Spring showers and muddy puddles - but at least it’s not winter
Summer seems a long way off, until you look back at January and how 400 brave runners took on the Country to Capital Ultra
Daffodils, lambs frolicking in fields, and the fickle, faint rays of a sun looking to burst forward into summer.
Spring in the UK is on its way.
Or is it? So far, any harbinger of spring has come in the form of ‘April Showers’ a month of two early.
Running activity has become a slog through still dark evenings, battling torrential rain and slopping through mud, puddles and - you’ve guessed it - muddy puddles.
A time of sunny days and bright evenings will surely follow, but that hope seems far away right now. So rather than look forward to better days, let’s remind ourselves how far we’ve come this year already.
Back in early January, as the world emerged from the hibernation of Christmas, a brave group of runners gathered to take on the first major ultra run of 2024: Go Beyond Challenge’s 43-mile Wendover to London epic, the Country to Capital Ultra.
The below race report was written at the time by one competitor who wanted to remain anonymous, but whose experience reminds us that great days of running can be found in the midst of adversity.
After all, who needs summer!
Race report: Who wants to hibernate when the Country to Capital ultra offers such a compelling start to the New Year?
January. An often-grim time when every second person is contemplating a waistline boosted by the rigours of Christmas.
Not so the almost 400 hardy souls who gathered at the Shoulder of Mutton in an otherwise sleepy Wendover.
Even a cold and cloudy morning typical of the early days of New Year couldn’t dampen the spirits of those assembled.
How the ‘tube runner’ took on Country to Capital:
One of the runners who took part in the Country to Capital event was Jonny Davies, also known as the ‘tube runner’.
In 2023, the Instagram influencer ran the entire length of the London Underground.
This year, he kicked off his running journey for 2024 at Country to Capital. The video below shows his thought process before the race.
Afterwards? Jonny, who completed his eleventh ultra in 18 months, called Country to Capital, “the toughest 70km I’ve ever ran”.
With the waft of bacon sandwiches and coffee swirling around the pub, I joined the host of dedicated runners preparing to take on the 43-mile Country to Capital Ultra.
This event, enhanced by a team of cheerful volunteers with a bonhomie normally reserved for the season just gone, is renowned as the first competitive race of the UK ultra calendar.
It’s a real race of two halves, swapping the muddy trails of the first 17-miles for a flat, occasionally monotonous, scamper to the finish along the Grand Union Canal. For those with enough energy left to let rip, that second section is a real chance to open your legs and sprint for home.
But we’re talking real world here, and unless you are one of the super-fast frontrunners completing this course in somewhere between five and six hours, you’re more likely to be nursing tired, muddy legs as they slog their way towards the glory of the finishing line.
Before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s rewind to the start and that excited group of runners preparing somewhat nervously to tackle the course. Most of that pre-race trepidation came as the result of the Biblical weather that had blighted the country in the lead up to the race, with runners warning each other about a fearsomely deep puddle 10-miles in and a big muddy hill to get up.
They weren’t lying. As I battled my way along those early trails, it became clear that stories of the course being muddy were all too true. And where it was not muddy, it was very muddy.
This only added to the fun though, with dedicated runners who had foregone the usual festive over-eating to train for this challenging course making the most of weather conditions that even started to offer a glimpse of sunshine.
A change of shoes – and socks – is well-advised for anyone taking on the Country to Capital, not only to get rid of mud-encrusted trail shoes but to present a smarter appearance when passing through the well-heeled streets of Denham. After all, those watching while buffing the paintwork on their Audis deserve to see a nice pair of Vaporflys shoot by rather than the grimier alternative.
Find inspiration in our running tales:
If you enjoy this article, check out the inspirational running stories on this newsletter.
We recently featured Sho Gray’s story. The ultra runner is taking a year out of work to try and win the American 24-hour race championship.
You can read it here:
The ultra runner betting on 24-hours of running glory
With my legs feeling heavy, it was incredible to see the end, with a flurry of Go Beyond flags greeting me at the finishing line close to London’s Little Venice Canal. This was the first time the event finished at the Stowe Centre, bringing the welcome addition of a shower and warming soup.
There is nothing like the joy of finishing a race where you have worked really hard, and my broken body was boosted by the sounds of cheering and cow bells as I finally crossed the line and had a rather beautiful looking winner’s medal thrust around my neck.
There were a number of small but lovely touches that helped make Country to Capital extra special, from a minutes’ silence at the start for former winner Ed Catmur to the handing out of race sleeves rather than the usually obligatory t-shirt.
It was also fantastic to see a welcome diversity among the runners, particularly in the form of the lovely ladies from the Black Girls Do Run team, a truly inspiring community running group which works to encourage black women to run. The future of our sport is found in groups like this, so it was brilliant to see the girls achieving new goals with such joy.
The perfect way to start a new year is with big challenges, and there are few bigger than this race. You’ll doubtless have easier days at the office, but if you wanted an easy life, you’d be chilling out at home with the rest of the January-blues suffering population.
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A note on this article:
In the interest of full transparency, please be aware that Craig Lewis is currently conducting PR work on behalf of Go Beyond Challenge.
That said, we believe the race report provided is an honest assessment of the Country to Capital Ultra, and that the ethos and ethics of Go Beyond chime with those of Running Tales.