Ep 41 - Centurion Winter Downs 200 - ‘Second time around’

Kev takes on his fourth 200 miler in 20 months by revisiting the Winter Downs 200.  It takes a little help from his friends both with us and departed! This episode will give you a great insight into what is fast becoming a winter classic long distance endurance race.

https://www.centurionrunning.com/races/winter-downs-200-2025

Aid Station website where you can find the episodes or leave comment https://www.aidstation.co.uk/

Please feel free to give the show some feedback on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/aid-station/id1549735359

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Hello and welcome to Aid Station episode number forty-one. A slightly unusual start to this one because you're joining me in what I call my kit room. It's Monday, the 9th of December, and I'm basically two days before the start of the Centurion Winter Downs 200, and I've got my iPad open with their final pre-race mail out sat in front of me, and I'm going through the kit list and the all the checks and registration details, uh GPX file downloads, uh you name it, it's on there in the normal excellence and Shurian fashion, nothing goes missing or misunderstood, there's no excuses. And I've finally got round to uh doing something about the packing, uh, and I thought I'd talk through a bit of it with you. I mean, if you're ever gonna do anything like a 200 mile, particularly in the winter, um, this event um or the spine, there's loads of excellent information on YouTube and online, and especially from Centurion about kit advice and everything. So I'm not going to go into great detail, but I thought I'd give you an idea of what I've got as I did it last year. Some of the thoughts I have about some of the changes I'm making. Uh, one of the big ones is um that I'm going uncrude this year, so basically that means being pretty much self-sufficient, other than the centurion life bases, which are at Black Boys after about 45 miles, I think. And then again at uh Truly Hill, which is I think that's uh 130 odd, is it, or is it 92? I ought to know all this stuff, I never usually do, and then there's one at the sustainability centre around 130, maybe that's the 132 one, and then there's uh one that's not a life base, it's more of an aid station that's one hour stoppage time allowed at Putnam, which is quite near the end on the North Downs way. So, anyway, three main life bases is basically um all I'm going to be able to use. Uh I can well you can sleep at all three, but black boys uh blow up mattress and sleeping bag. Uh the other two do have proper cots or bunks with bedding. Um so uh I will and I probably won't be using black boys to sleep. I normally go at least well more like 30 hours before I start thinking about needing any sleep. Um so that's the main thing is that um being self-sufficient, and due to that I thought I'd take more of the northern traverse approach to this one, um, and that means I'm using the uh same Montagko 20 litre pack that I did use on the Winter Downs 200 um last year. Uh but I'm combining it just with the small four litre OMM pack um which is a chest pack that goes on the front, and I've sort of Heath Robinson's something together so that it fits with the montane pack. Um, but it's just to give me another four litres of cast capacity, which will basically be a nose bag um full of food because uh it's obviously going to be pretty important to keep fueled um in this race, especially with out crew. Uh so I thought I'd carry the extra capacity in a chest pack as I already had one. As I said, I used on the Northern Traverse. Um the weather forecast is for cold weather with easterly winds, but no frost overnight, but getting down to around about two, three degrees at night, which up on the South Downs with an easterly wind, it's gonna have a wind chill somewhere near freezing, I would have thought. Um so plenty of warm gear needed. It's gonna be mainly dry, which is a gonna be a great help. Um, I think we might get some sort of mizzly type rain on Friday night of the race. It starts on Wednesday at 8 o'clock, 96 hours to complete uh four days, um, and I did it in 85 hours last year. Um, so as for the rest of the kit, um it's all obviously on a mandatory kit list. The main things that I'll talk about are the um footwear. Um, the notorious Vanguards way that I bleated on about last year is looking a bit drier this year, although we've had two storms in the last three weekends go through, two name storms. Lizzie Gatherer and Hannah Hall in their respective races both raced through those. More on that on another podcast. Um, but the trails uh I still think are drier, certainly the Vanguard's way, than it was um this time last year. And some people have posted pictures of it, um, uh, particularly around there's a notorious river that was flooded last year, um, and that seems nothing like it was, um, is hardly out, uh, whereas it was burst its banks last year and was huge area to cross. So, but I'm still going with a waterproof sock deck shell, um, a thicker one which has a um you can probably hear me rustling around and just looking for them, make sure I've got them all there. The problem is with this thing is that you've got basically three bags. You you're allowed one drop bag that goes to the three life bases, it doesn't go to the last one at Putnam. You then have the bag that you're actually going to carry with you, but it needs to put all that gear in a sort of open carrier bag uh because it's got to go through kit check, obviously, beforehand, so it's better that you have all the individual items that you can access separately. Um, and then you've got a bag that would be your finish bag or even your start bag, um, which will have your normal clothing in that you're going to turn up. I'm staying at Juniper Hall overnight. They this event um has accommodation beforehand if you want it, um, at a very reasonable price. So I took that option. Uh so I'll be turning up in pretty much normal street clothes, which I'll then leave to put on afterwards, but you need a bag for that. Um, there's