AN AUSSIE AT THE UK’S CHILTERN RIDGE ULTRA

Kate Dzienis • May 28, 2022

Contributed by Clifford Jones, AURA member (Palm Cove, Qld)

CHILTERN RIDGE ULTRA 50KM, Chiltern Hills (England), 7 May 2022

I WAS VISITING THE UK FOR PERSONAL FAMILY REASONS AND WANTING TO MAKE THE MOST OF MY TRIP, so looked for an ultra event around the weekend of 7 May as this would be in the middle of the break.

A quick review of the UK ultra scene identified the Chiltern Ridge Ultra 50km Trail as a good event to participate in. Located in the Chilterns, rolling countryside to the North West of London, the event was booked as soon as I had flights and accommodation confirmed.

My A Race for this year was the Noosa 80km, taking place 5 weeks beforehand. My coach looked at my plans with the weary gaze of someone who knows his student suffers from FOMO and we tried to formulate a plan. In the end, my only goal was to complete the event, which in retrospect was just as well!

And so it was, on the morning of 7 May, I arrived at the start line. The promised pleasant morning had turned into a cold, drizzly spring morning that only people who’ve lived in the UK fully understand.

Layers were the order of the day. Running shirt, thermal top and rain proof jacket were worn, with running vest over the top. Sun visor was worn in the hope it might eventually perk up. Sunglasses were dismissed and left in the car. Oh ye of little faith, you lived here for long enough, you should have remembered what May was like…

Clifford Jones at the Chiltern Ridge Ultra 50km Trail in the UK. Photograph – Clifford Jones.

The start was delayed due to a queue for the loo. How very English! Culturally accustomed to queuing, you don’t start until everyone is ready!

The race started in the beautiful English countryside. The Tuscan hills it was not, but the scenery was still worthy of the effort. The terrain was a mix of farmers’ fields with a sprinkling of sheep, lambs and cows as well as the occasional horse. One of the delightful things about England is ancient rights of way and whilst farmers loathe them, they allow runners, walkers and people out for the day access to areas you’d not expect to be able to access. The course also took in areas of natural beauty and historic areas under the control of the National Trust.

A particular novelty was running across two golf courses…I had to wait for a tee shot on one crossing. Didn’t want to exit the event with a golf ball to the noggin’.

There were 4 main checkpoints with 3 of them being village halls. This meant there were proper toilet facilities available. Each checkpoint was manned by lovely crew and a great feature was that a chalk board with the distance you’d run, how far to the next check point it was and the distance to the end. Well equipped with water, nutrition and nibbles, these would be essential.

You would have noticed that I hadn’t spoken about how my race went…I have problems with nutrition and on this particular day I was to experience the worst of this. I was fine and running well within myself to about 25km when nausea appeared, similar to the Noosa event. Unfortunately this time I eventually was sick, so that was a first for me! Not something I wish to repeat and definitely needs to be addressed.

I am never going to place in these events, my aim is to simply push and learn about myself, but being sick does not help with whatever race pace you had. However slow I am, I more than make up for it in being stubborn and so I worked a strategy to get to the end, with a combination of running and walking, setting goals as I went.

I strolled into the finish chute within the cut-off, collected my medal and whilst not happy with the time, happy that I completed my first overseas event. And as they say, what doesn’t kill you does make you stronger.

Pictured (feature): Clifford Jones at his Noosa race earlier in the year. Photograph – Supplied.

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