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Hi all, how did your day go? 

 I am a bit pleased with myself  managed to do the Ultra course in 06:29:15 and bag 12th place.  What a course tho, the section past the firing ranges was just relentless. Now where did I put those spare legs?

The Ultra route is essential the same as the marathon route with an extra loop at the end, back up and round Ringstead Bay and rejoing the route returning to Osmington........lovely

Ewan, I ran 19 miles of the course yesterday from Osmington Mills to Lulworth and back and I ran in road shoes.  I would suggest however that if has rained then trail shoes are the way to go.  There were a couple of sections that I was less than confident on due to the terrain being damp.  I am looking forward to the 3rd now as it is such a lovely scenic route, not sure I am looking forward to the pain towards the end; some real quad busting sections as you are well aware I am sure.

Lirish, I can see your point if EL provide little support; although you could argue the point for a lot of events.  Why bother doing events at all just go self supported?  Surely the point is the competitive spirit and camaraderie associated with such events.

Hi all, so went out today for a little recce from Osmington Mills to Lulworth and back..... well what can I say; its severe but beautiful. 

I was unable to park at the PGL centre so had to park in Osmington Mills itself, near the Smugglers Pub. I got the first section from here slightly wrong and ended up following the beach section to ringstead ( I say beach, very rocky and unrunnable took me 20 minutes to do the first mile. Doh!) The next section from here  involves a 1.5 mile climb, up 500 feet around Ringstead Bay; the view from the top is just stunning. 

Following this section its becomes fairly runnable until you reach Durdle Door where you are greated with a very acute descent.  I really hope it does not rain heavily prior to the event as you will be better off with a sledge to descend here.  From here to Lulworth it is pretty undulating, the descent to Lulworth was pretty treacherous.  The path is sort of cobbled with lots of loose gravel over the top, nearly lost my footing a couple of times. 

The next section over and around Lulworth Cove is a real quad killer, steep ascent about 400 ft in a 1/4 mile and then steps to descend 300ft down to the ranges section.  The steps are brutal really uneven and quite slippery, again if it rains it will be pretty treacherous.  I was unable to go onto the ranges as they are shut in the week. 

Heading back to Osmington Mills from here is less severe than the first section, hilly still but the route heads inland and the hills are much more rolling.  The climb up onto spring bottom hill is going to be fun at mile 25ish and again at mile 32ish for the Ultra runners.

 As I say the route is severe but the beauty of the surroundings makes it much more managable.  As you get used to one section it quickly changes and helps to refocus the mind. I focused very much on a walk run strategy today ( Walk hills, run when possible) and got round 19 miles in reasonable shape.  Can't wait till the 3rd now, just hope they are providing a pair of replacement legs for after.