Race Report: Causeway Coast Ultra, Sept. 28

After the Highland Fling in April, I passed on the Mourne Way Ultra and decided to focus all efforts into the Causeway Coast, a 40 mile race run by the events company 26 Extreme. Looking back on it, preparation went extremely well - frequent trips to the Mournes in July and early August built a lot of strength in my legs (particularly descending) and meant a lot of long 4 and 5 hour plus days. A relatively comfortable circumnavigation of the Mourne Wall gave me a good boost of confidence, and was a good opportunity to test food and kit (although I would end up changing that a week before the race). It was also a good opportunity for a somewhat discouraged Matt to show to himself he was more than capable of that kind of distance, as I had eventually persuaded him to do Causeway. A few weeks later he did the Wall in 5h10m, about 1h40m quicker than we had done before. 

Nearing the end of August, Craig and I went to Aviemore and fought the midges to get a good solid 3 days of training done in the Cairngorms. It's described pretty much word for word here: http://www.twentyclicks.co.uk/?p=574

As September rolled around, I was getting roughly 30-35 miles done each week, mostly to and from work with a long run on Sunday. Three weeks out from the race we did a 20-mile course recce starting in Portballintrae - not bad for having a slight foggy head and roughly 4 hours sleep...leaving the pub at 3.15am isn't the best ultra preparation!

Race day arrived and while mentally ready, my legs felt like lead! I had stayed with Matt and his family in Bushmills on the Friday night, so we were at the race start within 5 mins. The bus was due to depart at 0645, but as Matt and I were walking to get on we remembered we had left the (shared) drop-bag in his van. Needless to say, he got a wee bit of an extra warm up - not the best of starts by all accounts. However, a short bus ride to the start in Portstewart with some good chat from other competitors finally settled the heads, and as we made our way down to the beach everyone was in agreement that it was going to be a great day weather-wise - our own individual experiences would soon be determined! With a line drawn in the sand signifying the start of the day's journey, 72 competitors set off west at 0730. It felt weird to be heading away from the direction the route would eventually take, however it was only for about half a mile before we made the first turnaround of the day. As we rounded the organiser's van, we were greeted with the most beautiful sunrise over the beach - what a start to the day!

Photo: Paul Daly

Within minutes of the start the field had began to string out. I fell into running with Mark King, who I had met prior to the Highland Fling, and actually passed with about 3 miles to go in the Fling. We chatted away and I noticed that I had run my first mile in 9.03, 27 seconds quicker than my target pace - just shows how easily it occurs when you get chatting! Mark informed me it was his 7th ultra of the year, and that he had attempted the CCC race in Chamonix but hadn't managed to finish. We ran together for the first few miles, eventually catching up with Matt (another victim of speed-chatting!), and one tangent led to another before we established my dad had taught Mark in school, small world indeed! Matthew, Mark, myself and another runner Martin Mullan ran together at a steady pace roughly 9min/mile till just after the first water stop in Portrush. Now, this would turn out to be the one criticism of the day, the pot-luck positioning of the water stations. I was expecting water at mile 6, however the first one was at mile 8 - early on, especially given that the temperature was still cool, not such a big deal but unfortunately it had a major bearing later. As we passed along the beach and up out of Portrush, there was a long road section of about 4 miles. Here I began to lift the pace gradually as I could see groups of runners in the distance - I was starting to feel really good, and I was able to settle into 8-8.30min/mile pace and pick runners off. 

Equipment-wise I had decided to go with the UltraSpire Spry vest, and handheld bottle. As I find it very difficult to keep warm first thing in the morning, I had my Ronhill Tempest jacket on before the race start. This was stuffed into the rear of the vest before we set off, and while carrying it was no issue I quickly realised it would not be needed whatsoever as the day was beginning to hot up. I had planned to dump it with a marshal at Portballintrae, which would be the first significant checkpoint, and the end of the first of 3 half-marathons - that's the way I had it broken down in my head. Again this would be another water station, however as I rounded the corner into the car park I was greeted by a huge crowd - the marathoners. This was awesome, however a bit of a hindrance. The atmosphere was incredible and I got a huge reception, and I even managed to catch a glimpse of Mary Jennings, a very regular marathoner (Comrades etc) who was on my Master's course. The crowd parted as I headed toward the eventual finishing banner but I saw no marshals, and it was only after I was past it did I notice an arm offering me water, swamped somewhere inbetween 145 runners! So that left me still carrying my jacket, and with about 300ml of water. No worries - it was still quite cool and it would last me the hour or so until the next station at 20 miles. 

Passing Portballintrae signified the real start of the race for me in terms of a change in terrain - from here it would be a real mix, and very undulating. I passed the marathon start as they were counting down to the start, so within minutes I was being overtaken by athletes, many of whom I would eventually pass hours later :) The next 14 miles along the coast offered some amazingly beautiful scenery, particularly given that it was a perfectly clear day - and of course muggins here had left both sunglasses and hat in the van! I settled into pace with a few of the marathon guys, passing the Giant's Causeway and the bewildered tourists. Now where was that water stop...? I was ticking along nicely, eating and drinking steadily but 20 miles passed. Approaching the picnic site at 21.5 miles I saw lots of people so I thought 'sweet!' and gulped the last of my water ready for a refill - and while I was received with much appreciated enthusiasm and the offer of jelly beans, there was no water! On top of that, I was already beginning to struggle to swallow any of the Clif Bars I had with me (and usually wolf down like they're going out of fashion). As there was nothing I could do I just re-settled into a good pace again, until eventually reaching the drop-bag location at mile 22.5. I had done just short of 10 miles on 300ml of water - not ideal! 