not great catering facilities, so you need to take an evening meal or get something delivered or go out and get a takeaway or something. Um, and then you're gonna want breakfast in the morning. There are tea and coffee facilities. All of that said, that means that you need three bags basically uh for this event. Um, so back to the deck shells. I'm using those in combination as recommended by James and Centurion with the La Sportiva Cyclone GTX shoe, which has the Boa lace up and zip. The really excellent shoe used it last year, was very good in very, very wet conditions underfoot. Um, and I'm also taking uh a pair of um La Sportiva also with a um Boa lacing system. Uh this is the other Cyclone, but not the GTX. Um this has a lower cut down, still comes up over the ankle, but much lower cut, and it doesn't have the gator that the GTX has already built into the shoe. So it's a it's a bit more of a lighter shoe, still has exactly the same uh tread on the bottom. Um, but it's a good alternative, I think, that might I might need on the South Downs if things continue to stay reasonably dry in comparison to the Vanguard's way. So two shoes I'm using, uh probably both with a deck shell sock. I am taking other socks in case I have feet issues or things drier and I can wear something lighter on my feet as I go round. While I'm still talking about feet, last year I taped up, I did a lot of precautionary taping. Um, and I have to say the deck shell waterproof sock worked really well without taping. In other words, it prevented the tape getting wet and all coming off. But I did find that um pre-taping seemed to cause rubbing issues as well, particularly on the inside of my heels at the back. So I'm gonna go untaped this year to start with, and see how get on. Um, and of course, as soon as I get anything that feels like it's rubbing or hot spots, um, I'll tape it at that point. So, really, what I'm doing is trying to prevent um any rubbing that might be caused by the tape in combination with the thicker deckshell sock, because there it is like um a neoprene frogman's suit material, um, much thicker than you'd ever be used to uh or have used before with your normal running sock if you ever use them. Also, on all this list, I mean it's a very comprehensive list, but there's all the usual things about base layers, waterproof layers, having the right jacket that's tape seams and got a uh 20,000 uh head um on it, uh the trousers are 10,000. I've actually got another pair that I'm swear by now for this sort of event, and it is going to be cold in the waterproof trouser, and I'm using a La Sporttiva pant type trouser, which is really good. Um these are 20,000 head, but they've also got a warmth to them as well, uh, which is a great advantage in colder weather, uh especially with an easterly wind. And I've also uh another thing you should always have is a pair of the Montane waterproof gloves. Waterproof gloves are compulsory anyway, um, but montane make an excellent pair that pack right down, very small, but they're also warm. They do get wet, but they seem to have this way of operating that when they get wet, the water within them or the moisture within them stays warm. Don't know quite how it works, uh, but it worked for me well last year. You know, there's a one or two other things, head torch stuff. You have to carry two head torches, which I'm doing. I'm also taking a backup um, it's actually a bike torch, but it's really good. Um, a lesign bike torch, um, which is just tiny in your hand, but it's ideal for a backup emergency torch, and also just rummaging around in your kit bag or anything if you can't find anything, and it's just handy to have, or even when you I found you know, in some conditions you're out on the headlamp and it's drizzly mizzly in the air or misty in the air, um, and a direct beam onto um directional signs or footpath signs or anything, or or trying to see um a map or anything is much better if you can direct it by hand. So that's why I've got the torch, and also I have my power pack that uh takes two USBs for charging, so I can charge up two things at the same time, which would be phone and um head torch batteries, and I also carry a smaller um uh pebble charger, which is like about a lipstick, a bit bigger than a lipstick size, and has a single UPS, but I can use that on my watch on the move, so I attach that to the watch and keep the watch on my wrist and drop the uh charger into the backpack. That's pretty much it on the kit. So next time you hear me, it'll be at Junipal Hall on tomorrow evening when I am assigned. I've got an assigned kick check time between uh six and seven o'clock in the evening. Um, and I can't wait. I I love that start seeing all the other athletes there and everybody getting kick checked, and you get into the atmosphere of the race. I love it that they have facilities before the race and you really get into it. So, see you down at Juniper Hall. It's dark, it's damp, it's Juniper Hall, it's the Winter Downs two hundred, and we're all standing outside ready for the race briefing from James Ellison. Um there's about seventy-five, seventy-six runners, I think, uh starting the two hundred, and there of course there's a one hundred this year. And in the background, you can probably hear James calling everybody in. So I will come off of here straight away and listen to him.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

Steve Camerou. Uh practically lost his life in a car accident only this year out on a run. So obviously, um we're holding in our thoughts today. Uh, last race we we discussed, we've we'd lost Janet Longhurst, also out just on a run. I said the same thing there to the runners. However bad it gets, however tough it is, just know that those people would have absolutely given everything to be out there today. Run to them, run with joy, try and enjoy it as much as you can, even in those horrible dark moments, because the sun comes back up again and suddenly the world seems good. So just hold them in your thoughts as you're running through this week.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

