Dukeries Ultra 40
11th May
2013

 

Unofficial Result

Noel Jones 7:32:00


The Dukeries Ultra makes great use of all of the tracks around Sherwood Forest and Clumber Park which makes for a fairly flat course with mostly decent running surfaces. We set off at 8am and I was layered up due to a blustery wind, however the sun came out within 2 miles so I was soon taking layers off. The Bluebells were out in force which provided a nice distraction but I have to admit my legs were tired from the start. Even so I got to CP 1 feeling good and enjoying another day in the country. This started to change at about 15 miles when the residual aches from the last weekends 50 started to make themselves known. I was pleased to reach 20 miles so I could start counting down the numbers! Now it was getting over cast and I was starting to chill so I put another layer on and immediately felt too hot but at least I wasn't cold. We ran through some lovely estates and lots of woods but sadly the only deer I saw was a road kill. By now I was repeatedly passing and being passed by the same people as we took walk breaks so I knew there were others suffering too. My excuse was not enough recovery time after last weekend. Later when I was tucking into a pie at the finish I discovered that one couples excuse was that they did the MDS 3 weeks ago. At about 30 miles it started to rain too but thankfully not as badly as had apparently been forcasted. The final 7 miles eventually arrived after we skirted Clumber Park cutting through Hardwick Village (£6 for cars). I knew by now that it was going to be close to seven and a half hours. In the end I clocked 7 hours 32 minutes on the Garmin. Did I enjoy it? Mostly

 

Noel Jones

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