With the 4Inns coming up this weekend I thought it'd be a good opportunity to air an account I wrote after my 2012 race, my PB year ... for inspiration.
Things can still work out when you get older!
4 INNS - FIRST AND LA(TE)ST ULTRA
I didn’t get into running via the usual channels. I was one
of those strange ones at school who actually enjoyed XC and since it was the
only thing in which I showed any sporting talent I was usually picked to run
for the school. I was mainly towards the middle but not the end of the field,
and I enjoyed getting muddy.
In the gap between Scouts and Ventures, when I was about 16,
I used to help out at Drum Hill Scout Campsite. There I met a group of like
minded individuals and learned to walk gradually longer and longer distances.
We did the Pennine Way
and a few other long distance walks and any spare time was spent climbing,
caving, cycling and anything else adventurous that we could think of. But not
running, not on tarmac anyway – that wasn’t adventurous.
It was whilst at Drum Hill that I 1st heard of
the 4 Inns. As a group, we had I suppose, the arrogance of youth and also the
invincibility of youth too. It was as a put-down to that arrogance that the
‘old hands’ told us tall tales of epics across the moors on the 4 Inns and
moreover that we oughtn’t concern ourselves about such things as it was a race
for men, not boys like us. It was with that invincibility and arrogance of
youth that we saw the challenge and we decided to show the ‘old men’ a thing or
two. In truth I guess they were much younger than I am now!
There was of course no such thing as an Ultra in those days.
Even the FRA’s runs tended to be much shorter so if you wanted to go further
than marathon distance (and few did) then it was generally a ‘Challenge walk’
organised by the Scouts, the 4 Inns was one such walk. It is bizarre that now
there seem to be the choice of a dozen or so ‘hardest runs in the world’ every
weekend.
Starting up in the 50’s, the 4 Inns was notorious for a
couple of Scouts having died on it in the early 60’s from exposure. The race
wasn’t cancelled after that tragedy (though I believe it came close) but things
like kit and checkpoints were tightened up.
The 4 Inns was a race for teams of 4 in the region of
40miles (though back in those GPSless days it was considered to be much nearer
50 miles) over some of the darkest of the Dark Peaks
moors from Holmbridge to Buxton. As well as a challenge physically and
mentally, it was a challenge of navigational skills too.
We got dispensation in 1976 to run an under age team. Both
Rob and I were 17 but Paul was only 16. However, since Mark was 18 and
considered an adult, we were allowed to run. Long days in the back of Robs Dads
old Humber were spent getting us to practice
sessions and kit was honed too. In those days required kit included woollen
shirts, moleskin breeches and boots with a ‘nailed or commando’ type sole. You
also needed to carry a stove, fuel (but strangely no matches). Energy food was
Kendal Mint cake, marzipan and pressed dates. How times have changed.
I guess we ought to have been apprehensive but I can’t
recall being so. Whether that was as a result of being blissfully unaware of
the enormity of the challenge or through innocent invincibility makes no
difference now but we did it – and in style too. The ‘old hands’ at Drum Hill
had choked on their pint mugs of tea and passed scornful comment when they knew
we had entered (no-one was allowed to drink out of Normans mug by the way.
No-one I knew had ever met Norman and he never put in an appearance at Drum
Hill in all the years I worked there, but that was his mug and had to be kept
in case he turned up). Their best time of 13-14hrs or so was considered
unbeatable and we would soon get our come-uppance. They were convinced we’d be
out before Edale, bedraggled and blistered and sobbing for Mum.
Well, we showed them. It is difficult to remember much about
the race now some 36yrs on, but it all seemed to flow. We each had our patches,
as is the way of running in a team, but we were surprisingly well matched for
novices and managed to finish 4th overall out of a total of 100 or
so teams and in a time of 11.03. Disappointingly we were only however 2nd
Novice team since 20th Harrogate (a
team of experienced fell runners) decided to enter that year for the 1st
time and came 2nd overall. Back at Drum Hill, having blown the old
lags time out of the water we were treated with new respect and had come of
age. I had also found a new sport and a fresh talent.
It in fact took me some years to beat that 11.03 time (4th
member syndrome mainly) but by 1993 and by 34yrs old I had reduced the time to
9.22.
Fast forward to 2012 and my 25th 4 Inns (23 prior
finishes and one DNF). I had run the 50th 4 Inns a couple of years
back after a break of a few years and had the bug again. In 2011 I ran the race
with Wayne and Andy as a last minute replacement and with not a lot of training
managed a time against all odds of 9.27 – only 5minutes off my PB … but I had
suffered … badly.
A thought was germinating after that race though. Over the
years for one reason or another I have felt that I have not achieved my full potential
on the 4 Inns. Most of my other PB’s were a distant memory now but this one was
niggling at me. With a bit more training might I not be able to beat it, even
now in the ‘twilight’ of my Ultra running years?
So here we were, the same team and the omens were looking
good. A long hot and dry spell in March was helping to dry the moors out nicely,
but would have been too hot to run in. Saturday morning however looked to be
perfect – dull and overcast, with little wind and a high enough cloud level to
see the tops forecast good, cool running and perfect weather for successful
navigation over the moors.
It’s not often that one of my runs goes to plan, but this
one did. I wasn’t sure how my legs might be affected by the TP100 only 4wks
before and that was my main worry. As it happened my knees creaked from the
off, up the road to the 1st inn, the Isle of Skye (long past pulling
pints, this one though). We quickly settled into a chatty pace, pretty much the
same as 2011. We started with a White
Peak team which put us
under some pressure and they did pass us on the 1st off road bit. We
were to leapfrog each other for most of the day.
