Greensand Country Ultra 50km Review

 Greensand Country Ultra Trail

A single loop around Bedfordshire's finest countryside with a trail route that is relatively flat and great for posting a potentially faster 50km time sounds great doesn't it? 

A little bit on the contrary. 

An early morning rise saw me jump into my car and travel down the M1 to make my way to Shuttleworth Estate in Biggleswade - a 5,000 acre estate featuring a beautiful Victorian house surrounded by extensive parkland and hangar, with frequent airshows and vintage aircrafts out flying.  

Upon arriving and heading to the registration point (and bumping into a couple of fellow ex Ultra-X Jordan runners), I geared myself and headed to the start line and very much looking forward to the days event using my new Salomon hydration pack.

A bit ironic to bump into fellow Jordan runners on what has been the hottest day of the year - 32'c heat! Sadly the heat happened to be my downfall and paid the price for it.

For the first couple of hours of the event I felt relatively fine and as usual I passed a fair number of people as I made my way around the loop passing through Old Warden, Haynes, Clophill, Chicksands, Shefford and Broom.

The terrain and surrounding countryside was varied, and undulating throughout. The ground was very firm and compact with good portions of the route passing through various farmers’ fields that were distinguished by its hard-packed dirt trails and from the tractor marks cutting through the fields and around its perimeters. These sections were increasingly taxing on the joints with my legs beginning to stiffen up.

The ease of the first part of the event had gone and going into the last third of the run I began to really struggle. I have experienced runs in a lot of hot conditions however the heat really took its toll and I began to experience horrible cramps in both calves and heat exhaustion for the last 12km. I felt I had hydrated myself well prior and during the run but clearly not enough! I had to walk much of the remainder of the loop whilst getting into a light run where it was tolerable. As the route mainly consisted of wide dirt roads in-between the vast green fields it meant that there was little protection from the sun leaving us extremely exposed. 

I began to struggle mentally too as I was starting to lose the enjoyment I usually experience from these runs, with my body gradually shutting down due to fatigue and knowing their was still a good chunk to go. 

To add, I absolutely stacked it heading into one of the farmer's fields from a low fencing wire hidden in the growth adding to my woes. A fair few of us did the exact same. 

The route came to an end where we started, passing through a woodland section with some beautiful greenery and vibrant, colourful flora. And of course a welcome break from the heat. Despite the pain I knew that I was to keep pushing towards the end and with the finish line in sight, I managed to pick up a bit of speed until I could collapse under some shelter and cool my body down before attempted a 3hr drive back home.

To my surprise there were only a handful of runners who had finished and so still managed a respectable 7th place finish.