The SVP100 - my first post-lockdown race

For anyone that looks at this and decides TL:DR, a summary:

I entered a race, lockdown happened, the race still managed to go ahead, I got injured, ran anyway, it was great. Now my leg is really swollen.

For those that have some time and a cup of strong coffee to hand this is the long version...

I entered the SVP100 way before anyone had heard of Covid-19. It would be my sixth time at the race and whilst I know many people don't like repeating races too much I like the SVP100 because it is very well organised, very friendly and a nice route. It also takes me out of my comfort zone as most races I enter are ~50km and/or multiday, 100km in one hit is quite different for me.

Obviously once C-19 hit and we went into lockdown races were being cancelled on a regular basis. To his credit Matthew Hearne remained relentlessly optimistic about the SVP races right through lockdown and appeared to be constantly planning what would need to happen to be able to stage the races. I loved his optimism but I must admit I found it hard to share it as more and more races fell victim to lockdown.

On the 11th of July an email was sent out to confirm the race had its permit and various aspects (start, finish and checkpoints - which is most of the race really) would be modified to comply with social distancing. The biggest changes were that there would be a 'rolling' start and face coverings and hand sanitiser would be compulsory at checkpoints.

As the day got nearer and more information was sent out I got more and more excited that I was going to get to run my first race for months and only my second in 2020. The obvious thing to do was to rest and get to the start line in tip-top condition. I don't do 'nothing' very well and anyway a nice easy 6 mile run with friends two days before the race wouldn't hurt would it? Well yes, quite a lot after an encounter with a hole in the ground led to my calf making an audible popping noise which led to Sharon having to bring the car round as near as she could get to me and me having to be helped back to said vehicle. One of the people I was running with was a physio. I won't name her as she may not wish to be associated with my stupidity but she knows me very well and so didn't immediately tell me there was no way I would be running on Saturday. Instead we discussed ice, compression, elevation and optimal loading.

Friday involved a lot of all those things! By Friday evening I could almost walk without hobbling and tried jogging up and down the living room. I managed to convince myself that my calf felt better jogging than walking. To put this in perspective, in the past I have convinced myself that ice cream and black pepper are OK served together at a restaurant, that the Morris Marina wasn't a terrible car and that a bottle or two of red wine is good carb loading for a race the next day. I still believe the last one. There was still 12 hours to go until the start so I decided to forego the red wine but pack my race kit and drop bag just in case something miraculous happened overnight. I included my poles in my race kit just in case I made it far enough through the race that I would have time to limp to the finish if things went (even more) wrong.

Although I managed to convince myself things were better by morning an overnight miracle had, rather predictably, not happened. However having woken up at 5:15, and more importantly woken Sharon up at 5:15, I wasn't going to rule myself out just yet so I put on my running kit - complete with calf guards, I hoped they would help - grabbed some bars and sports drink for the journey and off we went, but was I just postponing the inevitable?

The race check-in was very different. For a start it wasn't a check-in, numbers had been sent out in advance, it was just bag-drop and a toilet stop - quite different to the usual buzz and banter in the hall while everyone is waiting for the race briefing. However neither the bag drop or toilet was a problem, and I’m now one step nearer to starting...

However getting to the start involved several steps slightly up hill from the hall to the start point and I'd be lying if I said they were the most comfortable steps I'd ever taken. I stopped to stretch my calf and tried to pretend it was now fine but I still wasn't totally sure if I should start. There was no issue with deciding if it was a good idea or not, I was way past that point, even I couldn't make a case for it being a good idea, the question was really, could I run 100km with a damaged calf? Sharon was walking up with me and said if I wanted to give it a go she would hang around for a while so that if I decided it was a no-go early on she could pick me up. The first mile and half roughly is alongside the A1304 so if it quickly became obvious I couldn't run she could easily rescue me. My other thought was that the cut-off for the first checkpoint is not over-generous, it doesn't require fast running but it does really require running rather than walking. I reckoned if I could get to the first CP inside the cut-off without using my poles (part of the first leg is along Devil's Dyke, an SSSI, where poles are not permitted and anyway I didn’t want to be relying on poles too soon) then I might stand a chance.

At the start I met Gin Lawson who was taking time off from 'Gin's Running Stitch' (check it out if you want custom racewear or imaginative things done with race t-shirts) to volunteer at the start and measure competitors’ temperatures before they were allowed to start. She measured mine, pronounced it OK and soon suggested I should stop chatting and start running - this was it, I was no longer a DNS but could I avoid the dreaded DNF?

I was mainly concentrating on not limping and trying to run normally to avoid aggravating some other part of my body rather than worrying about pace and after about half a mile I found that I could run with more of a dull, nagging ache than limp inducing pain so I considered that a success.

