23rd March 2024 by Josie Hill

Race report for the Amberaid30

( or should that be 33.5 )

After weeks or worry about getting lost , not being able to navigate my way round and being lonely , I found a fellow sucker to run with. We ended up running with another person we met on the start line ( 2 became 3 then picked a few up en route 3 became 4 then 5 & so on )

It snowed twice , hailed , rained a bit , windy a lot & the sun came out for a few miles too.

This ultra was every bit as hard as Saddleworth10 with equal amounts of bog , no snow settled thankfully . Instead there was LOTS of styles , I lost count after 24 and LOTS of slurry we STANK !

Along the route were 5 self clips , these were quite difficult . Some were set high on short string , meaning short please who put their numbers on their legs were struggling to lift very tired legs that high. ( I was one of those short people )

I lost count of the falls , slips , slides , but the massive hand prints in the mud and occasional body , head & boob imprints kept us giggling.

We ran through a pig pen & through a bull field. Check strava , these were our quickest bits getting top 10 placings!! 🎉

A Pain in my leg set in with 10 miles to the finish !! I took nurofen and paracetamol, nothing touched it. Naturally I was praying for whiskey at the next aid station

‘that’ll hit the spot’

The aid stations were amazing , salted potatoes , sweets , pizza , biscuits , flap jack , juice , water but no whiskey this time … the last aid station had lots of water but also  vending machines that sold cake , milk & bread , I have never seen such things before.

From here we figured we were nearly home, 6k to go !!!

The Longest 6k ever but we ran, sometimes cantered , power walked up the last slurry field practically on all 4’s  then  ran as fast as our legs would carry us for the last 0.5 of a mile.

To my surprise my husband & children were there to watch me cross the finish line as 5th female. Vicky and I decided we would finish together.

With only 2.5 extra miles ran due to navigation issues we completed 33.5miles.

The thing everyone is waiting to hear is what did I cross the line wearing.

I crossed the line wearing Steve’s gloves not crisp packets this time BUT I did have some Dorito’s flaming hot empty packets along with poo bags , bin bags , 3 coats , 2 hats and 4 pairs of gloves because everyone knows

JOSIE GETS VERY COLD &

DON’T RUN WHERE JOSIE RUNS 😂

1st male Fraser Rounds 4.50.20

1st female Danielle De Simone 6.05.46

Strider result