Well, hopefully you heard that lovely tribute to Steve Chamberlain at the start there from James. Um, part of the reason I'm here is because of Steve's entry into this race. As James said, if you heard it, he was the second entrant in, and I know he was keen to do it, and I was looking forward to meeting him here and doing it with him. So I'll be carrying him. I had some lovely message from Karen, his wife, and family, um, on a WhatsApp group and uh the Paddy Buckley 23 crowd. Um, and uh it's nice to think that they'll be watching the dot and uh willing me on. Um, so as as James said, you gotta stay at it, keep going. Uh life is can be short, and it should be live to the full, and that's all part of doing this stuff. Anyway, it is overcast, it's grey, it's gonna be like that for about four days, and uh there's a little bit of sort of mizzle about, but the temperatures are around about I guess it's about five at the moment, it's gonna be six or seven, uh, going down to about two at night. Probably feel a little bit chillier up on the South Downs with a slight wind from behind, an easterly, uh, which is what is keeping it dry. I mean um the two storms that went through in the last uh two or three weekends. Uh, luckily we've missed those, and we're gonna have probably the best conditions that we could get. We haven't had as much autumn rain as we had this time last year. Um, I'm not saying the route's gonna be dry by any means, it'll be very muddy in places, but we are gonna have the best conditions probably you could get in December, unless the ground was frozen, I guess. So we are now 25 minutes from the start, and I'll come back later. So you're joining me about 15 miles in, going uphill on tarmac for a change. Um, it's the usual stuff, it's quite slippery and muddy in places, um, yeah, quite slimy on tops. Uh using the poles right from the start this year, learn from last year. Um, I got about four hours sleep last night in the annex at Juniper Hall. I was in with a guy called Paolo, who is Portuguese, used to live over here, but has come back to Portugal and has traveled over to do this race. Um, also met a guy from Norway who's come over here, especially to do this race. So it's nice to see some people coming to take a list in uh so-called British winter. It's actually quite mild for the time of year. Um, and well, for this race, couldn't even expect anything really, so we've been really lucky. Uh, with the weather, the forecast is good for next four days in terms of no rain. We're not going to see the sun, it's very grey and dull and dizzly, but not too bad. I'm not wearing a waterproof, didn't start in waterproof, too long sleeve layers. Uh, there's enough and a buff on my head and one around my neck. I am in gloves because my extremities get cold. Um, but all going okay started out pretty strong for me, actually. Probably went a little bit too at it. Um, there's a big group up in front, there's quite a mass got away, and I'm now travelling on my own, as I said, about 15 or 16, maybe 16 miles in. Um, the next it's not an A station, but the next crew point is at uh Linkfield chart. Um nice to see a few smiling faces there. Um I saw Lizzie last year. So uh had a few pack issues. Um don't seem to have got the straps adjusted right, and the four litre front pack, the LMM one, I didn't really attach it properly, so it's bouncing about a bit, and the pack seems to be dropping off my shoulders for some reason. I think the ties I keep cinching them in, but um I don't think I've got enough chest ties on there to pull it across. Well, I've sort that out, it's not too bad because uh there isn't well this there's enough running, but at the moment I'm actually you can probably hear the poles clacking on the tarmac, um, climbing up quite a steep hill on tarmac, heading out towards the uh M25 crossing, which I think's around about mile 18 or something. So probably got another couple of miles to get there, and I might come back on at Limpsfield. Well, I got to Lynchfield Sharp, mile twenty two in fifteen hours what am I talking about? Five hours and fifteen minutes um and it happened to go away. Up for some water because my water bottles are getting very low. I've got another uh twenty seven miles or something to get across to Black Boys Village Hall, which is the first property uh aid station or life base as they're calling them. And uh I don't know. I mean that's pretty good. I mean, because I'm uncrewed, I had to stop with Lizzie last time, so I'll have made that up. Um I think I had six hours on the schedule, I can't remember. Um, but uh I'm in quite a bit of hip flexor pain. Um hips hurting for some reason, and legs don't aren't really feeling it. So I'm hoping to work my way into it. I think I might have gone off a bit too quick. Um, but it's the usual. I'm on the vanguard's way now, and it's the usual heavy squelchy stuff. Um it's pretty awful going out to the M25 crossing. There's a bridge that crosses over the M25 before Lynchfield chart, and that was really muddy, just like it was last year. Um I'm actually well, I'm going across some grassland now, but it's well, it's not even squelchy, you can't hear it. I think you might have heard it a bit further back there. So uh it's mixed. Uh the weather's still grey, dull, you know, moisture in the air, but no rain. Um so all things being equal, I'm hoping to get across to the first aid station um on schedule. I don't even know what that schedule is. Um so all going fine, really. There's a crowd up in front of me, I think, somewhere. I saw um a whole bunch with Ali Bailey going off really early on quite fast. So interested to see what happens in the second half of this race with them. Um might be on really good form. But the way this first leg saps you, uh you really have got to keep something back to get it done. Not much else to report, really. Um did I say I tapped a guy up for some water at Limpsville chart, which was really nice of him, some other crew guy. I mean, I should have sorted that out. I mean, there's a pub there that was open. I could have gone there and got water, a little bit of a detour off the route. And