After Devil’s Dyke there are some very nice easy to run sections and I started to actually enjoy myself. I was slightly worried when I passed Adam Jones as I thought he was starting at 6:00. I started at 7:20 so this didn’t seem to bode well for his chances of reaching CP1 before cut-off. Fortunately there had been a delay with the coaches from the finish to the start and so he had started at 7:00, only 20 minutes before me.

I arrived at CP1 in an hour and fifty-three minutes according to my watch, very comfortably inside the cut-off of two and a half hours. The checkpoint was different but still very friendly, the main difference was the requirement to wear a face covering (I just pulled my Buff up) and use hand sanitiser. I had no objection to the hand sanitiser in principle, it was just hat in practice it made my hands very slippery and so opening my Tailwind was tricky! Fortunately someone saw my predicament and cut the top off the packet with scissors for me.

The leg from CP1 to CP2 passed without incident - except for the mud. Dry weather, harvest and some torrential downpours had combined to leave the field crossings extremely muddy and I was arriving at the other side several inches taller and finding out how the world would look if I was average height. Also in previous years when we all started together I would have been one of the first 20-30 people across the field. This year 50-100 people had already been across so the mud had been well and truly churned up!

CP2 to CP3 was similarly fine. CP3 had moved from the cricket pitch to the High Street but the volunteers waved enthusiastically to attract my attention and I didn’t miss it.

A couple of miles after CP3 at Long Melford the Stour Valley Path joins the Valley Trail along a disused railway. This is also where the SVP50 joins the path. As I was running a long I saw a familiar figure wearing a t-shirt (Little Baddow Ridge Runners) much like mine - by complete coincidence I met up with Sharon! 

We ran together to the next checkpoint with me just about keeping up with her. We continued to run and chat to checkpoint 5 (or 2 for the SVP50). This one had also moved but there were plenty of people pointing us in the right direction. It was also a good move to have put the checkpoint in a bigger space as there were a lot of runners sorting themselves out and refuelling ready for the last 13 miles or so. The race medic, Lindley Chambers saw us leave and told us we were looking good. I had seen Lindley at the start but I deliberately avoided him in case he started asking awkward medic type questions about why I was about to start a 100km race with a significant injury…

Not long after the checkpoint you leave Nayland via Gravel Hill. This is without doubt, by a significant margin, my least favourite part of the course. I can’t run all the way up it, it’s too boring to walk all the way up so I end up alternating running and walking in a kind of hopeless ‘surely this must be over soon’ sort of way. Sharon wisely told me to get on with it and she would see me at the finish so I ran on ahead.

The last two legs always seem longer than they really are to me but once I was at CP6 I knew I was going to make it even with the detour to avoid the Fen Bridge which was closed.  I had less than 5 miles to go and about four or five hours to do it in and my poles were still in my pack. Eventually the slightly ant-climatic section along the road to Cattawade came into view - at least this year the hedges had been cut and it was possible to run along the pavement until the turn into the picnic area. I met a marshal at the road crossing who confirmed the finish was where it always was. This was good, I’d got it right four times out of the previous five…

I finished in 11 hours 46 minutes and 8 seconds and 22nd place overall, 19th male and 4th in my age group. Amazingly, given I wasn’t sure I’d finish at all, this was my third fastest time! The finish was inevitably less exuberant than usual. There was much applause and cheering as I finished but I was invited to pick up a medal from the table as opposed to the usual having it hung round my neck and getting a hug from Nicola-Anne. However some things didn’t change and Steve Kjar instantly presented me with my bag and got me some tea! I was very pleased to see Jackie Stretton at the finish. We had been messaging each other the day before as I had my dodgy calf (did I mention that before I this report?) and she had a dodgy knee. We both carried poles, both didn’t use them and both ended up with enormous rubs on our backs from them.

Sharon finished only about 10 minutes later and joined us in a heap on the grass. Adam finished sometime later after Sharon and I left having stayed with a first time ultra-runner who had got lost to make sure he finished, typical of Adam and fortunately typical of many ultra-runners.

Post-race relaxation

So I finished, I have the medal, I’m being sent a t-shirt and I have a left calf 3cm bigger than the right. Was running the right thing to do?  No, of course not, I was very lucky and hopefully haven’t done too much damage - it’s hard to tell when It’s so swollen. Do I regret it? Not yet. Would I do it again? Well I think three of my six SVP100s have been done with some sort of injury, although this was by far the worst, so probably yes. If so many races hadn’t been cancelled already I might have been more inclined to not start but I suspect I would still have done it. I’ll probably be back next year but hopefully fully fit and able to run properly!

