Laugavegur mountain Ultra marathon was my first ultra. It was the culmination of a challenge I set myself, as a fairly average club runner, to work up from a tough off road half marathon, through twenty mile and marathon distance trail races, to a full Ultra.
The Laugavegur is set in the spectacular environment of Iceland. Apparently J R R Tolkien’s books were based in Icelandic legends. Certainly at times the run felt like something out of the Lord of the Rings – the course consisted of running towards a volcano (the same one which was wrecking everyone’s flights earlier in the year), across ash deserts, through sulphur clouds and up and down mountains even the average orc would describe as “challenging”.
The course follows a regular hiking route and starts with an uphill 6 mile stretch to the first waterstop. Following advice from the course organisers, most runners took this section at an easy pace – walking as often as running, as a lot of the inclines were pretty steep. The terrain varied enormously ranging from dirt tracks to boulder fields, scattered with black glass basalt rocks. Most of the ground was volcanic ash – which is like running on sand. This made the route very demanding and strength sapping.
In a couple of places we were running through clouds of sulphur filled steam (which smelled exactly as you’d imagine and left a vague scent of brimstone). We were getting a lot of support from walkers doing the route (especially from the British walkers when they spotted a runner in a Help for Heros vest).
After the first stretch, the route levelled out and started to gradually go down hill. This did not mean the route got any easier as a lot of the downhill sections were (to coin as phrase used by one of the marshals) “not good” and couldn’t be taken quickly. A new challenge was thrown in on the second stretch – crossing ice fields with steep banks on each side. All of this was made a little easier as the views from the course were stunning – seeing a vast expanse of valleys and mountain ranges around us.
After another 6 miles we reached the second water stop which was also the first cut off point with a four hour cut off time. I got there in about 3-30 (I was never going to do this run fast!). It suddenly occurred to me that it had taken three and a half hours to cover 12 miles
In the latter half of the route, we caught sight of everyone’s favourite volcano –Eyjafjallajökull – which was behaving itself at the moment and was marked by only a plume of steam. The route was directly toward the volcano and ended only 5km short of it.... and that plume of steam really did look a long way away.
The route flattened out a bit and we were now crossing rivers, often needing help from marshals to get across. The hills were replaced by a desert of volcanic ash. The next waterstop was at 22 miles, with a 6 hour cut off. In training, my chief worry would be missing this cut off, so tried to get into a steady rhythm and get there with time to spare. At this point the heat (it was up into the 20s which I had not been expecting) was starting to get to be a problem and despite and despite taking on a lot liquid was probably already becoming dehydrated.
There was another change in the course and we started into a long up hill incline – not particularly steep but running on loose ash this was pretty sapping both physically and mentally. At this point, I was starting to slow down much more than I’d expected and was getting closer to the six hour cut off. I knew the waterstop was between 37 and 38 km and as soon as the Garmin reached 37km I was expecting when I crossed each ridge to see the waterstop and instead saw.... another ridge. At this point I was having to dig in and just keep going to get to the waterstop in time. Finally, and pretty much exactly on 38km, I could hear cheering and realised the waterstop was just around the corner. I got there with eight minutes to spare and was relieved that I knew I was going to finish. I was, however, starting to seriously overheat and knew that last section was going to be slow.
The last section was a mix of challenges, there were plenty of hills and uphill sections which were starting to get harder to handle by this time in this time. The route also included crossing a gorge via a bridge which needed to be reached by clambering down a rope.
The last section was mainly a long slog and with about six miles to go I was getting support from the backmarkers who stayed with me to ensure I was going to get to the end okay. With 5 km to go, there was one final major hill and we dropped down into a valley with a last river crossing. This was tough – even with a support rope and help from a marshal, I could feel the current almost dragging the legs from under me. There was one final, fairly gentle, hill section and finally the finish line – coming in at 9:18:24 and last of the 267 finishers (which I was perfectly happy with).
At the end I was feeling pretty ropey and I think my first words on finishing were “I never want to hear the word “Ultra marathon again” (but another runner pointed out in a couple of weeks I’d have forgotten about the pain and only remembered the sense of achievement from completing the course and would do another Ultra. They were right - I’ve since repented and entered the Druid Ridgeway 3-Day Ultra).
For a first Ultra marathon this seemed to be really good race to start with. I expected the route to be demanding and can safely say I was not disappointed! The route threw in a lot of different challenges, with the type of terrain often changing rapidly, making it harder to keep a steady pace. A lot of training is needed for this event and I was glad I’d taken on board the message when preparing to be ready to walk large sections of the course. The scenery was breathtaking (especially as some of the hills didn’t leave much breath to take) and the support from marshals excellent (with especial thanks from me to the back markers). Also thanks to Mark and Ruth and the rest of Across the Divide for putting together the trip to Iceland (and including a recovery trip to the Blue Lagoon spa pool a couple of days after the run).
Simon Bright
For Simon's video footage on the event see: Here
Simon's is raising money for Arthritis Research click Here to visit his justgiving page.
The Laugavegur Ultra Marathon is organised by Across The Divide. click Here for further details.
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