Report by Sarah Storey
Race Date: Saturday 26th October 2019
Yet again I decided to venture up on this bridge that I appear to enjoy so much.
The weather had been awful from Friday morning right through to about half four Saturday afternoon and my first thoughts were it’s going to be a cold and wet run up on the bridge this weekend. Nevertheless off we set and as usual I turned up in my shorts but this time I wore long socks and donned a jacket for the occasion too.
We parked up in the car park and I tottered off to pick my number up and then back to the heated seats of the car. I didn’t bother with the briefing as I already knew the ropes and what to expect from the evening ahead. Karl has kept to his word and there were 6 portaloos instead of the usual 2.
6pm was looming so I made my way to the start line and bang on time we set off. Now the rules of the Humber Bridge don’t need much explaining you leave the start line, head off up under the bridge to come out on the west side, you run 2 miles towards Barton upon Humber, you run round a cone and make your way back towards the check in point (back at the start), round another cone and give your number, pick up a supply of haribo sweets and set off again for that cone at the other side.
You complete as many 4 mile laps as possible in the 6 hour timescale but at 11.30 if you haven’t set off again you can call it a day, any earlier than this and you get a DNF.
I managed 28 miles in just over 5 hours 32 minutes.
The night was truly magical, the weather played ball, it was dry which is a bonus, not too windy and I thought it was rather warm too although a few would disagree.
This is a fantastic event and I bloody love it, the people on the bridge are so encouraging and the volunteers are amazing and so supportive too.
This is the second event in my three weekends of madness. I did York Marathon last week in 4hrs 11 minutes and 56 seconds, this just leaves next weekend where I’m going to attempt the white rose 100 mile ultra run.
Then I think I’ll have a rest until the Bolsover 10k then I’m going to train again ready to hopefully smash that 4hr at London in April.
Anyway happy running to you all and have a great running weekend if you’re racing this coming week.
Editor’s Notes:
Great result Sarah!
The race is named in memory of Ellie Penrose, Hell on the Humber athlete who died unexpectedly in 2015 aged 18.
The temperature was just 1° above freezing (without the wind chill factor) which puts Sarah’s ‘rather warm’ in perspective!
Over 200 people aged 16 – 75 took part this year, running, walking, and crawling their way over the unforgiving surface of the Humber Bridge.
I’ve not found a list of results for this event.