Ox Ultra 35
25th May
2014

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Official Results

Noel Jones 8.10.00


The Ox Ultra 35

This Sunday I was in Wiltshire running the Ox Ultra. I had 4am start on Sunday for the drive down but it got me there in time for a bacon roll before the start. The race briefing advised of 4 foot deep and 80 foot long puddles requiring a reroute but the weather looked like it was improving. Right on time we set off heading downhill. We kept going downhill for a mile which didn’t bode well because what goes down must go back up. At about mile 15 I was passed by a runner coming the other way and a check of the map showed he was 5 miles ahead of me. I guess he didn’t walk back up that hill or any of the other ones.  By the time I’d got back to this point I was beginning to wonder about the wisdom of a doing Windermere marathon the week before. My feet hurt and I was overheating, and there were still another 16 miles to go. I thought about a friend doing the Grand Union Canal Race who I knew from facebook was at about 100 miles and still had 45 miles to go. I changed my socks at the next checkpoint and was advised it was only 6 miles to “The lovestation” where hugs and cider were being handed out in addition to the more normal ultra friendly snacks. She didn’t tell me that just around the corner was a huge puddle and those 6 miles were all uphill :-) Eventually I made it for my hug and taste of cider. 4 miles to go and the first 3 were downhill again leading to a cruel slog back to the top of the world and the finish line.

We got to run through some nice woods and see some fabulous countryside. Organisation was excellent and it made a nice change not to have to navigate since there were arrows marking the route – quite a feat for an off road event, especially with a half and a marathon going on too.

Noel