Not quite normal - bit like the owner

Thanks to Matthew Hearne for his determination to put his race on when so many were cancelling theirs and of course thanks to all the volunteers and marshals who adapted so well to the very different circumstances but still made it the enjoyable friendly race it has always been. Thanks to Sharon for her unwavering support as always, even when I am doing something beyond unwise. I leave the last word to my anonymous physio - “Remember that conversation we had about optimal loading? 60 miles is not optimal loading!"

It was worth it

x

São Tomé, The Hemisphere Crossing - The Prologue

The question I was most often asked when I said I had entered a race in São Tomé was 'Where?' This was at least a change from the usual 'Why?' São Tomé lies off the west coast of Africa, almost on the Equator. It is the larger of the two main islands of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe. There are several small islands one of which, Rolas, is to the south of São Tomé and is actually on the Equator. São Tomé is 50 km long and 30 km wide, Stefan had to work quite hard to fit a 200km run in such a small space!

Here it is!

The islands were uninhabited until their discovery by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century. Gradually colonized and settled by the Portuguese throughout the 16th century, they collectively served as a vital commercial and trade centre for the Atlantic slave trade. The rich volcanic soil and close proximity to the Equator made São Tomé and Príncipe ideal for sugar cultivation, followed later by cash crops such as coffee and cocoa; the lucrative plantation economy was heavily dependent upon imported African slaves. Cycles of social unrest and economic instability throughout the 19th and 20th centuries culminated in peaceful independence in 1975. São Tomé and Príncipe has since remained one of Africa's most stable and democratic countries. With a population of 201,800 (2018 official estimate), São Tomé and Príncipe is the second-smallest African sovereign state after Seychelles, as well as the smallest Portuguese-speaking country. Its people are predominantly of African and mestiço descent, with most practicing Roman Catholicism.

More information can be found by Googling São Tomé and Principe, Wikipedia has quite a good article which may or may not be where I got the short history above from.

I said earlier that Stefan had to work quite hard to fit a 200km route on the island and in fact he hadn't quite made it, the total distance was 198km. However before the race, on Saturday there was to be an untimed prologue around São Tomé Town of about 4.5km. It was to start outside the National Museum we had visited the day before and so we all put on our running kit and walked down to the start.

There were four local runners, two from the sponsors, Valúdo and two other local athletes.

The São Tomé Race Team

This was the first time I had met the local athletes, Ismael and Júlio. I had run Cambodia in Hoka Torrents and, as I had no problems with them, I had  bought a bright orange pair to São Tomé. Rumour had it that Ismael and Júlio could run 10km in 30 minutes so I was delighted to see they had exactly the same shoes as me as I felt they would have a much better idea of what was needed for the terrain.

At least I've got the right shoes...

We had a race briefing....

Mafalda, translating

...and just after 9 'o' clock we were off!

Some of the locals taking part in the Prologue

Ryan, the Chief Doctor, leading the pack

The course wasn't marked and the roads weren't closed but we were lead through the streets by a police truck. This worked quite well on the less crowded streets...

Downtown São Tomé

...but became a bit more of a challenge around the market.

Slightly slower past the market

No one cared as it wasn't a race and it all added to the fun.

We came back to the National Museum to run through the finishing arch and then went into the museum for a look round and prize giving. Actually it wasn't a prize giving as such but Stefan had a selection of hats and t-shirts he gave out to the locals that had joined us on the run.

Finsished! (Photo credit: Global Limits)

I climbed the small light house tower and found Ismael and Júlio already there. This would set the tone for the week, they were generally everywhere before me. I took the opportunity to get a photo with them and our matching shoes.

Some immensely talented runners and me 

We walked back to the hotel and had a quick shower before packing up, checking out and getting into the mini-buses to go to our first camp, Agostinho Neto, the abandoned Botanical Garden House. There was a lunch stop, which was nice, but on to the camp.

The accommodation was interesting to say the least. We were in a couple of large rooms inside slightly small free standing mosquito nets that had taken five and a half months to travel from China.

Not many race camps have chandeliers! 

I had a walk around the grounds...

Our accommodation building

Some people had brought hammocks

The gardens

Local accommodation

...until we were informed there was a bar nearby. We could visit it but the only stipulation was that we should be back for the opening race briefing at 5 pm so off we went.

More anonymous beer

I doubt this bar had ever seen so many foreigners

As we had promised we returned for the race briefing (Mafalda translated as necessary).

Race briefing - Loz is eating as usual (Photo credit: Global Limits)

Afterwards I had food sorted out my kit and then settled down in my mosquito net. Tomorrow the race proper would start...

