I’ve done a few races by the Freedom Racing team. All have been fairly local and I’ve enjoyed each one. A few years ago they set up another race in Sussex – the five trails ultra. It connects a loop using five different walking trails – the Serpent Trail, New Lipchis Way, The West Sussex Literary Trail, the Monarch’s Way and some of the South Downs Way. I’ve run on parts of each of these and wanted to do more of them. The location of the start and finish is a bit of a pain to reach on public transport so it was never convenient to do. But now I have access to a car I signed up along with Natalia and Nick.
We planned to arrive early and take advantage of the rolling start rather than wait till 10am to begin. We weren’t quite as efficient in our logistics though and only ended up starting about 20 minutes earlier than the masses. Either way, it was nice to begin on peaceful trails. I do like a rolling start. No fuss. No waiting. No crowded trails nor annoying noises or smells from other runners. There was the odd one or two runners who ran passed us as we first navigated the, familiar to me, Serpent trail path. Somewhere in the first 10 km we also caught up and passed a few who started before us too.
We reached the first aid station pretty quickly as it was fairly flat until this point. Stuffed our faces with the goods available and set off knowing we’d soon be on the first and biggest climb of the day. As we started ascending the front runners from the mass start came speeding passed us. Effortlessly they made their way up the climb. Nick and I recognised the climb from a similar race we did before – the Maverick Race South Downs ultra. We struggled up the climb that day much to the enjoyment of the photographer lurking in the trees. It felt a little better today.
We left the Serpent trail and did some kms on the New Lipchis Way. There were long wide descents and beautiful woodland trails as we made our way to the second aid station for more sandwiches and snacks. Here I handed in some headphones I found a long the way and we chatted to the race director’s parents who were very friendly as they always are out on Freedom Races volunteering and supporting runners.
Leaving the aid station we had a long but gentle climb and then another lovely descent. We ambled along the South Downs way for a bit and a little on the Literary Trail where we got ever slightly lost as we missed a turn off as we were deep in conversation. Back on track we enjoyed more woodland trails and open fields. The ground was muddier in places but overall dry and compact.
We ran a little bit on the Monarchs Way. Around the third aid station I can’t remember so much. We were battling through our own thoughts and mental processes. The day was drawing out and around late afternoon the temperature started to drop as the sun began to set. Up high on the final aid station at Bignor Hill car park we could feel the chilly air.
For the last 10km we had one big descent and then it was mostly flat again. We passed runners and runners passed us. For the last few kms it was quite a little group and we focused ourselves to hold our position and keep ahead of the others. We managed it. Speeding up in the last km as we came back in to the finish line. We saw some familiar faces and left pretty quickly to get changed and leave for home before we got too cold.
Another great adventure and excellent race by freedom racing. The route is a good one beautiful throughout and we were very lucky with the weather and the dry conditions. With the exposed South Downs, it could have been a miserable autumnal afternoon if it was damp and wet!
Run With Dai 