I originally said I wasn't sure I'd do the Bullock this year. I had a decent run last year, but I did find the terrain hard (I don't like tarmac much). Then Claire decided to do it as a qualifier for a potential hundred entry next year. Then I did this years hundred and learned how to use tarmac to my advantage. In the end I decided that the disadvantages (tarmac) were outweighed by the fun of a through the night event, and the wonderful atmosphere of the BS. Scouting events have a lot of the LDWA about them - although I mostly run, I enjoy the mixed walk/run events far more than the more competitive pure runs.
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| Looking back up the road to CP1 |
Unfortunately, on the way to/at the P39 we caught covid. We were both knocked on our backs for about ten days, followed by seven to ten days no-training interval. Claire was struggling with an apparent injury but I was able to ramp back up quickly, and she was worried about going to such a long distance without more time to prepare. In the end she decided to set out equipped to walk and see how it went. It went rather well, but we'll see about that later.
Saturday morning we were at registration with plenty of time to spare. We sat around drinking tea and wondering what it was going to be like. It was already getting pretty warm and humid, which was to be a problem later. Once the start arrived, we headed out of the field. We walked together for a hundred metres or so, then I got a move on.
Chatting with a big group from Poynton who were on the event for the first time, I worked my way through the crowd that had got ahead of me until I was settled into a pace towards Lymm. Everything was very familiar and I didn't need to check the route at all. CP1 came and went with just a water refill (although a full refill at the first CP meant I was drinking a lot more than normal). I caught Nick on the climb up to Chinley Churn and chatted briefly. At this point I was hoping to get close to Daz Graham's previous times and maybe get close to 12 hours.
Chinley Churn drinks point I filled up with water, grabbed a cheese pitta out of my bag, ate a few crisps and got going again. The food helped and I felt on top of things climbing up to Edale Cross, slowly gaining on a guy in blue just ahead. I made the mistake of eating a single jelly baby at the CP (and put the remainder in my pack zip pocket where they partially dissolved in sweat during the day...) and my mood started to drop as I descended to Edale.
At Edale they informed me that I was 9th, resulting in some startled rude words and a rapid departure to maintain my position. Climbing up to Hollins Cross I encountered Dave Kelly, who I was to end up running with for much of the day.
Coming down the path from Hollins Cross I got my ankle caught in a knackered gate, giving me a bruise that niggled for the rest of the day. As usual I got into Castleton and was confused by the error in the GPX, but only lost a few seconds before remembering the route into the carpark. I sat down for a few minutes in the CP and drank a cup of tea, then took another with me as I chewed through a cheese and onion roll and climbed up the field from the Devil's Arse.
Dave was just ahead of me as I climbed, and I caught and passed him on the top, along with one or two others. I was making good time and kept a good pace up along the track towards Peak Forest.
At Peak Forest village the whole damn place had been plastered with signage for a completely different event, which lost me about 5 minutes of faffing about trying to work out where the Bullock CP was. I was quite irritable about that... Mick and Jack Cooper were on the Peveril 33 and completely nonplussed by me peering around corners and running back along the road. Dave came out of the CP just as I went in, and I filled up with water, ate some crisps and hopped it. The climb out of Peak Forest is fairly unpleasant - a busy road with no pavement, but most motorists were polite about it.
Over the crash barrier and up the hill, and the dubious stile that I've avoided in the past. I was certain of it this time, but took the familiar route along the track with Dave. We got chatting as we approached Wheston and followed the track down to Millers Dale. I decided to forgo the soup this time as it didn't agree with me last year, and ate another cheese pitta as I dropped down the path.
Out onto the main road, and a group on a Peak Running event (Peveril possibly) seemed quite concerned about my welfare. I think they thought I was going the wrong way. Dave caught me up as we reached the top of the track out of the valley, and we ran on together along the next section talking about food.
At Chelmorton I ate some more food and had a cup of tea. There was a runner not far ahead and another close behind and we got going quickly towards Earl Sterndale. The track after Chelmorton is a bit of a grind, but passed sooner than I remembered.
Entering Earl Sterndale CP we met Ian Crutchley, who was just in the process of retiring. I'd run with Ian last year (and it turned out Dave had been around some of the time too). The light was starting to fade but not badly. We guzzled down more tea and got going.
Coming down to the road after the moorland section I slipped on the wet grass. Again. Like last year. And 2019. No harm done though, and I kept going. We took the right route above the woods on the other side of the hill (Ian and I lost some time here last year) and headed down to Barking Dog farm. I worried a bit here that Claire might find this bit awkward in the dark, but as it turned out she found her way better than some others around her.
