Sunday, 6 July 2025

Cleveland Survival 29 March




Cleveland Survival Event
29th March 2025
£30
 
The Survival is a friendly event open to runners and walkers based on an orienteering course of about 24 miles, to be completed within the 12-hour time limit. It is held in a different location within the Teams area each year and the location is not revealed until the week before the event.
The event is one of the major fundraisers for the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team and is widely embraced by the local community as a way of funding a voluntary organisation which benefits the public.
The event can be completed as an individual or as part of a group.
There will be a series of checkpoints identified by a grid reference and description. Your aim is to visit each checkpoint or via point in the order given on the route card.
 
On Sunday evening, 23 March I received an email with the event details, the start location would be Ingleby Cross and I needed an OL26 map. My current OL26 is covered in Hardmoors’ routes. I figured that this would be confusing, so ordered another map, I picked the waterproof version in case of inclement weather.
 
I went with my friend Ann from Bedale and Aiskew Runners. We had different start times, me at 08:44 and Ann at 08:52 but close enough for us to car share.












We arrived in good time to register and wandered over to the start by The Church of All Saints at the opposite side of the A172. I went to explore the church whist waiting my turn, Ann and I watched as others were given the grid references for the checkpoints and marked up their maps. I decided to mark each point and number it, then work out a route from one checkpoint to the next as I reached each point. Soon it was my turn.
I entered the start pen, was handed my grid references and told that there were cut offs of 14:00 at CP 6 and 16:00 at CP 8.
We were set off, I moved up the lane in the direction that previous runners and walkers had gone, laid out my map and started marking. CP 1 was on the other side of the double-sided map, it was a known point to me on the Cleveland Way, CPs 2 and 3 were also on the Cleveland Way, so they were easy ones to start. CP 8 was back on the other side of the map and so were CPs 9 and 10 and the finish was back at the registration hall. I recognised CP 10 too, so I only had 6 to actually navigate. It had taken me 10 minutes to mark up my map, I couldn’t believe how quickly the time had passed whilst I was totally absorbed in marking it up. I folded my map and set off up the Coast-to-Coast path to the Cleveland Way and followed that through Osmotherley on familiar trails to CP 1 at the junction of the Cleveland Way and Burnthouse Bank. Checkpoint 2 was at Square Corner and checkpoint 3 was where I was to go onto new territory as I would have to leave the Cleveland Way at Whitestones/White Gill Head.This took me to Locker Low Moor and out to hall Lane and Checkpoint 4 before retracing my steps back to Locker Low Moor over muddy tracks, past Dale Head before crossing the Osmotherley to Hawnby Road and Checkpoint 5. Next came a wide sandy lane out to swainby shooting Hut at Checkpoint 6. Then continued on that lane after checking out the Nelson Stone to Checkpoint 7 opposite the Bilsdale mast. The wide lanes continued out to CP 8 on the other side of the map. Th wind picked up and made it difficult to resold my map to have the last few checkpoints in view, I stopped in the end but the win kept turning my map into a sail, eventually I had a roughly folded map and set off to Checkpoint 8. 
On route I tripped and bruised my knees and hand. The checkpoint was back on the Cleveland Way just south of Carlton Bank. I turned left and headed along the Cleveland Way. Ann caught up with me again and we worked our way down through the woods together.
At Checkpoint 9, Ann had arrived ahead of me, the lady at the checkpoint had advised not to take a certain path, It was the one Ann had planned to take, I thought she meant the one I had planned around the Whorl, Together we decided to go via Faceby church and cut across to Whorlton Castle, then into Swainby and on to checkpoint 10, afford that features on the Swainby Sweep race, we were back on known ground. We crossed to the A 172 and crossed aiming for Ingleborough Cross and the finish. Ann was fresher than me and went ahead to the finish, I was suffering from my fall and followed on steadily.
We were both relieved to complete this challenge.

 




It’s Grim Up North’s Black Sheep Challenge, 3 or 6 hour. 06/07/2025

 

I have taken part in this event a few times and always recommend it to others, a trail 3.5-mile loop, do as many as you want in 3 or 6 hours. If you finish a lap before your time limit, you can do another lap.

 

Sheltering from the rain at the start.






When you choose to finish you get your medal, a sausage sandwich, cake and a bottle of beer.

The event starts and finishes on the field by the river and cricket club at Masham at 09:30. It now has a timing mat and chips on your number, so lap bands are not needed.

 


Having ran 86 miles last week at Endure 24, I was not sure how my legs and energy levels would be until I started, but I wanted at least a marathon (my 139th) of 6 hours, which ever came sooner.



I was steady throughout and completed 4 laps (13.5 miles) under 3 hours. The weather was warm and humid with sporadic showers. The course had 5 gates, 4 stiles and a set of steps. As the laps passed I was aware that I was slowing but not too much and completed 8 laps (27.5 miles) with minutes to spare. The organisers asked if I wanted to go back out again, but I knew I was slowing and didn’t want Marshalls out in the deteriorating weather waiting for me. I had done what I came to do.






Results

I was 5th female in the 6 hour event, and 1st in my age cat.

https://my.raceresult.com/349927/





 


 





Next year’s race is on 05/07/2026

https://www.itsgrimupnorthrunning.co.uk/e/baaaaaaaa-its-black-sheep-11620




Monday, 30 June 2025

Endure 24 Leeds (2025)

 






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.


































































Lots of people did achieve their yellow 100 club T-shirts by running 20 laps or more.