Report by Louise
Sunday 6th February 2022
The weather was a balmy 6˚C when we arrived in Saltburn. Thankfully, my sister Laura (who was also running it with me) lives just a ten-minute drive away and knew the area really well. We parked opposite the golf club, which was around a five-minute walk to race HQ at Huntcliffe School.
Having spent the previous week freezing while waiting for the Northern Cross Country women’s race in Pontefract (thanks Storm Malik), it was a pleasant surprise to find we could wait in the school building and use real toilets!
After a quick kit check (which they’re very strict about) and a race briefing, the race began at 10 am on the road outside of the school. We set off at a decent jogging pace and headed off down through Saltburn Valley Gardens in the sunshine.
After a mile or so, we made it to the seafront, crossed the road, and began our first ascent. I was pleased that absolutely everyone in my line of sight was walking up the first incline. At this point, we joined the Cleveland Way, a route I’m familiar with (though not this section). The incline here is steep, climbing up to 110m (365 ft) from sea level.
Once on the top, there were an undulating few miles across the cliff tops, passing the Charm Bracelet sculpture before climbing down to sea level again and taking in some steps on the sand. Apart from strong winds, the weather during this section was sunny and pleasant.
After skirting around the beach at Skinningrove, we came to our first checkpoint where there were sweets, biscuits, water, and Pepsi. Now I understood why so many people had collapsible cups dangling from their backpacks!
After the quick pitstop, there was another series of steps, which we walked up again. The next couple of miles involved climbing to our highest point of 244m (800 ft), where we made a sharp right turn.
We welcomed the downhill section for the next couple of miles and at the bottom of the hill, almost at sea level again, we arrived at Checkpoint 2 at Carlin How. This checkpoint had bags of salted nuts, sweets, and chewy refresher bars as well as Pepsi and water.
I was glad of the refresher bar I’d grabbed as we made our way up yet more steps. Soon after, it started to hail. We laughed, grateful that hail just falls off you and doesn’t soak into your clothes… (!) We thought it would be short-lived yet soon enough, we were in a full-on hailstorm that lasted for the next couple of miles. We continued trudging through exposed fields shielding our faces from the brutal attack! Just as we decided to put on our rain jackets (having believed it wouldn’t last long), the hail cleared. By this point though, we had soaking feet, and numb and swollen hands (despite gloves). I also had a rather attractive swollen face. The temperature had dropped to around 3˚ C at this point.
The course continued to undulate through fields until we came into Skelton Green where the solid ground was very welcome. We continued on footpaths and tracks, and at Mile 12 (KM 20), we reached our third and final checkpoint. We grabbed some sweets but struggled to open them with our numb fingers.
The final few miles took us through ground that even I was familiar with. We passed my sister’s house (almost) and ran through some woods I’d been in before. We passed over a bridge, under a viaduct, and through the valley now in glorious sunshine again.
For our final kilometer, we’d re-joined our starting route and the end was almost in sight. The school drive seemed steeper than I remembered but we plodded on to the school door, our finishing line. We’d been running (and walking!) for 3h20 minutes. According to my watch, the route was 14.93 miles with 610 m (2000 ft) of ascent.
The warm school hall was a great place to finish with crisps, hot drinks, and Pepsi alongside the medals and t-shirts.
Overall, it was a really fun and enjoyable race – and I think the most enjoyable I’ve ever done, despite the hail! I’d definitely recommend it (and also recommend two pairs of gloves and a collapsible cup!