Although posted elsewhere on RA I thought I would add it here for the UK guys and girls amongst us. Doyen of the Downs a 30 mile challenge The day started at 4:45 am as I rose from my bed and traipsed to my already packed race bag, I got dressed, had a cup of coffee and left the house to be hit by a -4 °C fog. I turned up at my friend George's house on the turn of 5:30 am and we went hot footing to Arundel. Thank God for my satnav which was able to direct us around a very nasty accident on the A27 just outside Arundel. Race HQ was in the shadows of the Arundel Castle, which in the morning twilight poked its head through the fog. Stepping into the football club hall we went about the business of registering, toileting and dressing. Opinions differed but in all leggings, gloves and hats were the preferred clothing for most runners although some brave just went in vests and shorts. Indispersed were athletes preparing for the Namibian ultra and a spattering of Marathon de Sables. FWAAaaaart, the race started and 120 wannabe and experienced runners stumbled down the road from the start, it was treacherous on the roads that led us to the first trail and then the discovery that all the thick mud had frozen hard and the pain started as the ankles took a beating at every step. The first 10 miles took us to 150 metres (asl) but it was a bitch of an undulating course taking us through fields, river paths muddy woodland trails where the mud was about 10 inches deep, the puddles extended over the route and there was 1/4 inch ice that needed to be cracked with the heel The checkpoints were set at approximately 5 mile intervals where bananas, biscuits and cold water were aplenty. My mate and I took a few minutes rest at each of these oases, time to sort out our socks, shoe laces, drink and just get some calories on board. We spent a bit of time at checkpoint 3 but moved on as my legs were tightening in the cold.......that is when the hard work really started, uuurrrghhhh, by this time the mud was getting worse at 22, we were introduced to the marshes to the north of Arundel.....if Hell froze over, this marsh would be Hell incarnate. We were met with ice cold water above the ankles, clay the consistency of syrup and the sun bouncing off the water and glaring in our eyes. It was pain, pure unadulterated pain as our toes curled in their shoes. The next 2 miles sapped every ounce of energy from my tired limbs, seeing runners fall into the marshed river to the groin was not one I wanted to copy. Next the BIG hill and an ascent to 200 metres, whilst easy on training runs was made up of pure mud, clingy chalk mud that stuck to your shoes and made them feel like lead. By the time I reached the summit at mile 24 George and I laughed that we could "knock out a quick 6 miles" and be home for tea After this we dug in hard and bolted down to checkpoint 4 at 25 miles thinking that "is was only another 5 miles", how wrong we were! The route took us along a river bank and by now our legs were like frozen jelly, every turn hurt but then George's garmin announced we were at mile 26.2 and at mile 26.3 we announced that we were now ultra runners and celebrated with out last carb gels. The gels kicked in, a new confidence in our stride we attacked the hills we met, and as we turned a corner we were met by the beautiful sight of Arundel castle in the fast burning fog, we were directed onto yet another trail of mud and we were beginning to wonder where the finish was, we jumped over a stile and I was heard "George, it's the [censored] finish line, whoopee" we crossed the line together at 5:28 hours. Tired, cold, hurting but most importantly smiling and laughing with the other runners I really wanted top beat the 5 hour mark but the last part of the race was so extreme it slowed us down but it was impossible to run at points. So in all, I am really chuffed, I'm now UltraJerry.

Oooh which ones are you doing Ultra Flynn? Do you log your runs on here by the way?

Flynn, brilliant about L2B, I am amazed that they have 130 runners already. A couple of guys from a local club did it this year and they said the whole experience was brillliant. I am really disappointed that Extreme Running have cancelled Escape to Victory, apparently it was due to a poor uptake I wanted to do that but wanted to get through Doyen first.

Thank you Celtic Tiger Welcome to this little piece of UK tranquility Have you got any plans for the near future? I officially start my new quest tonight with a quick 10 miler ready for a 32 miler in February

I had a feeling it was you