Endurancelife Xtri24 (Xman)  
13th/14th July 2012

 

Official Results

 

Swim 1 mile
(+run 700yd)

MTB 100 mile Run 29 miles Total
Richard Beard 43.00 15.28.00 7.17.00 23.52.00
Simon Fisher 44.00 16.05.00 7.27.00 25.06.00

I was immediately attracted by the prospect of a long distance off road event that didn’t go round in circles when Endurancelife’s Xman race was announced last August and quickly put in my entry.  The race was to start with a 2 mile swim along Eastbourne’s sea front, then 100miles of Mountain biking along the South Downs Way to Winchester finishing with a marathon run along the Clarendon Way to Old Sarum (Salisbury).   I have a soft spot for the South Downs having been born in Eastbourne and spent my early years roaming over them with the family dog.

Studying the race details more closely doubts began to set in.  The published cut offs looked very tight (they were subsequently relaxed) even under good conditions and without allowing for any mechanical or navigational issues riding across the Downs in the dark (they weren’t originally going to put out any signage for the bike route).

As the event drew closer concerns over the weather increased but travelling down things looked more hopeful with the forecast for just occasional showers and wind moderating and there was even a glimpse of the sun!  A ride along the prom in a road train took us to the start where we were entertained by a display of Morris dancing.  Nobody seemed too upset when the swim was reduced to a mile because of the conditions.   I quite enjoyed the swim, bouncing around trying to spot the buoys which for much of the time were hidden in the waves (the last turn buoy was particularly challenging as they’d moved a black buoy in front of the black pier).  Simon and I exited the swim together and set off running to T1 along the prom.

The bike started well but as night arrived the first drops of rain started to fall and the battle commenced.  The rain got steadily worse and at times was torrential; the track got more slippery and muddy and at times disappeared into clouds/fog.  Wheels span, slid or just squelched to a stop in the mud.  Downhill sections were tackled with extreme caution.   Gates were opened and closed (apparently there were about 90 of them on the route).

By CP2 I was at my lowest point of the race, wet cold and wondering whether I should continue or like several others pack it in there.  A trickle of cold wet competitors followed me in – no one seemed keen to leave.  After about 30 minutes feeling better having downed 2 mugs of hot sweet coffee and a bowl of porridge I ventured back outside; the weather looked better so I got back on the bike.  Things quickly picked up from there – the rain stopped, the trail became easier for a while and dawn arrived (just as my Exposure bike light went off – water had got in).  “Winchester Cathedral, you're bringin' me down” became an ‘earworm’ as I rolled on, picking up my one puncture of the ride just before CP3.

The rain returned on the run in to Winchester where it was a game of hunt the cathedral and T2.  They’d supplied a map of the route through Winchester but by now this was a useless soggy blob of pulp.  I tried looking it up on my GPS but couldn’t make out much through the film of mud covering the screen and with nothing to clean this off.

Out onto the run the rain stopped again for a while. It became clear that there wouldn’t be much running involved (just downhill and perhaps 50% of the flat) but by now I’d settled for a sub 24hr finish and this didn’t look like a problem.  The run was mostly on road to the first checkpoint but from there it was back to the mud (one puddle came up over my knees).

‘Sleepmonsters’ provided entertainment towards the end.  There was a slightly eerie dark group of Yew trees ahead and I was convinced someone had carved them into animal shapes – the most impressive being a gorilla standing on its four legs with the tree continuing up from the middle of its back.  When I got up to them they were just regular trees.  The last checkpoint passed and everyone thought the finish was close but no - the finish was a couple of miles further than we’d been led to believe, and included a couple of long uphill slogs that were particularly muddy and overgrown with nettles (luckily earlier runners seemed to have depleted their stingers).

Eventually with 24hr now getting worryingly close the ancient hill fort of Old Sarum came into view, I quickly guessed it was going to be an uphill finish.  I upped my pace a bit and even managed to break into a bit of a run up through the earthworks to the castle entrance, dibbed in for the final time and collected my medal.

Job done.

Richard

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