there's a church, I think, with water there as well. So it saved me a trip though to there. That's very kind of him to do that. Um and we're back into some more scrouchy stuff that you might hear me scrooching through, and uh I'll probably get back on here when I actually make it to the first aid station. So somewhere around this point I uh lost my podcast mojo, I think, and didn't get much recording on before Black Boys. But some uh highlights that did happen was uh somewhere out in the middle of the woodland, somewhere on the uh Vanguard's way, I had a phone call from James Elson, the race director, telling me that I was 600 metres off course and that I needed to turn around and retrace my steps, which I duly didn't manage to do. Um thought I could get over a fence and take a shortcut across, which didn't work out, got even more lost, eventually found my way back on the track, got to a point where I was starting to retrace the Vanguard's way. I realised, got my OS Maps app out on my phone, and just as I got the phone out, uh James called again to tell me that I was uh heading in the wrong direction up the Vanguard's way, which I had realised. Um so promptly turned round and did exactly as I was told by him this time, which was a little bit embarrassing as it feels a bit odd to be lost uh in East Sussex on a public footpath. But uh anyway, this is the sort of thing that happens on this type of race, and uh it was quite remote, I guess, going out there. Um, and then a little bit later on, uh, when it got dark on the head torch, I was just crossing uh a road crossing, and it was a head torch coming up the road towards me, clearly gone in the wrong direction. And a chap called John came up the road um and said that his Garmin watch was playing up um and he couldn't get a good trace on the GPX, and uh he told me that he'd been off course for two hours, which seemed a bit extreme. But anyway, um we decided to team up and uh he followed along with me, he was clearly quicker than me, but was happy to run at my pace, and we paced it out to Blackboys and got there. I think I had a schedule of about 14 hours to get to Blackboys. Um, I don't remember the timings, but I think I was well inside that. That would be about half past ten at night. And John went off to get his watch and nav sorted out, and I duly plugged everything in. Uh, was a bit paranoid about losing head torch battery power, um, although I had two exactly the same and two backup batteries, but that had to get me through four uh nights, so I was decided to get in early with the charging, and then got on the other side of a really nice uh chunky vegetable soup and gnar bread and some coke and coffee, which set me up for the uh evening's run. I normally do at least 24 hours without any sleep. Um, so this was fairly early on in proceedings, really. Got the boots back on because you have to take your shoes off uh at the entrance hall, which makes sense to keep the place tidy. Teamed up with John again. Um he hadn't resolved his issues, but he was going to keep coming with me. And came along off towards Berwick Station, where we eventually arrived and sat on the platform, um, and it was quite a slog out there getting there out through the ashdown forest. It was really quite muddy. So we were really tired by the time we hit the uh benches on the side of the platform, got refuelled. Uh John found out that his um phone that he put on charge in the charger in his bag hadn't been charging, the charger had not worked or disconnected. Um, I offered him mine, but I think that was enough for him, and he decided to take a what would be a technical knockout and pack it in because uh of a lack of navigation and probably having to travel with me slower. So we said our goodbyes, he wished me well, and I headed off out towards Freil Beacon. It is nine uh ten minutes past nine on Thursday morning and I am currently well um what would it be? Can't work it out, north of South East, uh heading on a very flat long track out towards the next climb on the South Downs Way. Um didn't really get in well didn't get any podcasting in. Um I haven't been going that well really, dropping further and further behind last year's schedule, even which I thought I might beat this year, but I'm not going to. And uh through the vanguard's way. Oh, it gives me shudders every time I say the name of that flipping thing. Um I don't care, I've gotta say it. Worst public footpath in Britain, uh, especially in the winter. No joy whatsoever. Right, done. I won't mention it again. So on to the nicer side of the course, which is uh well, it's been misty the whole time we've been here, and it's like saturated air, so it's sort of drizzly, um, but quite mild really, it wasn't that cold up there overnight. And uh I had the delightful surprise because when I got to Frail Beacon, Lizzie was there and she met me there last year, and I'm going uncrewed officially this year, and she just came and paid me a surprise visit, which was really nice. Got a pot noodle and a cup of tea, and a kick up the backside, because when I got there I said, Great, you can drive me home. Because I'd be quite honest, my legs are completely drained. I know what's going on. They uh right from the start, they weren't doing much, no, no sort of power and drained really. But um as she reminded me, I'm doing this with Steve Chamberlain or his memory, and Steve wouldn't have given up. Steve didn't give up on the spine, so gotta keep going, but I'm glad she was there to give me a kick. Um anyway, uh hold on a sec, just going over to the GPX file because I'm gonna get lost. It's okay. I can see two guys actually going up the hill over there, which is quite handy. Um so I'm planning pushing on to the Truly Hill um uh what do they call youth hostel and um probably get some shut eye there actually. And Lizzie, oh god, she's very kind and also mad, but she's um offered to meet me at uh oh what's it called? Something beacon on the South Downs Way. Um because I know last year when I climbed up there and Angela was up there with the van, I was so delighted to climb into that van. Um and I'll probably be in the