On a weekend when many eyes were focused on the London Marathon, I ran my self-planned ultramarathon from the Northern Hull Community Rainbow Gardens, across the Humber Bridge and into the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t schedule the run for the day of the marathon, Sunday 4th of October, which was a bright day for most of us. Instead I completed my 40-mile ultramarathon on the unseasonably wet Saturday 3rd of October.
Conditions really were pretty awful, bu volunteers, trustees and staff of the Rainbow Community Garden in North Hull braved the rain to see me off at 10am. At the start, I also had the company of two other runners: Andy (a friend) and Ken Upshall, Chair of the Community Garden’s board of trustees.
Ken ran for around 7 miles, as far as the Humber Bridge, where more supporters from the Rainbow Garden were gathered to cheer me and Andy on. Then after another 9 miles, Andy stopped and I continued alone along the Viking Way into the Lincolnshire Wolds.
The weather conditions meant that the trails became increasingly slippery throughout the day, so I had to adapt my route in the afternoon to run partly on the road, rather than on the Viking Way footpath.
After 9 hours of running, and approximately 41 miles (I’m actually not sure of the exact distance, because the battery ran out on my watch at mile 37) I arrived at the finish ‘line’, wearing a head torch as darkness descended. I ended my run in the village of Tealby in the Lincolnshire Wolds, where friends greeted me and provided some much-needed hot water and a meal.
A friend created this video bringing, together some clips and photos from the day.
I wanted to do this run to emulate what I’ll face at the Cape Wrath Ultra, and also to raise funds and awareness for Rainbow Community Gardens. So far, you lovely people have donated more than £800.
Thank you. And watch this space for more updates on my training for Cape Wrath 2021!
John's Ultramarathon 