Ultra_Tales_Issue_13

EVENT REPORTCHILTERN CHALLENGEBucks as well as the ubiquitous Bridleways.“I decided I’d go out at thefront and see whathappened…”I decided I’d go out at the front and see whathappened. Not overly fast, but just to avoid therush! We soon came to a road, crossed that andthen came to a set of stairs, not dissimilar to theBox Hill ones on the North Downs, although thesewere in pretty good condition, unlike Box Hill. Idon’t know whether it’s accident or design, but Neil(RD) seems to like a start on a hill – I guess it getsthe heart going!It wasn’t long until people were overtaking me andthe (very well marked) route took us into a wood. Ithad been very hot all week but rained the nightbefore and it was raining a bit when we set off. Thisincreased the humidity, so when I went into thewoods I found it pretty stifling. I was sort of hopingfor the sun to come out, so the humidity mightdrop, but then with the sun out, it would becomeunbearably hot. No pleasing some people, I guess.I came out of some woods and started a descentand a cracking view appeared, this is what trailrunning is all about for me. The rain had stoppednow and the sky overcast.I didn’t get many photos sadly and there was onlyone at the start and one at the finish from XNRG –obviously too quick for them….ahem….so I’veincluded a picture of my risible superficial “injuries”that I acquired. I was running through a sectionthat was a tad overgrown with some thick grass andafter a while I was thinking that the bottom of mylegs were sore. I looked down and shock horror Iwas bleeding! It must have been the thick grass –it’s why they’re called blades, see?!.I wandered through many a field and at first I putmy right hand down with the image of MaximusMeridius, father to a murdered son, husband to amurdered wife and all that. After a few fields,however, the novelty wore off and I was cussing thePHOTOGRAPH | XNRGgrain that was now getting stuck in my socks andscratching away at my heels and ankles.The course was well marked but I nearly took thewrong turn twice. One was where a bush/tree hadblown over and was hiding a kissing gate, a few ofus had to literally limbo under the bush to getthrough. Another point, I committed a cardinal sinof following the person in front.I saw a red and white tape marker, but went past itas I could see runners in front. There then appeareda lot of other runners in front which reminded meof a pack of dogs roaming the countryside! Wewere all a bit lost. I mentioned the tape I’d seen justbefore and the “pack” went off – they were the frontrunners, and they were away, now on the correctroute, before I got to the tape.I remember running on the Chequers’ grounds,there were lots of warning signs for us not to stop.This was the Prime Minister’s country residence, so Iwas wondering if us ultra-runners had guns trainedon us as we ran through the grounds! I alsoremember running down into Great Missenden. Theroute just skirted round the town, but I’ve beenthere a number of times as it’s the place that RoaldDahl lived and is now buried. My family are bigfans.It’s common in these races to yo-yo past runnersand I yo-yo’ed with someone called Howard. I firstbumped into him as we were on a wooded29 ULTRA TALES | OCTOBER 2014Sponsored by thehttp://