Race to the King - 50km (31 Miles) Sat 15 June 2024
I must be mad. I’ve signed up to run the 50km Race to the King (Coastal) on 15 June 2024. Not only will this be my longest event and first "ultra" but it is in flaming June.
The organisers describe it as: "The perfect first ultra. Flat and run-able without skimping on scenery, the 50k Coastal course offers spectacular views around Chichester Harbour before gently climbing back onto the South Downs." During the pre start instruction, we were advised it was not a race or about finishing in a specific time and more about just finishing. I had hoped for around 6 hours mark.
The car park opens at 5:30am with the event starting at 6:30am. An early start but this means you get to run (hopefully) at least two thirds the distance before it warms up around 10:30am. Although the parking cost is a bit of a rip-off priced at £19, I managed to get a lift but had a nightmare close to 3 hours getting the two buses to travel just 14 miles home. required to get home. Next time I run an event, I’m taking the car!
After a gentle downhill run for the first 10 miles and a nice section of flat around the harbour, but be warned, it starts to rise steeply at the 35km mark with correspondingly steep, knee-wrenching drops. About as far from "gently" as you can get with 140m climbs varying from this-isn’t-too-bad to you-must-be-joking. The down hills also vary from wheeee-this-is-fun to holy-crap-this-is-too-fast-how will-I-stop. Welcome to Kingley Vale hill hell. Having previously run the Kingley vale Half Marathon on 28 February 2024, I knew what to expect (sort of). I knew if you ran down hill you couldn’t stop and running uphill was all but impossible for a half marathon, let alone after 35km with 15km left to go.
The day dawned, strong winds and morning rain was forecast. What? It’s June! Maybe better than scorchio heat I thought. After the first 20 minutes the rain started, varying from drizzle (slow to soak) to steady rain (time for waterproofs… ooops too late!) With the added gale force wind (50mph gusts) blowing in off the coast, I questioned why I was putting myself through this when I could be at home in the warm and dry having a cooked breakfast rather than attempting to run in driving rain. My target time was anything around the 6-hour mark. Before the start we were informed it was more about actually finishing than a good time. Nevertheless, with the downhill section and harbour flat I was doing quite well at the with a time of 3hours 20minutes at 27km. I was even thinking I may be on for a 5-hour marathon however the hills began 2 miles sooner than I had thought and that soon became impossible. The elevation of the hills equate to 75% of the climb up Snowdon and that is after running 23 miles!
I spoke with some and asked if they were doing the 100km and they said yes but they wouldn’t be running again today. It wasn’t clear to me if the comment was they were running the other 50km in the morning or if they were going to walk the other 50km later on!
This was without doubt the best organised event I have run. There were "pit stops" at 10km, 26km and 37km and at the 50km finish. All had hot drinks! Just as well as during the 5 hours it rained, I was actually cold! There were plenty of fuelling choices including fruit, cakes, bars, chocolate, nuts, biscuits, crisps. In fact, whatever your desire it was probably provided, with even a free cooked meal at the finish! They even provided much appreciated and necessary, chairs to have a sit down on at the later stage pit stops.
Signage and marshalling was excellent; you were never out of sight of those little red arrows. At around mile 14 I had an inner thigh muscle strain/pain. I also suffered this in the latter stages of the London Marathon and knew it would almost certainly get worse. At the next pit stop, I went into a first aider tent for advice. The medic was brilliant and showed me how to stretch it out. One leg knee bent outwards at 90 degrees, other leg straight, lean towards bent knee, clench buttocks, and hold for a count of five. It hurt like hell but hey, I was cured and repeated it if I had the slightest twinge or pain. - just in case. I only wish I had known this cure during the London Marathon!
The Sportograf photographs were good value. I paid just £25 for 40 good quality photos.
At the finish, I collected my nice, hard won medal. My time was 6 hours 56 minutes (net of pit stops.) Overall chip time was 7 hours 43 minutes. Position 318/560 181/290 male