Dusk til Dawn 50 mile/ 12 Labours of Hercules Ultra Test event

For the weekend I headed over to the Peak District as Sundays mission was to test out a short (18 mile) course set out by Richard and Wendy at Beyond Marathon, to test the chip timing system before the big races coming up this year (Dusk til dawn 50 miler in October, the Sunlight version in May and also 12 Labours of Hercules in July!)

I cycled over from Warrington to Edale and stayed in the YHA which was pretty much your standard hostel. Dinner was great value £8 for 3 courses! Good bike storage shed there too! Coincidentally Rich and Wendy were also staying here so we caught up for a couple of hours in the evening!

Sunday we nipped over to Castleton after breaki to the YHA Losehill hall which is the base and start finish area during the race.

Basically myself and 2 other runners were guinea pigs. Heading out to find 4 controls that were placed a within a couple of miles from there. Run out, find the control box, swipe your timing chip, run back and repeat x4. We had the freedom to choose any order and any route (minor variations if you want or you can stick on the 'recommended' route. The 12 Labours of Hercules will be similar to this only 12 control points in varying distances! Should be an extremely exciting race as everyone scatters in various directions at the start line, the main HQ will be an interesting place for the 24 hours of the race!!

Leaving Losehill hall YHA via the back road

Your looking for boxes like this to swipe into

Name that hill anyone?

The paths were easily distinguishable in places such as this simply the wet bit,

A good day for it pretty warm weather with a little bit of snow in pockets on the hills. Can't wait for the Events later this year! Last year I ran the Dusk til Dawn in October (a surprisingly comfortable win) and will be very keen to go back should the calendar permit.

I am entered into the Scafell Marathon by High Terrain Events in May so I don't think i'll fancy running the 50 mile sunlight edition on the same day!

3 Months until 12 Labours Of Hercules. My next race will be the Highland Fling on the
th April so let's see how we go.
Charlie