exactly 10 minutes off my 2012 time! Comparing my two garmin uploads, I had indeed run a minute faster on each mile throughout the whole race. So maybe all this hype about "rest", a subject with which people insist upon regaling me, has some, er, excuse the pun, mileage in it! I felt fresh this year. Last year, the event came at the end of a hectic racing season for me and the day was a very hot and humid one; I didn't get my fuelling strategy right and ended up keeling over at the finish line, which is the only time I have ever done so in a race. I definitely felt much more energised and up for it this year and the whole race seemed to flash by and be over too quickly as I was really enjoying myself!
I placed 5th overall and 1st lady. 3rd, 4th and myself all finished within 2 minutes of each other, then after me there was a 13 minute gap until the next athlete, so positions had remained as they were on that first hill out of Goran! A great race and hopefully next year I will be fit enough to tackle the 20 mile as you get to see double the amount of luscious Cornish coastal scenery!! The whole weekend has a festival vibe to it too, with all the runners camping at the race village, which has evening entertainment, a bar and multiple catering outlets. A great running weekend away: other Harriers should give it a try!
Receiving my rather unique trophy from Mimi Anderson, ultra-running guru extraordinaire and VIP guest at the RAT.
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