Black Hill was fine. I felt quite good overtaking some of
the walking teams on the rise to the plateau and I didn’t feel stretched like I had in 2011.
Crowden CP was a brief Perpetuem refill stop only and the
pace to Torside was reasonable. Torside itself was a long, long drag as usual,
yo-yoing with White
Peak again, but we saw
them off just before the end of the path. We took what seemed to be a fairly
indirect route over Bleaklows ‘sloping’ plateau and dropped just below the
plane. The plane is one of Bleaklows sights, the wreck of a B29 Superfortress
that hit the edge in 1948, it is a good aid to navigation, being spread over a
pretty large area.
Then another fairly indirect route to the Pennine Way and I worried that we might
have lost a bit of time. As it was we stayed in front of White Peak
and we were up on our 2011 time. This was where, in 2011 I had struggled quite
badly and the difference, and extra training was clearly telling. I was still
suffering a bit though. I took my 1st (& only) Ibuprofen of the
day for my knees and stuffed some caramel shortcake down too. The pain in my
knees was getting a little intrusive but it was something I was able to cope
with.
The run down the Snake felt great in the Hokas, no pain at
all. Next was the ascent onto the Kinderscout plateau via Seal Stones – always
a stern test. This year wasn’t a lot different and was as painful as usual. I
felt I was struggling a bit here but caught up the other two over the plateau. But
the next bit is now the worst bit for me and my knees really felt the strain
going down Golden Clough just as they always do these days. I used to be able
to run down here … ouch, even the thought of that now is enough to make my
knees throb.
The rest of the route to Edale CP was fine (& 9mins
faster than in 2011) and we helped ourselves by not stopping too long. I set
off before the others trying to get a corned beef sandwich down as I went on.
We ran a lot of the Chapel Gate path and then nearly all the
way into Chapel. White
Peak were coming in as we
left the CP but our time over this section was a whopping 11mins faster than
last year.
We were perhaps a little longer in the Chapel CP than we
ought to have been. I aborted a WRVS cup of tea when it looked like taking
hours (it was a sort of ‘just sit yourself down young man and I’ll put the
kettle on’ type of CP) and we walked a lot of the next section to the railway.
In hindsight we probably lost a few minutes here. Nonetheless we weren’t too
bad, though Andy (having done precious little training since his bike accident)
was feeling the pace a little.
It was here that I first looked in more detail at our
prospects. We had got through Edale in 5hrs leaving us 4hrs for a sub 9hr time.
I had thought in my pre-race calculations that that sub 9hrs looked decidedly
optimistic but it would depend on how we were up to the Cat, since we had
struggled here in 2011.
At Whitehall CP I knew we could do the last bit in 2hrs and although it looked like our time
might be about 9.05, a PB was very definitely on. I told the others – this
would be the defining section.
We started off not too convincingly and not too fast for the
1st bit to the road. But we were all pretty relaxed about it and ran
ok along the dam. Shooters Clough was tough, a real bitch of a whaleback and
almost never-ending. But with little wind it was almost warm, something unheard
of up at the Cat and Fiddle (the 4th Inn),
one of the most exposed places in the country. I have known white-outs here on
raceday before, but today was much, much kinder.
I knew that we could do the last section in 40mins, so began
a countdown. We had to get to the Cat in 8.20 and if we did we stood a chance.
It looked close. For once however the top of the whaleback seemed to come
earlier than it usually does. As we topped the rise the Cat still looked a way
off but we had time in hand and made it about 7-8m up on a 9hr ETA and 7mins up
on last year. That in itself had given us the possibility of a sub 9hr time and
for the 1st time I was looking at not only a PB but a sub 9hr time
too. We barely stopped at the Cat to hand in our tickets and trogged off down
the road. White Peak were well behind us now.
The run downhill felt good but on the Roman Road, Wayne started
slowing. Not now, I thought since he had been the strongest throughout.
‘30mins’ I shouted back. Wayne
knocked back a few Jelly Babies and by the time we had crested the ridge and
started down the other side he had caught us up. ‘20mins’. We ran down to the
road ok and amazingly I felt good – not at all like I had felt this time last
year. Andy was struggling a bit now. He had a blister that was making itself
felt but pushed on through it well and we got to the finish CP in 8.54, with time to spare!!
Wow, 19years since my 9.22 PB and I had beaten it – and by
close to ½hr too. It hadn’t felt hard. I had enjoyed the run and it had felt
memorable for being able to carry on at a pace we could have a friendly chat.
No one had struggled too much and our strongest sections had been the hardest
ones, over the moors and up the hills. A strong race throughout and to say I
was chuffed to beat 9hrs too is a massive understatement. I had never
realistically seen that on the cards and whilst I’d hoped for it, it really was
hope rather than expectation.
The 4 Inns has always meant a lot to me and has to be one of
my favourite races. I have always thought that I could do better, but one thing
or another has always meant I’ve never felt I have reached my potential. To do
so now is a great boost to my confidence. It is admittedly the type of route I
enjoy, where I can mix my running and walking but it does feel good to have got
under 9hrs at last. Its taken 36yrs since I 1st ran it in 1976 for
everything to fall into line, so maybe its time to retire … on a high … Ha!
