Rob pointed out an interesting fact about this route. It is perhaps the only full marathon where one can see the entire route from several points along the course.
Paused at Blackcap we scanned the horizon from south west to east. Sure enough all the peaks were clearly visible, as were some of the veinous interconnecting white chalk trails. My attempts to capture the vista through a sequence of photos on my phone failed. The impact of seeing the challenge laid out before us was breathtaking, not to mention daunting. A bonus feature on what is turning out to be a cracking route.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
I've been so busy this week I've not written up the rather short section from the top of the W to Rodmell. I ran this late on Sunday, hoping to cover the SDW section across the Ouse into the foothills of Firle Beacon. Time and daylight were against me.
There are several routes we can take from the end of Death Valley to the top of the Yellow Brick Road. All involve a serious hill climb (which I didn't map this time. I restarted the Garmin at the centre of the top of the Big W). The pay-off is a lovely long descent, with views out across the Firle/ Glynde/ Caburn valley before ducking into the heavy woodland and sweeping farmlands around Rodmell.
Sadly I can't post more than one photo per report (an iPad anomoly, I think). I'll post a full pictoral on my Facebook page later. I hope to complete this section, up to Firle Beacon, early on Saturday. The weather forecast is for torrential rain.
Perfect.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(22-08-2013, 09:15 PM)Sweder Wrote: I hope to complete this section, up to Firle Beacon, early on Saturday. The weather forecast is for torrential rain.
Perfect.
You are the mad man of RC, of that there can be no doubt.
Lewes Marathon: Rodmell/ Firle/ Glynde/ Mount Caburn
Grey mizzle greeted my return to Rodmell. I picked up the South Downs Way where I'd left it a week earlier, crossing the old Newhaven road and dropping down towards Southease. I passed a delightful cottage before taking the narrow bridge across the river Ouse, slicked green with verdant pond weed.
The crossing at Southease is an issue. There's a pedestrian gate alongside the road crossing. On the station platform is a horribly steep stair bridge. The obvious crossing point for runners is the gate but I cannot see this being sanctioned for an official race. It will of course be fine for our inaugural invitational, where all starters accept responsibility for their own recognisance.
Once across, the stoney trail leads up into a farm yard. A sign mounted on a well-appointed Sussex flint wall points the way up a spiralling climb. Another bridge, this over the main Newhaven road, offers ribbed footing on one half, most useful for those of us in off-road shoes running in the wet. On, on, on climbs the trail, through sheep fields, past thorn bushes, over upward. The views at this point are breathtaking. Even on a misty, grizzly day such as this I could see the ocean at Seaford, the top of the YBR directly behind and, off to the right, across the A27, Blackcap's peak smothered in low cloud. To my left, across the valley, Mount Caburn, Lewes Golf Club and the town below.
After the initial steep climb the Firle section continues to ramble upward and eastward. At some point I lost my bearings. I passed the drop to Firle House, part of the Firle 20 route I ran with Moyleman back in 2007. This would shorten the route too much, I knew. Yet, ten minutes and a mile later I was still on Firle ridge running east, away from Mount Caburn and the end of the race. I got anxious, taking the next route down off the fell. This turned out to be a treacherous, slippery slope leading to nowhere in particular but heading vaguely west in the lea of the hill. At this point, whilst attempting to mark the point by hitting 'lap', I managed to stop my watch, hence the suicidal plunge on the elevation map. I lost around fifteen minutes before I realised and re-started. This way was clearly not right. I should have either dropped down the road to Firle House or carried on to the drop into Alfriston. Looking at the overall mileage accrued to date it must be the latter.
No matter. I regained my bearings, passed the delightful Beanstalk Tea Gardens and took the cinder track back into Firle Village. There I joined the road back to the A27, another potentially contentious crossing point for runners. There are no lights here, just a traffic island to assist pedestrians. The road is busy, it's like trying to cross a Grand Prix circuit on race-day. I must have waited over two minutes to cross, even then putting a spurt on to avoid homicidal traffic. It must have been this demand on my already depleted resources that scrambled my brain. Instead of seeking a roadside route west to Glynde village I figured I'd go across country and pick up the river. Problem was, there was no river trail. No trails whatsoever, rather dense, soggy crop fields through which I ploughed heavily, weighed down as much by a sense of foreboding as perpetual precipitation. It's hard to fathom why I struggled so badly. I'd had a light running week, just two outings involving hill sprints. I crossed the railway tracks via a farmer's gate before finally reaching the river, turned left along the bank until I reached Glynde village, sighing heavily within. As general distance/ elevation guide that section of mapping might be useful, but in terms of a workable route it's a write-off.
