*North Downs Way Ultra: Navigation? Not my cup of tea*
4th-5th February 2012

Event Report by Wouter Decock


The year 2012 would be the year of the trails, and the first in the series was one in England: a beautiful trail of 33 miles along the North Downs Way, southwest of London. This course was part of a two-day event, namely the Extreme Energy Pilgrims Challenge.

One could choose to either both days to run, or to make a choice between the Saturday or Sunday,
with a separate classification. The Saturday (day 1) was quickly fully booked and therefore I could only register for the Sunday. So I had plenty of time to arrange my trip to London across the Channel. Or so I thought ... while it seemed that traffic could throw spanner in the works, and traveling by car – without winter tires – seemed no safe alternative. In London traffic was severely disrupted because of bad weather. Despite all this, I was able to reach my final destination before midnight at the Bridge House Hostel in Reigate, about 3 miles away from St-Nicholas School in Merstham, where the start would take place.

As the receptionist promised me a hearty breakfast and a taxi to Merstham, the next morning I got surprising news: (1) "there is no breakfast at this time" and (2) "there is no taxi" ... Fortunately, I
possessed the following alternatives, namely (1) an excess of dry sandwiches as well as a banana, and (2) a pair of legs. Just imagined myself in Siberia when I passed "the Rocky Lane" at sunrise – on foot – searching for the village of Merstham... A peak experience! In this quest, I got the help of two young people with the car returning from a night out. "You're here for a race ... running 33 miles in the snow..??? … Mental ...” They wished me luck and helped me further on the right path. I like the word “mental”, and I would hear it several times during this event…

Over to the race now...

Because of the heavy snowfall of last night it was decided to bring forward the start to 8am. This had its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that after the race I would have plenty of time to catch the Eurostar back homewards. The downside was that the registration and changing of clothes had to happen in an emergency pace, because it was 5 minutes before 8... The shoelaces were hardly bound when the start signal has been given, and with a temperature of zero degrees and no more snowfall, weather conditions were still not as bad. With a leading group consisting of Gwyn Davies (winner overall), Mark Collinson and Adrian Savery, we had a pace of about 6,5 miles/h. Not fast enough for me, but an important thing to notice, is that all athletes in this group did the same performance the day before… Respect!! Or should I say: “mental…”?

I had been looking forward to perform a solo and the first plan after 15 km, was to... escape. In addition, I would take the risk of getting lost in the woods or along, since the difference between the road and the meadow was hardly visible. Using red and white ribbons to indicate the road, as
they do in the south of Belgium, is obviously not a habit here. It just came down to follow the "North Downs Way": definitely a part of the game! This could not be that difficult I supposed, but still, I was
often in trouble. After three attempts to escape, I decided to run in an easy tempo, following the leading group consisting of athletes who knew the road better. "Navigation is not my cup of tea", I admitted. So I tried plan B: accelerating to make the opponents tired. This plan seemed
to work, until suddenly – after 30 km – a certain Justin “speedy gonzales” Montague was catching us up with a pace of about 8 miles/h. Suddenly the race could begin! From then on it was a neck on neck race.

I noticed his outfit of "Royal Navy" and I was thinking “that must be a tough guy”. Still, It was difficult to navigate, and I let Justin do all the work so the only thing I had to do, was following him. Honestly, I felt guilty about that. He succeeded in guiding me towards the final kilometers, where I could perform a final acceleration towards the finish in Farnham. Someone congratulated me with my victory with the words "well done, mister Belgium". After the race, I had a nice conversation with several athletes and volunteers, while drinking an enjoyable "cup of tea".

A big compliment for the organization and the atmosphere! Also congratulations to all participants who completed the whole Pilgrims Challenge by running a total amount of 66 miles in two days… Mental!!

~See you next year?


Many greetings,

Wouter Decock