We stopped to put torches on and that gave me a boost, running quick over the rough ground to the beck then pushing the pace up to Brand Top. At Brand Top Dave had a hot dog while I drank a cup of tea and enquired about Claire. So much for 'walking the whole lot', she was probably less than an hour behind me at this point. This made me very happy - after a tough day at the P39 I was worried she'd hate the Bullock - she's an out and out fell runner and the Bullock is very trail. She was obviously making cracking progress.
The next bit of the route is still not very well stored in my mind. Down the tiny roads and then up a marked but largely untrodden path across some fields to a road crossing at a farm. Then across the road and up a track, meeting another road on the other side. Then more tiny roads climbing up and down, then an uphill section past a well lit house, and left along a track to 3 Shires Head. Right at a bridge, then a stiff climb up a steep field to a set of steps and another road crossing. Finally, a short section of minor road then an awful rocky track down to the very enthusiastic and welcoming CP at Clough House Farm. Bells, cheers, lights, and a scout on a pogo stick met us here. I drank a cup of tea, had a short sit down then got on again along the road section towards Macc Forest.
Once we got off the lane to Macc Forest, we found the path under the edge of the trees all the way to the top. We missed it on the other side though and had to contend with the rocky path for a while. Then tarmac down to the main road, on past the old CP location at Walker Barn, and onto the lane down to Rainow. Lots of tarmac here, but that meant we were able to really crack on with some pace.
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| Night view from Macc Forest |
A cup of tea at Rainow, and we discovered that there had been quite a few retirements and we were in 5th and 6th place. We were both a bit creaky leaving the hall, but got running OK once we were on the footpath to the next CP. At Whiteley Green we barely stopped, just a quick hello and on we went.
The last section of the Bullock is probably the least fun, at least if you follow the suggested route (which almost no one does). I flipped over my GPS from this years suggested route (to get me to Whiteley Green) to last years recorded route from my watch as we got onto the Middleway. Dave was visibly less tired than me at this point and had a good chance of getting under 13 hours, so I told him to get going and I settled in for the run-walk to the finish. At bridge 12 my GPS correctly took me down into Poynton, which was a great relief and speeded me right up. With nothing to look at but a cone of light and some overhanging branches the tiredness and aching becomes a bit too noticeable, getting off the Middleway really helps to distract the mind.
I wiggled successfully through Poynton. Most of it was pretty familiar from previous years, and I popped out onto the main road just before the big junction. From here it's less than a km and I pushed myself to keep the run going, arriving at the finish at 01:06. One minute quicker than last year. Dave had gained 8 minutes on me in the last few miles, arriving 2 minutes inside the 13 hour mark.
Once relieved of my tracker I sat on the hard wooden bench for a while until the shakes hit. They lasted about half an hour - longer than usual. After that I felt up to some food and wolfed down a veggie sausage and egg sandwich, then sat guzzling tea and flipping between the tracker and google location tracking to monitor Claire coming in. She was about 1.5 hours behind me in the end, and as I saw she was close by I walked out to meet her then we ran in together with Paul Bennett, who'd been running with her for several hours.
Claire fared slightly worse than me in the aftermath, with some severe nausea due to dehydration and lack of food. Eventually she managed some tea and toast, and we limped back to the van for some rest.
I enjoyed this years Bullock more than previous years, it just seemed to flow really well. The top ten finish helps of course. There were no really fast times this year, Rory Harris had dropped out of the Offas Dyke the previous weekend and wasn't running. The top few runners had very respectable times though. The number of retirees was huge. This was down to the heat, it was extremely hot and humid - conditions that don't bother me over much but really hammer a lot of people.
Kit
Plan A was to use the UD vest I bought on ebay recently. Unfortunately I couldn't fit all the mandatory kit plus the large amount of my own food I had to carry, so I fell back on my UD Fastpack 15. I nearly didn't buy that pack, and use it for almost everything I do now.
Worn
Awdis fluo green short sleeved base layer (maximising the hi viz!)
OMM Flash 0.5 shorts
drymax thin socks
Altra Superior shoes
Montane coda hat
Carried
UD Fastpack 15
Garmin 20x GPS.
Coros Apex Peak watch
Food
4 * cheese pittas (toasted pittas with mozzarella, oregano & Gouda
2 * cheese and onion pasties
1 * Seitan vegan chorizo (bit burpy)
1 * mini cheese (carried 4)
3 * mini malt loaf (didn't eat)