At least I was back on the right path. Running through the picturesque village I gazed up to my left. Mount Caburn loomed impossibly high above, like Mount Doom in the Thomas Covenant stories. It was going to take a monumental effort to scale that. The worrying thing was I'd barely covered seven miles and felt utterly drained. On race-day this challenge will come at around mile 22. Sure enough I struggled, walking at times. I took Ranscombe Lane but once again lost concentration and ended up on the wrong side of a farmer's fence. After a scramble down a perilous muddy bank through a dense thicket and some maniacal goose-stepping over a low barbed-wire fence, I managed to get back on the proper route. Once again I marvelled at the vistas on offer at the summit. This is one of at least five points on the route where you can see all five peaks and the shaded patchwork valleys in between. Even on the foulest day this sense of scale will stand the course out from many others.
I chugged along the trail to Lewes Golf Club, accepting that I'd failed to prepare this section properly and would be back out here when I return from the Antipodes. I ended the mapping there. Route-wise it's junk, but it does contribute to the elevation profile. I lack the skills (and tools) to stitch my maps together, as the effort shown below makes clear. Yet you still get a sense of the scale of the challenge. I'll come back and do the whole route on a bike (once I've discussed all this with Duncan and Rob and we've tweaked some of the sections). I'm not an experienced mountain-biker, yet I feel confident enough to ride the route, conceding that there will be a fair bit of bike-walking involved.
Top left is the first (Lewes to top of Big W), top right W/ YBR/ Rodmell
The bottom two images are Sunday's run - left Rodmell/ Southease/ Firle, right Glynde/ Mount Caburn/ Lewes Golf Club
Likely route:
Lewes Prison/ Blackcap/ Houndean Farm/ Castle Hill/ Death Valley/ Yellow Brick Road/ Rodmell/ Southease/ Firle Beacon/ Alfrison/ Firle House/ Glynde/ Mount Caburn/ Lewes Golf Course/ Cliffe High St/ John Harvey Tavern.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
There's much afoot in the world of The Moyleman Marathon.
It's MM, isn't it? Moyleman being one word. This matters, you see, because the two M's offer a rather useful excuse for a logo, incorporating the two Ms, to reflect the hilly nature of the course. Better brains than mine will be working on this.
Headline news: we have our route.
Rob, Duncan and I met at Chez Sweder this afternoon. Rob and I ran the tricky Firle section this morning, mapping a path to Bo Peep farm, back past Charleston Farmhouse and Firle Place, to Glynde. It turns out my errant drop off the ridge (previous post) was barely 100 yards off course.
We met at mine, over tea and wasabi popcorn, to compare data sheets. We agreed and noted each point along the complete route, Duncan providing GPS data (mileage) between points. He'd dropped off Firle before the Beacon so didn't have that data. I recorded that on my Garmin today.
The grand total adds up to 26.363 miles. Given that we have at least 300 yards to play with (both start and finish lines can be adjusted) we're there. Next steps are:
- create that logo
- fire up a website
- enable registration (limited to 50 runners to keep a lid on costs)
- talk to a potential sponsor (just for medals for now)
We have the following lined up:
- race date: Sunday 23rd February. It's half term week, the 17th is Brighton Half, the following Sunday the Stinger.
Some though given to moving after the Stinger to create back-to-back monster races
- Chief of Marshals will be Tom Roper of this parrish. Delighted about this.
- several offers to marshal, including Camilla
- plenty of interest from local runners
- marshal points and water stations mapped out
We plan to use simple coloured disks, strapped to fencing and gates, to mark the route. Key junctions, splits in the route and the three crossing points (2 roads, 1 railway) will all be marshalled. Water containers will be dropped off early doors at each station, unless we can pursuade volunteers to take them. All stations are reachable by road/ have parking nearby.
