Endure 24 Leeds
Brimham Park
12 midday Saturday 28 June-12 midday Sunday 29 June
This is a 24 hour trail race, run. On an 8km lap.
The race can be run as a solo, pair, small team or large team.
I ran it as a solo, race cost includes camping from 9 am Friday to Sunday evening.
I arrived at 9 am Friday to join a queue to enter the campsite, by 9:15 I was in, all the spots right on the route were taken so I picked a place only about 30 m off track. I set up a small tent for my friend Julie from Bedale and Aiskew Runners as she was arriving Saturday morning. I put up my awning and sorted out the van, ready for the weekend. The wind was strong and was trying to rip the awning off the van.
I went to collect my race pack and tshirt, when I got back the awning was coming away from the van. I rigged it up as stand alone, which was no mean feat with ground full of rocks and hard as iron making getting decent places for the tent pegs a challenge.
Once sorted, I set off to walk the course, it was very warm and windy, the wind throwing up dust clouds from the chalky trails.
About a third of the route is under trees, which provided welcome shade, the rest of the time the route is very open.
At 7 pm I went out to cheer the children’s run, there were lots of them with varying levels of enthusiasm.
I did not sleep well with the relentless heat and the 30+ mph winds trying to wreck my awning and blow the windscreen cover off the van.
Julie arrived Saturday morning and got parked up. At 11:30 we headed for the race village. There was a warm up going on, I avoided that, it was nearly 30 degrees I was conserving energy.
At bang on Midday we were set off, there was a prize for the fastest lap by a male and a female, so some people were going for it.
The team runners were running hard and most solos were a bit more conservative with their early laps.
The wind was relentless and so was the sun, the majority of 1km to 4 km was under tree cover, the shade was so welcome. At the end of the first lap I returned to the van, the awning needed the guy ropes re tightening and a couple of places had worked loose from the tent pegs. I sorted it and set off again, this became my pattern.
At 6 pm I was ½ hour too slow for completing 20 laps, but I could still get 18 or 19 laps, however, the night didn’t cool down and the wind did not lose power, by midnight, I was an hour behind target, never give up. The sun came up before 4 am and with daylight came a boost to my mood, If I could keep this pace, I may make 18 laps, but I would have to be back off lap 17 before 11:30.
The wind finally dropped and the temperature rose again, not that it had dropped much overnight. The laps ticked by, chatting with different runners, enjoying the entertainment and volunteers in fancy dress. Team runners bombing past “well done solo” they would say, some solos were still running well on Sunday morning, I wasn’t, I had a run/walk strategy, and it was getting the job done. It was however gone 11:30 when I finished lap 17, I could stop.
I can be hard on myself, but I am happy with my effort, 17 laps (81.5 miles with going back to the van each lap). I don’t cope well in heat, or wind but I didn’t give up.
2019, I completed 17 laps
2020, (cancelled for C19, virtual event, I ran a 5-mile lap from home) completed 20 laps
2021, I was injured and unable to run, but walked 10 laps
2022, I completed 20 laps at Leeds
2023, I gave it a miss due to it clashing with another event.
2024, I completed 18 laps
2025, I completed 17 laps
I recommend this event, it has a great atmosphere. Next year it will be the first week of July.
