I had another decent and injury free half marathon on Sunday at Paddock Wood. I’d been waiting to see if I was fit after my two recent races before taking the plunge and planning to run the Welsh 3000s end to end in one go, with Andy H as a running partner and Andrew as the support crew. A revisit of the 3 day hike that we did last year (see posts 45 – 48) , but this time running all the runnable bits and covering the full start to finish from pen-y-pass to the Abergwyngregyn car park in a matter of hours rather than days.
However !!! Despite best efforts, we have so far been unable to work out a date that all 3 could commit to, so have shelved the plan until late summer or early autumn (perhaps).
That has left me with an itch that needs to be scratched, and I’ve decided that the 3 forts challenge should do the trick. This is a 27+ mile trail race over the south downs, taking in the 3 iron age hill forts of Cissbury ring, Chanctonbury ring and the Devil’s Dyke, along rough tracks and with a total ascent of approx 3500 feet. Taking place on 5th May, so only a few weeks to get some hill work and extra mileage in.
I hadn’t realised the event had been resurrected, and when I discovered it a week or so back, I couldn’t resist giving it a go because this will be another trip down memory lane for me (I seem to spend quite a bit of time lurking down memory lane just lately !), as I first ran the 3 forts in 1981, and again in 1982. The 1981 race was only my second ever race as an adult, coming just 3 months after my debut London Marathon in March. As a race, event and route, the 3 forts couldn’t have been much further removed from the crowds and razzmatazz of London, with no crowds and just a couple of hundred runners. It was known as “The tough one” back then, and still is today.
Being the hoarder (and diarist) that I am, I got my archaeologist hat on and dug up these artefacts from 1981 and 1982, which show : 1. A ridiculously youthful Iain (110), a ridiculous me (160) and an anonymous admirer (61) wishing he could carry off the “headband look” with such panache, just before the start of the 1981 race. 2. Me at the finish four & half hours later. 3. Finishing the 1982 event nearly an hour quicker. 4. My 1982 race number (complete with handwritten target times for checkpoints). 5. Cover of the 1982 Three Forts photo sleeve.
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