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| Photo from Chris Gurney's post in The Drogo 10, 2015. |
Meet the last castle to be built in England, Castle Drogo. Set in 450 acres and completed in 1930, it took 19 years to build. It was run as a home for babies made homeless during the second world war. Today it's Grade 1 listed and run by the National Trust and is undergoing a conservation project until 2017 to make it watertight. An impressive granite building with a rich history and a fitting the stage for my final challenge to raise money for http://www.jeremiahsjourney.org.uk/ and https://www.stlukes-hospice.org.uk/
Devon in the autumn (and Dartmoor in particular) means rain. Bucketfuls. A squall greeted me when I went to see Plymouth Albion lose to Darlington on the eve of the race. A slippery trail adds an extra frisson of risk on steeper descents. A shame perhaps as I hope for a PB and don't want to be too cautious.
I was fueled for lunch at the said rugby by a tasty meat pie. Worried I needed more carbs, I forced pasta down myself in the evening. Went to bed somewhat full.
A little drier Sunday morning, the usual race briefing was prefaced with a warning that we will need to scrub ourselves off in a sheep dip at the end to avoid spreading a fungus that kills oak trees. That'll be nice.
From the off, the race profile shares the characteristics of a roller coaster with relatively little flat. The first mile or so is a sharp downhill stumble/sprint to a narrow footbridge over the River Teign. Clock sub 6 min mile. Arrive ahead of the pack to avoid bottlenecks and over we go and then ease off a little.
Jog eastwards along the lumpy river path, mud accumulating on my calves. I pass a man limping, perhaps paying the price for too fast a start and ask if he's ok.
At 3 miles there's a 400ft climb spread over 0.3 miles reaching a 28% grade at one point. Ouch. Part way up, I adopt an ungainly wobbly walk (quicker than running) and hope that others won't notice. Think Monty Python. Pace tumbles to 20:30 min mile for a short spell.
After a mile, we descend almost to the river, head back up again and finally down to mile 6 for a flat (ish) 2 miles. At this stage my average pace is 7:35 which would see me smash my previous best. This is misleading as I know that there's a 440ft climb at mile 8 which will slow things right down. Sure enough it does and here is me puffing and panting up the fabled Hunters path:
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| Photo courtesy of Wild Dodo Photography |
Just I was didn't think I could go much further, the path leveled off. An undulating mile to the finish, punctuated by seeing my wife and 3 year old son playing in the trees. His yell of "Dad" was a great pick me up and got me to the end. Over the line and I was actually given a scrubbing brush for the sheep dip!
https://www.strava.com/activities/433423593
PB of 1:16:30, 48th out of 477.
There's a delightful epilogue. Bovey Castle http://www.boveycastle.com/are supporters of Jeremiah's Journey. The previous day, when I told their events manager what I has been doing, she booked my family a complimentary meal. What an amazing place! Valet parking, log fires, a beautiful setting and impeccable service. We didn't want to leave. A real act of kindness. Quite glad I had scrubbed down after the race.
A huge thanks to everyone who has supported my fundraising for Jeremiah's Journey and St Lukes. This year, I've run or cycled over 1,908 miles (139,000 ft ascent) and have done 176k of swimming. I've loved it of course but am relieved to be cutting back a bit now!
Here's a link to the fundraising page if you would like to donate:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StephenDilley