Key points:
1. Spital Road (start)
2. Blackcap
3. South Downs Way
4. Bunkershill Plantation
5. Long Hill
6. Housedean Farm (Water, Marshal)
7. A27 bridge
8. Railway Arch 710
9. Loose Bottom
10. Castle Hill Nature Reserve
11. Death Valley
12. Burned Out Farm
13. Swanborough Hill
14. Kingston Ridge
15. Yellow Brick Road
16. Mill Hill
17. Farm Drive
18. C7 crossing (Marshal)
19. Bridge Over The River Ouse
20. Southese Station (Marshal)
21. Youth Hostel (Water)
22. New Bridge
23. Itford Hill
24. Firle Tumulus
25. Firle Bostal (car park) (Water)
26. Firle Beacon
27. Bo Peep Farm
28. Charleston Farmhouse/ Under Downs trail
29. Firle Place
30. A27 Preston House (Marshal)
31. Trevor Arms pub, Glynde
32. Ranscombe Lane
33. Mount Caburn
34. Lewes Golf Club (Water)
35. Chapel Hill
36. Cliffe High Street (finish)
John Harvey Tavern (beer)
The route nods to the Jog Shop 20, covers much of the Firle 20 and kisses the high point of the Seaford Half.
It seems the toughest thing about this event will be to run it.
It's a brute.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
When you say you will be opening up a website, limited to 50 entrants, does that mean it will be a public event, needing insurance, local authority approval etc? Or will it be a strictly private affair?
Incidentally while searching for my next marathon, I came across this chap, who seems to be something of a kindred spirit.
For the logo - would be great if you could get the help of the Rooks graphic designer!
Good point re the logo, Dan. Those boys are earning their corn this season, and no mistake. The latest in a long line of excellent posters features below.
2014 is what you might call an 'invitational'. It's a test event and a private affair, so we can get away with quite a lot on this first effort.
In writing to potential sponsors today it occurred to me any 'official' race might draw upwards of 200 runners. If we run a half, you could double that. This would mean road closures, heaps of marshals and, yes, dreaded insurance. It will also mean UKA sanctions, entry fees, administration ... and into a fresh hell we go.
Road closures is a big issue. I've reached out tentatively to Lewes District Council to sound this out. We won't need to close anything for 50-odd runners finishing in a 90 minute window up 200 yards of high street (which has little to no vehicular traffic on a Sunday). In 2015, however, and in order to bring the half home to the same point (from the opposite direction, too, which is kind of cool) we would need to cover quite a bit of road - just over a mile, all told. I can't see us avoiding partial road closures for that one.
In theory this won't be anything like as well subscribed as the big road races. The course is tough, technical and, at that time of year, a beast underfoot. In 2013 Steyning recorded 208 full finishers and 225 half finishers. We might be looking at similar numbers after a year or two.
In short, I need to win the lottery/ retire so I can give this my full attention.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Obviously I don't know the area, but might it be possible to tailor the start and finish with the specific aim of keeping it off road? Even if that involves another round of plotting now, it might pay dividends in the future to be able to avoid road closures.
(21-10-2013, 08:20 PM)marathondan Wrote: Obviously I don't know the area, but might it be possible to tailor the start and finish with the specific aim of keeping it off road? Even if that involves another round of plotting now, it might pay dividends in the future to be able to avoid road closures.
The 26.2 is pretty much there, aside from the very last few hundred metres. It would be easy to add half a mile along the way and finish just before the Golf Club (on top of the Cliffe) but there are logistical problems (mostly a very narrow road up to that point). Repatriation would be a nightmare, and runners would have to walk 300 metres down a very steep hill on shattered legs.
The in-town finish (close to a number of car parks) offers a chance for family and friends to welcome the runners home. It also provides a wonderful setting for the finale, one that out-of-towners would appreciate. That section of street is pedestrianised (with limited access to vehicles). It's the half that poses more problems.
I mapped a half route that finishes at The Swan, at the end of Juggs Lane, and would be entirely off-road. This would mean two separate finish lines around a mile apart. Not the end of the world, as there would be time to finish the half and amble across (relatively flat terrain) to the brewery for a swift half or two in time to welcome the leaders home.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
As I survey this thread and my part in helping with this, I feel a bit like David Byrne wondering - how did I get here?
You may ask yourself, where does that highway lead to?
You may ask yourself, am I right, am I wrong?
You may say to yourself, my god, what have I done?
etc
It feels simultaneously entirely normal, and at the same time bizarre.
It's not yet a year since I donned my first running trainers and I can look at this route and think - I might not die going round.
Re-ran the 'half' route (which came up short, as it turned out) this morning. It's as challenging as I remember it, though by far the 'easier' of the two sections of the main route.
Here's the elevation map. The darkened area is part of the Moyleman Marathon course. The lighter section at the end is the (current) ending of the proposed Half. A slightly different route will be found to bring the half home to Harveys brewery without closing roads (nb Dan, this appears to be possible by traversing a couple of sports fields and picking up the route along the river into town)
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