same state or worse this time. So that is the aim uh to try and get it round, but it's gonna be a lot slower than last year. But what the hey, let's get it done. Um, what else to say? Um, those of you that know the centurion people quite well, the centurion people who support their events, Zoe Norman. I passed her in the night, she's going quite well. Hopefully, she's still in the race and is going to get it done this year. Um and my roommate overnight on Wednesday night, uh, he is still going. I think he's way, way, way ahead. I mean he's pretty useful. So I think he'll finish front and mid-pack, I suppose. And yeah, so it's just about getting it done now. I mean the weather's gonna stay like this the whole time. It's really misty and a bit wet now, and I'm climbing up a very steep grass slope now. Had a lovely run down off the back of Frial Beacon uh across the beautiful springy turf that's there. God, it was so nice to get onto that. Don't worry, I'm not mentioning it, but uh what a joy, proper running. So I'll probably come back on when I get to Truly Hill. So there's more content, I hope, because it wasn't much last night. Right, see you later. Good evening. It's about ten o'clock on Thursday night. Um I'm just going past the delightfully smelling pig farm above Botolfs on the South Downs Way. It's a bit of a mud fest up here as well, but a lot uh firmer underfoot than the vanguards. Um had a right old trudge since I saw Lizzie um got in a bit of a oh bit of a downer really and um luckily uh lovely lady by the name of uh what was her name? Catherine Kate um Katie, I can't remember, uh came past um and told me that we would if we kept going at this pace we'd get to the Truly Hill uh Youth Hostel. Um before it got dark, which really cheered me up no end because I got it in my head that I was gonna get there at about six o'clock. And uh sorry, I'm just wading through eyes and mud and looking at the uh nav as well on the watch. Um yeah, so oh hang on a minute, hang on a minute, where's the route? So um sorry, I um better get this done properly. Uh yeah, so got to Truly Hill at quarter to four in the evening and uh I've much much needed. I managed to get two hours sleep and as I said to one of the helpers there, spent two and a half hours faffing. Um Truly Hill, it really does have nice good facilities. I had my own room uh in a bunk um and good food and it made a hell of a difference. So there's even showers there. Some people have showers. If I'd have had a shower and done any more faffing, I'd still be there. Um it's about the longest faff I've ever had in an aid station, but uh very pleased to get on with it, and then I came out of uh truly hill at oh god, what time would that have been now? Uh oh quarter past eight. Um yeah, quarter past eight. And uh we ran down the road, there's a road downhill road surface, and the legs didn't feel too bad, and then made a huge nav error that cost me at least 15 minutes. Um big steep chalky descent all the way down nearly to the road you have to cross, and I didn't realise that, and then I turned round, got a bit of a panic, and then climbed back up this hill, which took me at least 10 minutes of which really annoyed me because I more or less blew all the recovery I'd had getting back up this bloody hill. Um anyway, uh had a few little further nav things, any tiny little things that I couldn't find the way out over the River Ave on. I got there in the end. Um and now I'm on the top somewhere, heading out uh well somewhere out to Bignor Hill, where Lizzie's gonna meet me. Uh it's 92 miles Truly Hill and it's about 112 to Bignor Hill, so 20 mile trek out there, and the speed I'm going at like three miles an hour. Um poor old Lizzie's gonna be up there in the middle of the night yet again. Um I wasn't expecting to see her at all, so it's really really good of her to do this for me. Um yes, Nav eras. I was gonna say um it's quite a good idea because uh the one I made, if I'd have bothered to get out OEPS OS Maps, maps or Google Maps, which I have all three uh on my phone and the app, obviously. Um how many times can you say app in one podcast? Um, and then uh I could have looked and seen if I'd have carried on to the road, whether I could have just gone straight along the road. Um I'd have probably I wouldn't have gained anything because it was much further, I'd gone way off the route. Uh, but probably would have gained a bit on being a flat road service all the way along. So being Mr. Honest, I decided to no, actually that's not true. I I turned round and went back up the hill just because I thought it was I'd get absolutely lost if I was. Anyway, uh looking forward to it's a nice no, I mean it's overcast evening, uh little uh breeze from the east. Um, I haven't even got any gloves on and it's gone 10 o'clock, so um gives you an idea how mild it is, and uh but there's no moisture in the air this time, there's no mizzle or sort of foggy stuff, which is quite good. Um, so I might get back on with a chat with Liz when we get to uh when we get to Big Nell Tonight. Well, I made it to Big N Hill. I'm sitting in Lizzie's lovely catering car. Um tried to sleep but can't too much. Going on with pains and things. Um and I got here at uh what was it, five? Four thirty five. Oh four thirty-five on Friday morning uh after a trek out from the um Truly Hill uh hostel. Um quite it's quite a long uphill trek out over about three lumps to get here. Um but I was falling asleep on the trail as usual, um really could have just lied down. I did think. About calling it in and telling them I was gonna stop, but there was nowhere. We've had some like drizzly rain, everything was damp. Um so I didn't do that. Um and uh when I got here, Lizzie's got some whole load of lovely messages that she's just read out from our Roadrunners group, which is lovely. Thank you, everybody. Um and I think I'm going to get going because I tried to get 40 minutes sleep here, but it's just not working. Uh a little bit worried about what happens when I start dozing off on the trail again, but I have to cross that bridge when I get to it. So, Lizzie, what's the race report?

