After saying I was never going to do this again last year I was talked into it and signed up a few weeks ago. So this year there were a total of 19 CRC runners taking part, 18 tackling the 50k and 1 brave soul taking on the 100k.
The 100k’s were off at 7am so Andy had an early start from Lyme Regis, the rest of us had a much more reasonable start time of 9.30am from Ham Hill. After the obligatory team photo we headed off to the start with Caroline, Jenny, Rebecca Sarah B and Sarah M and I deciding to stick together for the whole route we started off at a steady pace and stuck to the plan of walking the hills and running the flats and downhills. The run from Ham Hill to Crewkerne was quite nice as we all knew where we were going having run the route a few times, we picked up some friends from Taunton on the way as they weren’t completely sure of the route.
We reach Haselbury and the fruit farm to find a friendly face in Derek waiting for us thanks for the photos Derek, these can be found on the CRC facebook page. We continued through the fruit farm and out onto the road and who should be find as we run round the corner but Andy on his way to Ham Hill before turning around and heading back.
We arrived in Crewkerne to a very friendly welcome from the CRC team at the aid station thanks for the Pimms! Another photo opportunity and we headed off into Misterton and up the hill. We were all still in good spirits, the run to Winsham is quite nice not too many up hills and again another aid station awaited us at the church, and Dave was there waiting with the camera for us.
We continued through the church and on our way knowing this next section was the toughest with the most up hill, we arrived in Thorncombe to me moaning I was too hot and I wanted to stop, the girls were all very supportive and told me I wasn’t allowed to stop as I was the only one that knew the way! Thankfully Jenny spotted a tap with drinking water in the centre of the village which was very welcome to wet our hats and faces to cool ourselves down. Feeling ok again we continued on our journey, more up hill until the worst climb of all the climb to Lamberts Castle.
This year the aid station was at the top of the first hill in the shade and again we were greeted by some friendly faces, Tim was there to make sure we got across the road safely and Dave had his camera in hand to capture our pain! A nice place to stop in the shade refuel pop a painkiller and tackle the next part of the climb to the top of lamberts castle.
Sarah M at this point found a chap sat minding his own business on a bench probably enjoying the peace and quiet to take a photo of us all! We continued on our way and towards the next aid station on the A35. At this point they were all relying on my memory of the route as I was the only one who had run this part before. All was going well I was bringing up the rear as usually when we climbed a rather steep hill and found ourselves in a campsite. I reach the top to tell them all I don’t remember this part I think we’ve gone wrong. Luckily it would seem a lot of runners had taken the wrong turn and a friendly camper pointed us up the hill and to the farm.
Upon reaching the farm we were met by the friendly owner who allowed us to continue on our way rather than having to retrace our steps and go up another hill. I remembered the barn we should have come out by never mind it didn’t add anything to our run. We reached the final aid station and expecting to see Dave with his camera in hand, he’d walked down the trail to wait for us but of course we’d gone wrong! He got some nice views over the fields.
Final refuel and rest before pushing on for the final 4 mile run down into Lyme. Thankfully most of this is downhill although I don’t think Sarah B was enjoying the downhill part much after being struck down with knee pain. We stayed together and kept each other going. Sarah M managed to fall in a ditch I ended up on my arse getting over a sty. Luckily none of us got injured. But the highlight of the day was seeing the red arrows routine running down through the field into Lyme, thanks Jenny, Caroline, Rebecca and Sarah M for your version of their display.
We could finally smell the sea and as we’d started together we agreed to finish together as we rounded the corner for the final run in we joined hands and made it to the finish line together.
Thank you to all the supporters waiting for us. We had time for a quick dip in the sea and chips whilst we took our places waiting for Andy to arrive after his epic journey to complete his first 100k.
Well done to everyone who took part, especially Nick Sale for winning the 50k and to Andy for finishing in 6th place completing the 100k.
There are lots of photos on facebook and here’s some more that Dave took.