The Plague – 100K Ultra –

See how our very own Ultra Duo coped with their latest challenge…

 

 

The Plague 100k – 03/08/2024 – Race Report by Pete Gough –

 

Well, this feels like a bit of déjà vu.  The conversation is similar to last time:

Oli: Hi Pete, There’s this race I fancy.  It’s really hard, there’s a 40% DNF rate, it’s really hilly (over 3,600 metres of ascent) and it starts at midnight.  It’s called the Plague. Oh, and it’s 100KM. What do you reckon?  There’s other races on the day (11, 20 and 32 miles) but why not do the toughest?

Pete:  Sounds fun, why not.

I am very easily persuadable.

 

 

So following months of ‘hill’ training around Thanet (well, occasionally running up Nero’s Hill and one ice cliff (see previous race report) we headed off to St Austell feeling positive.  With a day spent pottering round the delightful town of Mevagissey, buying fudge, eating pizza and visiting the local brewery we felt suitable prepared so headed home for an hour’s sleep before the start.

 

 

Suitably rested we checked in and joined the other 140 intrepid souls with flashing red lights at the start line. 

 

 

At 00:05 to green smoke and a fire juggler we were off into the darkness of the Cornish night.  What followed was 6 hours of incredibly difficult running.  Every step had to be carefully considered with rocks, holes, narrow paths and cliffs, all problematic and only a head torch to light the way.  The cut off times were really tough for the first half of the race and after flying through the first checkpoint we soon realised we were going to struggle to hit the second.  Luckily after some fairly poor language and some unexpected bursts of speed we got into Gorran Haven at 11 miles with 5 minutes to spare at around 02:35.  Several cups of coke and jelly mushrooms later we headed back out into the dark and rain (oh joy) for the next 9 miles with a much more lenient cut off.

 

 

This section proved as thrilling as the last with the darkness and hills making it tricky to run for any distance, although the main worry about hitting the cutoff turned out to be 4 horses blocking the path on a leisurely stroll that proved impossible to pass for around half a mile.  Eventually they moved off into the night and we hit the 20 mile check point and the sunrise.  That was a huge bonus as we could suddenly see and we pressed on towards Portscatho over some now stunning scenery – although it was slightly worrying now that we could see how close the cliff edge was. 

 

 

Unfortunately, I now began doing some maths and realised we were particularly close to the cutoff time and halfway between the two checkpoints Oli and I had ‘THE’ conversation and reluctantly decided to split up.  I pushed on with some fairly stupid mile times and bundled into the checkpoint around 10 minutes before it shut and must have looked excited as one of the roaming marshals told every checkpoint after that that I was the most positive runner.  The next stop was the half way point where I found out that Oli had missed the checkpoint cutoff by a measly 3 minutes so was enjoying a bacon sandwich while waiting for the bus.

 

 

The general discussion amongst those who have done this race before is that you need to get to half way before the 32 mile event sets off from the same location.  I was the last runner to get in before that and it was strangely a big moment psychologically.  So it was with renewed vigour that I set off on the return leg. 

 

 

There’s probably not much point describing too much of the return leg as it was the same route as the way out but mile times got slower, dehydration got higher, dropouts increased, blisters got larger, legs got heavier and the stomach got hungrier.  Luckily cut off times also got more generous. 

 

 

There were a few notable highlights including seeing the horses again, seeing the incredible scenery that had been missed in the dark, Oli coming out to run with me when I was getting tired, taking a wrong turn with a mile to go and ending up at the bottom of the cliff rather than the top and noticing that there was a huge staircase in the last half mile (for those that have been – think of the steps near the end of the Beachy Head marathon and double it). 

 

 

Then finally the finish was in sight – albeit up another annoying hill, which was climbed with extra energy and the race was done and dusted. 

 

 

19 and a bit hours – so not a PB.  In fact, I think it’s a PW but I wasn’t quite last.  So that was that – a very slow walk to the car, falling asleep in my pizza and Oli being generally very kind (which came as a surprise).  I swore to myself while doing it that if I finished I would definitely never do it again but if anyone wants a challenge I would strongly recommend it. 

And yes – I would almost certainly accompany you.

 

Well done Pete and Oli !! A really enjoyable race report and quite astonishing as to what us runners can achieve.