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Well, it's it's all very exciting stuff because in the top four we have two ladies. Uh they seem to be doing a sterling job. So that the three race leaders are currently at Puttenham, which is a major checkpoint. It looks like they are all having a kip, although potentially the leading lady who is uh Emma Stewart may have done a Kev. She may have decided to start because there's currently not a bed sign next to her number. Um, so those three are at a 180 miles at Putin and major checkpoint. Um so ones uh so one is female, two and three are male, uh, and they are called. If you want the information, we have got Scott Newburn, um, Martin Wilson, those three have been in the lead pretty much the whole way. And then we've got Rachel Fawcett in force. Um, she's a few miles behind them at a hundred and sixty-nine miles. Um big chunk of the field are kind of in sort of Petersfield area. Um and yeah, it's all it's it's good. There's been a lot of dropouts actually.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

Where where am I? What position are we?

SPEAKER_00 46:10

So you are uh there's three people having a kit here at Bignor Hill. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. And then we've got behind what you want to know how many are behind you?

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Are there any?

SPEAKER_00 46:23

There are, you're not at the back. You have got three three behind you. You were you did have six behind you. So that is I'm just going off the dots here rather than the actual leaderboard. Um you're not last. That is the main thing, and you have not dropped out, which is also very important.

SPEAKER_02 46:45

There's been quite a few DNS, have there?

unknown 46:48

There's been a lot of DNS.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Um at last count, there was I think there was about 30. Uh Dan Lawson, I think, was Ray's favourite, wasn't he? And he he he went really early. Um so yeah, huge amount of dropouts.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

So the leaders are at 180 miles, and I'm at 120. Is it no one hundred and twelve? Wow. They're different gravy, aren't they? Fantastic. Right, I'm gonna sign off now. Thank you once again, Lizzie. Excellent, excellent work. See you at the finish.

