Ultra Dave

In an apparent act of lunacy Dave Pratten has secured a place in the legendary Norseman Triathlon for 2014…………. As a ‘gentle’ warm up he took to the Dorset Hills […]

In an apparent act of lunacy Dave Pratten has secured a place in the legendary Norseman Triathlon for 2014…………. As a ‘gentle’ warm up he took to the Dorset Hills to compete in his first ever Ultra Marathon event. The report is not for the faint hearted……

Having secured a place in the 2014 Norseman Extreme Triathlon http://www.nxtri.com/ I decided I needed to toughen up physically and mentally over the winter as part of my preparation. Having warmed up with the Snowdon marathon in October, the Dorset ultra, described as ‘ extreme’, seemed a suitable progression. Starting at Lulworth Cove the figure of 8 course heads west out towards Ringstead Bay It then tracks inland back to Lulworth before following the coastal path to Kimmeridge, Tyneham, Whiteways Hill and back to the start. It concludes with an additional loop up the big hill west of Lulworth (again) along the coastal path and back along the ridge before a final descent to Lulworth.  In summary then, 33 miles of hilly off road running.
 
I made a good start to the race going up the first big ascent out of Lulworth and reckon I was in the top 20 of the 140 would be ultras by the time we reached Ringstead. Unfortunately the group of eight runners I had found myself in managed to miss a sign and ended up adding an extra 3miles to this section (good mental training). To  be honest for much of the event the weather was so good and the scenery so spectacular that time and miles went quickly. It was only over the last six miles or so that I began to regret the early error as my quads began to object to the pounding they took on the downhill sections. I finished the race in 6h 45minutes in 36th place. I was first in my age category..but was also the only finisher in the category so can’t claim any glory apart from being the oldest finisher.
 
Having now completed my first ultra  I now know why the event had attracted runners from Hungary, Portugal, Norway and South Africa. The course was so challenging and beautiful and there was great camaraderie and humour among the participants. I thoroughly recommend the experience.
 

 

About Ade

What ever your goals in life may be, there is always time to achieve them. You might want to lose weight, run your first 5k, or improve your personal best, whatever your specific goals are you can achieve them with structure, time management and determination!