DVD available and the hardest race I have ever done...

As promised, I have produced a DVD of the challenge from photos and videos along the way. It's about half an hour long and I'm pleased to say it's available from the new Cotswold Outdoor store in Leeds (downstairs) for the total price of FREE! Hopefully it might encourage a donation or two... If anyone reading this would like a copy please send me a message, comment on this post, or hunt me down and rugby tackle me with your address and I will send you one for nowt.

The Lakeland 100 was a hard race, but one of the most enjoyable I have ever done. The atmosphere at the start and finish was fantastic, everyone wanting to help each other and make sure as many people as possible completed either the 51 or 103 mile courses ("just to make sure" apparently...). In the end, the drop out rate for the 100 was 70%, with about 40 of 130ish finishing. I started at 7:30 on Friday evening with a group of friends, 7 people in total. By the time we finished at 10:30 on Sunday morning (38hrs 56mins) there were two of us, myself and Nigel Coates.

The weather on Friday night was nasty, wind and lots of rain. Saturday morning took a while to clear but most of the day was ok. More rain and wind Saturday night caused many of the drop-outs (I was too busy halucinating and thinking I was in a computer game), then Sunday wasn't too bad. As always with Ultras there were highs when I could see no reason not to finish, and lows when I wanted to give up at the next checkpoint. I have never run for this length of time before (a previous 100 in 2006 took around 28hrs), but the time or placing (joint 34th - although the results say 37th by one second!) didn't seem important. The experience, location and route were enough, and the race was an experience I won't forget (although there are large sections I can't remember). Andy Rankin won in an incredible time of 22 hours something. That's for 103 miles, over 20,000ft of climb, rough lakes terrain and carrying kit.

So in summary, an epic, brilliant race, and thanks Nigel. Surely the hardest running race in the UK???