unknown 47:30

Yay, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03 47:50

So loads to catch up on. Um I've just left the sustainability centre near Old Winchester Hill at 8:30 on Friday evening and obviously haven't done spoken or anything since I was with Lizzie at Bigner Hill. Um, that was a long old trek. Well, they're all long old treks, they're like 40 odd miles apart or something, the A stations. Um, I got into a right sleep-deprived state, falling asleep on my feet as usual. Um, I had two hours sleep in about 50 or something, um, 50 hours. Um, and uh yeah, it was just a case of getting across really. Um, I'm way, way, way behind where I was this time last year. Um, probably gonna end up I don't know, over 90 hours. I did 85 last year. Um I think it'll be worse than that actually. Uh I'm only currently I think about five hours inside the cut-off, which is um 96 hours or five days, so I should do it, hope so, unless something goes majorly wrong. Um lovely life base at the sustainability centre. Had a big bed, had a shower. Um I was desperate for some sleep. I only got I was in bed about three, three and a half hours and got about two hours sleep just because of hip pain and a bit of foot soreness, blister sort of pain. Um, and I've decided to switch out from the waterproof socks and the La Sportiva Cyclone GTX, and I've now got a pair of La Sportiva uh Cyclones that aren't GTX on and no waterproof socks. I know we've got a couple of um uh fairly deep, ankle deep water crossings to go, but just gonna have to get wet feet. Uh one at Exton and one at Farnham Golf Club. Um, I know the route all the way back now. I mean, obviously I've done it before, but I didn't. This is more my side of uh the um Beacon Hill, know it quite well. And currently descending down towards East Meon, and then we'd be going back up old Winchester Hill out to Exton. Um, and then from there it's up Beacon Hill and across and out to Cheriton, Aylesford and uh Roppley, Alton, Farnham, uh, Putnam, and so it goes on, but eventually back to Box Hill. Oh, just dropped a glove. Yeah, so it's another night like we've had on the South Downs, really. Bit overcast, a little bit of drizzle in the air. I'm currently descending down quite a steep gully full of flint, which is not much fun with your blistered feet, I can tell you, but it's just going through the pain threshold now. Uh, to get it done, I got very close to jacking it in on the first day uh and um got persuaded obviously by Lizzie and loads of other people leaving messages, and so I'm just hoping to get through. I've got no other opportunities to sleep now. Um so I mean if I have to, I'll have to lay down somewhere and get 10 minutes, or maybe even find a park bench or something when I get to the towns, but we'll see what happens. So that is just about it on the update, and uh I can now get on with some. Well, I was gonna say running, but some let's say jog walk. Uh basically just need to maintain about three miles an hour, uh maybe two and a half mile an hour over over all over these two hills that we're doing, and then pick up a bit on the flatter stuff over on uh Wayfarers Walk and Pilgrims Way. Okay, no more waffle. It's 215 Saturday morning. I'm on the Wayfarer's Way. Is it Wayfarer's Way? Wayfarers Walk? I don't know, how would I know? Lucky my mind's working at all. Um I've only come on here because I'm falling asleep so much. Uh I thought it might wake me up a bit. I just stopped underneath a sort of overgrown tunnel of a footpath that I'm on and found some lovely, really dry leaves. Sat down there, ate a packet of crisps, thinking it might help wake me up, and then I laid down and then I dozed a bit, and then I thought, bloody hell, it's a good job I didn't go off to sleep then because I'm supposed to text race HQ and tell them I'm stopping, so I thought I'd jump back up again, but we'll see what shutting your eyes for a few moments does. I've heard stories of people doing that. Um so I've had well I'm somewhere over 150 miles in now, 50 miles to go. Um and oh I've had about four hours kip in 66 hours it is now um that I've been going are gonna be well over 90 hours I think and uh it's a little bit of fine rain again that's that happened every night so far, but it's nothing much to speak of. Um my feet were in a bit of a state, they were really good after the first day with the uh shoe and dry so um waterproof sock set up, and then the second day didn't like it at all. So taped all my feet up because I tried not taping this time, and I've just gone with a normal sock and uh La Sportiva shoe, which isn't waterproof, so I waded through the river at Exton, which is always out, and uh the stream anyway, and we'll have to do the same at Farnham Golf Club because that's always there as well. So I'm heading now uh where have I just left, left Cheriton and come into the back of Hylesford somewhere. You come out actually on Allesford Golf Course and cross one or two of the fairways and pop out, you actually go into Oldswood itself and head down to Bishop's Hutton. So I think that'll do for now. Well, I'm back again. It's um about twenty past eight Saturday morning, still on the uh centurion winter downs two hundred. I've just left um Alton and I'm now starting to cross the fields to Farnham. Um Alton's at 166 miles and Farnham's at 178, so 12 miles to get across to there. Um had another long night on the head torch. Um much better going actually between Truly Hill and Alton. Um and there was a couple of other runners kept um overtaking them and they would pass me, and that's how it goes. And when you're having different stops at different times, and they're both now. Well, apparently they were in Costas when I left, and I don't blame them. Um I was met by surprise, a surprise visit from Angela at the at uh Bishop Sutton Village Hall, which was brilliant. So I had she made me a cheese roll and a cup of tea there. That's where she met me last year. Well, she met me at the pub actually, but um village hall this time, and then she just met me again in Auton, and I had 20 minutes sleep in her van, um, which was brilliant because I was just out of it for most of the night, really, falling asleep on my feet. Uh, went in a barn full of stacked up fertilizer, tried to sleep there, and two dogs came out barking at me. Um so I had to get up and go. Uh so yeah, uh managed to do it. I'm surprising the first two days I wasn't really feeling it, and then the third day was probably my best running day so far in terms of the amount of running I've done compared to speed walking. Um obviously back on the speed walk in the moment uh because I am talking to you on here. So uh there's a chap in front of me, apparently, Angela said called Arnold, who um dropped at 155 miles last year, so I'm hoping that he stays in front of me and gets it done. That'll be a good thing. Um, and there are I don't know how many are left in the race at the moment, obviously, we're spread out over a very big distance, but um I know there were at one time there were three behind me, um, and I overtook two of them. Um so I'm guessing, and Arnold's in front of me, so I don't know. There are there are three or four behind at the moment, anyway. So uh might come back when we get to Farnham. Uh just squir going through a bit of squirchy bit. Um it wasn't anywhere near as bad coming down through from 4 marks this year. Um I'm starting to think actually, because I winged on about it last year, uh, because there was a big timber extraction that really rotted things up badly. And I got a feeling when I did it this year, I got a feeling that I uh I might have come down the wrong track because there was nothing like it this year. So anyway, that's probably typical. Um and at the moment I think I left Auton about five hours behind where I left last year. Um I know I was in Alton at three o'clock because I got approached by um the guy with the Father Christmas hat on, and uh and I remember that being threes, and I've just left there at eight o'clock this time, so and I did just inside 85 hours last year. So for the sake of having a stupid target, I'm gonna try and get inside 90 if I can, but we'll see, anything can happen, but better to have a target than just drifting along. Right, I'll get back later. Somebody might be here, somebody might be more than nothing.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:54