São Tomé, The Hemisphere Crossing - Leading up to The Prologue

As many of you will know, in November I took part in the Global Limits race The Ancient Khmer Path in Cambodia. You may also have noticed I never wrote a blog about it. Why not? Did I not enjoy it? Was it so dull I couldn't think of anything to write? Or had I just bowed to public pressure and stopped writing very long and boring blogs? The answer is 'none of the above'. I had a fantastic time in great company, the race went through enough varied countryside and temples to be anything but dull (apart from possibly 20km on a red dirt road on the long day) and as you can see I'm still in the long boring blog business. No the answer was simply that I didn't really have time. Why not? Well prior to the race in Cambodia we had been invited to take part in a very special one-off Global Limits race only open to those that had done at least two previous GL races. The race would finish on the Equator and was on an island I had never heard of. It was also in February which was far too close to Cambodia and Christmas so we had not really considered we would enter. However...

Several of the runners in Cambodia had already signed up for the race in São Tomé and when I looked at the entry list we knew roughly 30% of the entrants already. I'd also taken annual travel insurance for Cambodia as it was hardly more expensive than we would have had to pay for two weeks and all the equipment would be about the same as Cambodia so it seemed it was meant to be. The only slight issue was that by the time we decided we wanted to do it (during the presentation meal at the end of Cambodia race) there was only one space left. We asked Stefan if there was any sort of waiting list to which he shrugged and said 'Sixty or sixty-one, I can cope' and we were in! Hence with Christmas and preparing for São Tomé I just ran out of time to write a blog on Cambodia!

Anyway after a last minute hiccup due to Brexit which meant we were sent a visa the day before we left (EU countries don't need a visa but the UK is no longer part of the EU and the 'transitional arrangements' don't apply to non EU countries) we flew to Lisbon on Wednesday and boarded the flight to São Tomé with about 56 other participants and volunteers - there aren't many flights to São Tomé! I should point out there were normal people on the flight too but we made up fair proportion of that day's flight.

My first view of São Tomé

São Tomé was chaotic but we appeared to have some kind of 'fast track' which involved someone taking our passports and promising that we would get them back later... No one wanted to see our visas. We were then all packed into assorted mini buses and taken to our hotel.

Dinner was booked for us at a (the) local restaurant where we got to try our first São Tomé beer - labels on the bottles appeared optional.

Anonymous

Rare labelled bottle

Food was good if a little mysterious at first - what was under the batter?

Friday was race check-in day but that wasn't until the afternoon so we decided to go for a walk - and immediately made a 'friend'. Our new 'friend' pointed us in the direction of the São Tomé National Museum and we assumed he would get bored while we looked round.

Some of São Tomé's Founding Fathers

The São Tomé Deceleration of Independence - I thought they would make more fuss about it

A servant's (slave's) bed

The Master had more luxury

A view of the shoreline

Sharon half way up the lighthouse

No bottled water in those days

A servant would sit by the door 24-7 in case any errands were to be run

São Tomé is largely Catholic...

...and Voodoo

No, our 'friend' hadn't got bored and guided us to our next location, a renovated railway building. São Tomé had a narrow gauge railway from 1913 to 1926, it was 18km long and never made a profit. Like many of the Colonial era buildings on the island, most of the railway buildings had fallen into disrepair but the main shed had been extensively renovated and was becoming a museum and art gallery. As it was still a work in progress the museum mainly consisted of a series of panels detailing the history of the island. I found these fascinating and mentally removed the inverted commas around 'friend' as I would never have visited that place without his guidance - he was now friend.

New timbers in the railway shed

The fact the museum had a small cafe and wi-fi made it even better as we stopped for an unlabelled beer and to post some pictures to annoy our friends.

I'm absolutely certain I wouldn't have wandered into the market buildings without a guide but again it was fascinating to see.

São Tomé fruit and vegetable market

Clothing market

View from above

You can even buy a bed. This is the roof of the market so quite how you get it down I have no idea...

After the market we visited a chocolate shop for ice-cream and told our friend we needed to get back to our hotel. He took us via a supermarket to buy water at a fraction of the price of that in the hotel and then started shouting at  tuk-tuk. It turned out the tuk-tuk was owned by his brother who gave us all a free ride to the hotel!

Our guide

Sadly I can't remember our guide's name but I gave him a few euros and he seemed genuinely grateful and waved us goodbye.

We packed up our kit for check-in and passed our checks and got our race bibs.

Check in (Photo Credit: Global Limits)

'I know I look old and past it but honestly my doctor said it was OK' (Photo Credit: Global Limits)

Checked in and ready to go! (Photo Credit: Global Limits)

That night we had the welcome dinner with the Minister or Sport and Tourism in attendance - the race was big news on the island! He didn't speak English but fortunately one of the volunteers, Mafalda lives on the island is fluent in both English and Portuguese. We heard Stefan say 'Mafalda translate' so often during the week I became fairly convinced her name was 'Mafalda Translate'.

'Mafalda Translate' with the Minister of Sport and Tourism (Photo Credit: Global Limits)

Tomorrow we would get to do some running - a 4.5km untimed prologue run round São Tomé Town with some of the locals...