Managed to drop my jacket off and drink 1/4 of the bottle of flat coke I had in the drop-bag, refilled my handheld and then set off, picking another few runners off as I neared the turnaround. Crossing Whitepark Bay beach afforded another opportunity to lift the pace a little, even though it did involve scrambling over rocks at both ends, and weaving in and out of spectators of the bovine variety. A big lift for me was that I knew my mum and dad were going to be somewhere along the route either before or at the turnaround. They were at Ballintoy Harbour, my mum with her trademark "Go Eóin!" and dad trying to work the bloody camera! At this stage the lead runner, Justin Maxwell had passed me with a good 2+ mile lead, so I was trying to figure out what position I was in. More water at the turnaround at mile 27.4 and it was onto the home straight! Just another half marathon to go. 

Turnaround at Larrybane Quarry (Photo: Carrick CC)

By this stage I was still passing a lot of the marathon guys, but I was catching a few of the ultra ones too. I passed my parents for the 2nd time, think pops had managed to get the camera finally working, and also Matt who seemed to be going strong heading into Ballintoy Harbour. I figured I was top 8, and I managed to pass 2 or 3 runners on the return trip across Whitepark Bay, one of whom said that I was in 6th, awesome! I was feeling great at this stage, however I still wasn't able to eat anything solid, relying on the odd gel and chews. I dumped the vest, stuck a Clif Bar in my shorts pocket and took a good stash of gels - I'd be traveling light to the finish! 

Returning across Whitepark Bay (Photo: Carrick CC)

Climbing back up from the beach to the main road, I passed a Newry City runner, putting myself into a provisional 5th spot. I was trucking along nicely until about 8 miles out when I fell in with another ultra runner (turned out to be Nicki McPeake, the Titanic 101k winner from 3 weeks earlier) but I was starting to feel a few wee twinges right at the top of my hamstrings. I ran with Nicki for maybe 5 mins before he dropped back, and I just focused on trying to move steadily up to runners as I saw them in the distance. I figured at this stage I was in 4th so it was important to consolidate that position, and not fade away. I had enough gels to see me through to the end, but water was running low due to the poor spacing between the stations. What water I had left tasted great, but reluctantly I added electrolyte tabs as I was losing so much through sweat - wasn't a fan of sweet stuff by this stage! Nevertheless, it was an unexpected aid station just before the Giant's Causeway building 4 miles from the finish which provided a big boost: fresh water (with added bugs for protein), orange segments, and above all enthusiastic marshals were just what I needed!

With eventual 3rd place finisher Nicki McPeake at Dunseverick Head (Photo: Carrick CC)

From the Giant's Causeway it was pretty much a downhill finish, phew! My target time was 6h23m, based on an average pace of 9.30min/mile and I was comfortably ahead of this pace, so my mind turned to a sub-6 hour time. However, with 3 miles to go I had worked out I would need to run consecutive 7-ish minute miles to the finish. Honestly, if it hadn't been such a hot day and I wasn't fighting off cramps I certainly would have given it a go. As the coastal path dropped down and Portballintrae came into view I began feeling so happy that I had managed a top 5 finish...little did I know I was actually in 3rd place. With a mile to go, the course flattened out as it passed some abandoned train tracks and I was gaining on a runner who I knew was in the marathon. The competitive git in me wanted to pass him before the finish! No sooner had I started along the tracks did I turn and notice Nicki behind me - I upped my pace but he managed to catch me with relative ease. My mind was ready to stick with him but my hamstrings had other ideas, they were done for the day! Fair play to him for the strong finish - he later told me he had been cramping quite badly when he dropped from me earlier. As I thought I was in 4th at the time, I had resigned myself (very contently) to a 5th place finish. It wasn't till about 10 minutes after I finished (and duly had my name mispronounced, much to my mother's disgust!) that I found out I had indeed finished 4th - still super happy with that! 

Casually approaching the finish - don't make eye contact with anyone! (Photo: Carrick CC)

End of a good day (Photo: Carrick CC)

Finished feeling very happy, and very strong - hamstring twinges aside. Final time of 6.06.37, minute off the podium, but no qualms about that! Huge congratulations to Matt who finished his first ultra in a time of 7.16.33. All in all a tough course, up and down the whole day, and the unexpected heat didn't help! Seems a shame to complain about a perfectly sunny day :)

Top 3 Men:

Justin Maxwell - 5.34.21

Ian Lockington - 5.59.39

Nicki McPeake - 6.05.34

Top 3 Women:

Christina McKenzie - 6.48.30

Helena Dornan - 6.50.01 (wee warm-up for the Ulster 100 mile TT the following day!)

Janeen McGregor - 7.46.28

A very well organised event, so thanks to 26 Extreme - however the location of water stations does need addressed, particularly given that it was stated online where they would be, but of course this was exacerbated by the heat. Also, all photos taken by Carrick CC, and a full gallery of all the day's races can be found here, check it out!