Set inside roughly five square miles of MOD owned forest and heath land, race director Henk van der Beek has created a monster. A beast that fights back with ups, downs, twists and turns so frequent running for any amount of time seems inplausable.
The event in question is Caesars Camp Endurance Runs. Choose your fate from 30, 50 or 100 miles made up of 10 mile laps on some of the most inhospitably running your likely to come across South of Watford. The terrain is a diverse mix of shale bolder hills, barren heathland, stretches of sand, pine forest and hard rocky trails snaking around lakes and watering holes. Not to mention the grazing cattle, deer, frogs and other wildlife your likely to tread on or bump into through the night.
After 10 minutes of Henks jovial abuse, a shake of hands, a glance at the large station clock at the start line, the race commenced. I was amongst friendly lunatics once again. Myself and Jo Kilkenny had chosen the 100, whilst Gilly and Kevin H opted for the 50. I had also met Bren, who it turns out lives two villages from me and his friend Ben. Unfortunatly many other friends had drop out through various reasons, but the day was bright and we looked up for it!
For my part, I cant explain why I chose the longer distance, I can only say its been on the list of things I’ve wanted to do and at the very least I would come away with an experience. And an experience it was.
The first lap was a chance to see this course first hand, on paper the course map resembles what looks like a spiders web and in reality its not much simpler. After half a mile your moving up and down what can only be described as scree slopes of large pebbles, followed by hard rocky tracks, twisting root ridden forest trails and shoe filling sandy sections. Running flow is continually broken with steep gulleys to climb down, steep climbs that resign you to a trudge, not to mention the odd style to climb over. All this aside, you have to have respect for the race organisers sadist thoughts in creating this loop. It’s almost a tribute to the U.S. style trail 100’s. With excellently stocked feed stations, one at the start/finish manned by Henk in his usually blunt and mildly abusive manner, Chris and many others, not to mention warmed by the the bonfires and blend of hideous country music. The other at 5.4 miles which was manned very efficiently by Dick Kearn GUCR race director and co, so we knew we were in good hands. After a handful of nuts, chocolate covered raises, tuck biscuits, rizt crackers, wine gums, gels, power bars, flapjack, not to mention potato wedges, hot dogs, stew, soup and much more that appeared throughout. Then your off again to face the course with a running mate, stranger or mostly on your own, often seeing no-one else until the next CP. I recalled two laps on my own where I must have seen a total of 12 people in 20 miles, almost wondering if the race was still actually on?
The first lap is little more than an initiation into this horribly excellent course. Honestly, if you dont like a challenge, dont even turn up. But many did, many more in fact than previous years and it looks like Ceasers Camp, only in its fourth year is destined to become a top event.
Then its a case of going out onto the course again and again, until your finished, DNF’ed, injured or falling asleep on the trail, which one man claimed to be on his 9th lap and DNF’ed after lap 9 thoroughly happy with his personal achievement, as he said the longest distance he had run before - a happy man.
Earlier in the race myself and Gilly shared three laps at a reasonable pace. I nearly ended my race early by twisting both ankles on separates occasions, fortunately not badly and ran them off easily in a short while. We finishing the first 30 miles in 6hrs45mins beating the cut off by over 2hrs and perfect timing for the 100. Whilst Gilly went on, I grabbed my headtorch, made a quick sock change, devoured some potato wedges dipped in salt, a cup of flat coke and went out onto the course again, this time alone. The fourth lap was to be where I hit a low point that I couldn't get out of until I had finished it. After completing 40 miles, I sat in my small two man tent, where I decided to stop and manage my feet as i had promised myself. Unsure whether to go on or not, to be honest my mental preparation hadn't been good that week and it was showing. Now my head just wasn't in it at all. fortunately I had spent some time recently practicing my pre-taping techniques and my feet were holding up really well, much to my relief as this is an area that had hindered me in the past. Then the rain came, I was cold and despondent, so decided to get some warmer clothes on and check my texts, I didnt feel much like moving out again but after reading a few text’s from friends and the rain letting off a bit I ventured out onto the course again, for what was to be my final lap. In fact ironically this lap wasn't too bad. At around 44 miles I was relatively steady and happy, I came across Bren (a 100 mile finisher in 2008) who had stumbled in one of the steep gully’s and twisted his knee, I tried to encourage him to push on until the halfway point but he was in pain and could hardly run but a few paces, sadly he turned back. Towards the end of lap five my knees were ‘clanking’ on the downhill and I was becoming ‘floaty’ on the run in to the feed station. I sat down and Gilly came in, having already finished, she told me she had come in 1st lady, I was really pleased for her. Gilly keeps a great pace, pushes on and is a pleasure to run with... even if she has a tendency to run ahead for a comfort break and surprising you with a full moon way before sunset.
My legs and feet were fine for once but the thought of going around again just made me feel nauseous. After a coffee and 20 mins thought, I told Henk that I was stopping, I didnt really have the mental strength to go on. This way I avoided doing another lap and DNF’ing the 100, so it gave me an official 50 finish. Not the outcome I had hoped for but I had come away with an incite into 100 milers... often people say the first half of an Ultra is run on your legs and the second half in you head. Personally, I think its necessary to have a total set of skills, physical and mental, luck and judgement, footcare, electrolyte and nutrition management...the overall approach becomes so much more apparent the more you ask of yourself.
With 50 miles completed, I slept for two and a half hours, setting my alarm to wake me up in time to start supporting Jo in her quest. She came in from her 80 looking fresh, I got her coffee and to my surprise she was eating food without any prompting at all?? Whilst she set off again on the next two laps, I sat around the camp fire with Henk and co, swapping running tales and listening to shite country and western music. The first man, Gary Vallance, appeared at 21hrs39mins (just ten minutes outside the course record held by Keith Davies) looking strong but relieved to have finished. Then we waited a bit more, seeing runners in and out of the CP, some struggled on, some DNF’ed, some just sat down and fell asleep? Then the little mad leprachaun appeared with Iveagh another 100 mile finisher she had linked up with for the last few laps. We stood up and cheered them in, Jo not only came in first lady on the 100 but broke the ladies record at 25hrs33mins. Iveagh also looked pleased to have finished his first 100 miler.
In my first year running ultras, this was my fourth and I learn more every time. This time I took away with me a new foot taping system that works for me, time on my feet, no injuries, more experience in gear choices and a possibly slightly quicker pace than this time last year.
So, was it worth it..... Absolutly.
Would I do it again... not sure, but I think everyone should try it at least once!
Left: Me after 50 miles
Right: Jo and Iveagh finish the 100