Really a few people were looking at it, they might be closer to the station.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:04

Um I need to cross here, I think. Join me for me. So that was um lovely couple, Matt. And there was a lovely couple, Matt and Trudy, from the running club, Heart Road Runners. They met me in Farnham and they came out, walked out to the North Downs Way official start uh sign, which is on the A31. Uh that was very nice of them. I also saw Caroline Dobbin from the Running Club who met me just before Farnham and had a nice cup of tea and gave me a bag of hula hoops, and apparently there's a lot of support going on from the club, so I'm really chuffed about that. Thank you, everybody. Um, and Farnham is 178 miles in, and the course is 204 miles, so there is 26 miles left to go, which is a marathon, roughly. And um next stop is Putnam, and it's the last official checkpoint. You're allowed an hour there, probably won't take that, but uh I'll take the stop. But it wasn't long on the North Downs way out of Farnham that I came across two really big fallen trees from Storm Darra, um which needed straddling. And then a bit further along on the permanent flooded area out by Farnham Golf Club, um, there was another massive oak tree down right across the route that had come from a bank higher up on the left hand side, and that involved a lot of scrambling to get up and over the top of that and down the other side. Um, and the because of the flooding, they've done some flood relief work or tried to there, and the there's a channel, a drainage channel down the side, which I found with my poles by pushing the pole into the full depth. So I tried to avoid falling into that um and managed to scramble up the bank and over the top, and then tested the water the other side and came down into the water, uh, got through there after another sort of 50 metres or so, and a hundred metres or so further on, I came across a runner throwing all his kit out of his bag, um, having a little bit of a wobbly over the situation, which I fully understand now. Uh his name is Tim Maloney, and luckily he was there with his wife, and he was a local from the Tongham area, um, and he'd fallen head first with all his kit into the drainage ditch, and all of it was soaked, other than what was in the dry bags. Um, and I told him it was his emergency situation he should get his emergency layers on, which was uh leggings and the top. Um, and he seemed to calm down and his wife was there, and I think everything was thing was fine. And um I next saw him out at Putnam, which was the last uh sort of aid station where you're allowed one hour stop if you want to take it. Uh, when I got into Putnam, I came across. Across Matt Harper. Matt's uh he finished it last year, he's a club member, and he was inside 80 hours last year, and it was really good to see him. And he broke out the mince pies and had a mince pie, which was lovely. Um and when I got to Putnam, which is at the cricket club there on the other side of Putnam Golf course, uh I hung around a bit too long, um, got uh caught by Tim and Arnold and some other people. Um so there are about four of us quite close together at this point. Um and I think the rest helped because I had an absolute stormer over from um Putnam, uh really uh got things going, uh it was quite surprisingly. Um and the s actually the section before that I went really well as well from Farnham to Putnam. Um and when I looked at the time splits, I couldn't believe it really. I was uh only a few seconds slower across there than the winner. Um of course when I looked at it later on, I'd done it in pure daylight, and he'd done it in the middle of the night, so there was a lot to be uh said for the difference between the two times, but I was really pleased with how I got going. Um all the way along I was sort of predicting being five hours slower or than I was last year and trying to get uh inside 90 hours. As it turned out, it took me inside uh 87 hours, and I was about an hour and fifty slower than uh the previous year. So given the amount of extra sleep I had on the route, um it that seemed to uh be a good thing really, um, and helped with obviously the sections where you could move quicker. Um I got into terrible trouble at the end, towards the end on the last bit of the down section before Denby's um and my feet were in awful state. Um I almost fainted at one point with the pain from uh what I now know was I had literally worn the skin off my little toe on my right foot and loads of other blisters and things as well, but uh just a case of keep going through the pain. Uh got lost again in Denbys, had a phone call from Nikki, uh race RD. Uh so that was the third phone call I'd had from Centurion race directors on this race. Uh, but I wasn't far off course, and it wasn't long before I was back out onto the A24, um, over the bridge, up Box Hill, which I think I took the steps pretty quickly for me. Then it was agony coming down the other side by the tower just above uh Juniper Hall. Um, and we had a lovely moonlit night, and I said thanks to Steve Chamberlain uh for getting me round uh and getting me into this mess in the first place. Um, and I think Steve would have had a little chuckle about that, and it was lovely uh to get it done for him, just sort of unfinished business, really, for Steve. So um always grateful, as James said at the start, to be out there, to be able to do it, to be still be able to do this stuff. Um, and it was lovely to get into the finish, be welcomed by Nikki with a rather large buckle, much well bigger than last year. Uh, and to be met by my son Lewis and his girlfriend Sarah. So it was really, really nice finish. Um, and that concludes it really. Uh, all I have to do is say a very Merry Christmas to all the listeners here at uh the A Station Podcast, and uh hope you have a very happy ultra running new year. Um you've got all your plans in for the new year in 2025, and I shall see you out on the trails hopefully somewhere during twenty-five, and until the next A Station, this is Kev. Say it bye for now.