THE CHEVIOTS CHALLENGE - SATURDAY 24TH AUGUST 2002, 24.7 MILES WITH 5508 FEET OF CLIMBING
Apart from the one-off millennium event, I rate this as the hardest route the northumberland search and rescue team have ever set for the cheviots challenge. Maybe the weather had something to do with it - despite the local forecast predicting cool temperatures, showers and an overcast day, what we actually got was a very hot, humid day without a breath of wind, and not a cloud in the sky from morning till evening. I'd even emptied half the juice out of my Platypus bottle the night before, when I heard the forecast, in an attempt to avoid carrying unnecessary weight.
I was walking with my cousin Anne and my 17 year old daughter Rosie. We set off at 8 am, along with 250 other people. Unfortunately, the first half of the route was largely spent in the Kidland forest, which apart from compounding the heat, is very easy to get lost in. Three times we had to backtrack and waste time trying to find the correct route, and by the time we reached the summit of Bloodybush Edge, we only had 7 minutes to spare before the checkpoint closed. After that, we had to rush through the next few checkpoints in an attempt to make up lost time, and it wasn't until we climbed Shillhope law near the end that I felt we could relax a bit.
I had been looking forward to finally getting onto Salters Road - marked with a thick green line on the map, I thought we'd at least have a semi-decent track to walk on. The reality was a joke, with knee deep, boggy mud impossible to walk on, and we had to duck under fir trees and squeeze along the edge to make any progress. After Windy Gyle, I was starting to regret not having brought more drink - understandably, nobody wants to carry gallons of liquid up 2,000 ft, so not all the checkpoints have water. I think the organisers must have underestimated the demand as well, as even some of the checkpoints that should have had water, ran out.
Although not a race, quite a few people choose to run this event, and while I can appreciate that carrying a couple of litres of water while running 25 miles isn't practical, if the people at the front of the event are allowed unlimited water, inevitably there's nothing left when the back markers eventually reach the refreshment points. If the organisers can't provide unlimited liquid, then it needs to be rationed.
Eventually we were back at Alwinton and our time of around 11 hours 40 minutes, although well within the time limit allowed, was considerably slower than either Anne or I had estimated we'd take, and while for me at least it had been a fairly comfortable pace, all three of us were surprised just how stiff we were the next day. I think the combination of the heat, getting lost, conditions underfoot and a couple of steep climbs near the end had taken its toll!
17th September 2002
