The Stickler 2017

I ran this race 11 whole years ago in 2006, as a tender 30-something, but I really can't remember it at all, except that it was fearsomely hilly.  I managed to find the results; apparently I finished in 10th place in 1:11:43.

Back to the here and now.  It was a bit squally this morning, with a mix of blue skies and portentous black clouds. It was quite a hike from the carpark to race HQ and it started to rain as I arrived so I hurried inside.  There was an almighty crush of people in the small, cramped hall, with long snaking queues for numbers and pins and plenty of other folks just wanting somewhere to keep warm.  I met the RRR contingent (Alice, Julie, Abby, Jim and Paul) and the OS duo (Rob and Naomi) and decided we'd be better off warming up in the cold outside rather than in the stuffy and shouty hall.

The start was all a bit chaotic.  All of us (guessing 400) were corralled into a little field and then led out into a lane.  A horn blasted and we were off.  There were about 100 others in front of me, and I had a terrible start.  I shuffled, and then trudged, and then rushed along bits of grass verge to try to gain some spaces, fearing a single file situation ahead.

I knew it was going to get quite exciting quite early on - check out the course profile.

A mile in, and we duly hit the first hill, Okeford.  It was OK at first, and I kept on running, and passing a number of walkers.  But then it got properly steep, and walking was the only sensible option.  We emerged out of the wood into a field with fabulous views of north Dorset.

The view from Okeford hill

Lots of interesting trails and then, soon after the 3 mile marker, was the most glorious chase downhill on gravel track that went on and on.  Exhilarating!  A short but sharp little hill and then more downhill on road into the Stour valley, through the lovely village of Stourpaine (where there was a water station manned by a few elves and Father Christmas, naturally) and then back uphill.

This one (Hod Hill) was not quite so severe and I kept running.  I passed a sign saying 'Hod hill fort', which was surely evidence of the top of the hill.  It wasn't.  Unrelentingly upwards with a never-ending summit... and then another fabulous view, this time with much clearer skies.  Another whoosh downhill, arms flailing over a field, across a road and then straight into Hambledon, the last of the hills.

Hod Hill

The first section of this one was a walker for sure.  My legs were getting wobbly by this stage and my breath was ragged.  Onwards, upwards... all a bit of a blur now... running again and then on to the crest and then downwards, easily at first and then a vertiginous plunge.  I overtook a few people at this point.  Down, down, and then onto a road.

Hambledon hill

Not far to go now, and I tried to keep the pace up.  A gentle uphill slope now felt like really hard work.  Through a field and over a bridge, and onto a disused railway track.  I could see orange bibs ahead and I accelerated.  Then a 10-mile marker, and then a railway crossing gate, which I took to be the finish line, but it wasn't.  I kept heaving on and on, and eventually approached the finish line, done for.

Working hard

I finished in a time of 1:14:05, two and a half minutes slower than in 2006, but barring the slow start, that was as fast as I could have managed.  I won the M50 prize which I was chuffed about, and more precious, it turned out that I had got the closest time to a departed Dorset Doddler called Nick Bateson and as a result the Doddlers would donate £100 to the charity of my choice.  How moving, and how humbling.  Thank you, Dorset Doddlers, for staging such a wonderful and iconic race, and for your donation to the Woodland Trust.

The OS crew - Naomi and Rob