CancerCare Cross Bay Challenge – Ali Nash reports …
The whole club trip thing was Jeremy’s fault. Sorry, let me start again. It was Jeremy’s idea…. to run across Morecambe Bay as part of the CancerCare Cross Bay Challenge, (though backed by Ali and Jack as one of their ‘bucket list’ must do races). A half marathon starting at Silverdale in Lancashire, crossing the largest expanse of tidal sand in the UK (310 km2 for the stats geeks) across to Flookburgh in Cumbria. A doddle. UltraFlat. Easy. Bring it on.
Unfortunately, due to the shifting nature of the sands and the tide, the start time and start location had to be changed at the last minute, meaning an EARLY morning start for the bus pick up…..it started with a 5…….. (blame Jezza). The weather forecast was for ‘clear, but breezy conditions’……. aka unseasonal gales. Registration was straightforward enough…. a waterproof/ saltproof/ sandproof timing chip, velcro’d around the ankle -and a wrist tag, so at least one each of our arms and legs would be identifiable should we get lost or taken by the tide….. Waiting for the safety briefing at Gibraltar Farm campsite, it was clear that with the consistent 40mph westerly headwind howling across the bay, this was no PB course, more a war of attrition. Eventually the queens official sand guide gave the OK and we were ushered onto bay sand for the first time, to follow a course marked with flags, cones and running between cockling tractors parked at key points across the bay.
Now, the sand is crossed by a number of rivers, as well as tidal gullies draining saltwater off the bay, the first of which we encountered after at least 400 yards…… Knee depth lukewarm saltwater, with a sneaky current and mini waves whipped up by the wind – crossing technique aided by the ‘high knees’ drills for those who attend the Tuesday track sessions, 400 yards later and straight into cheeky crossing number 2, deeper this time at thigh depth, and the widest we encountered, probably around 100m wide. Thoroughly soaked it was back into the truly vicious headwind, race pace demolished by 2+ minutes per mile, and the racers quickly stringing out across the sands and the numerous water filled channels. It really was probably one of the toughest races because of the wind -both mentally and physically. Water stations were frequent, with marshalls ferried out by cockle tractors. They also had plentiful Vaseline available ( saltwater&sand being the perfect storm for major chaffing issues) , I thought sand would be sand, flat, hard-ish and even…… let me give you a masterclass on some of the sand types encountered…. Soft and squelchy, hard and flat, hard with rivulets of water, deep channels, shallow channels, concrete-like rippled sand, cockle ridden & worm cast covered, sand with ankle deep pools. However, the worst type (encountered between miles 11 &12) was both hard&soft, rivulet riddled, rippled, worm casty cockle bed with unavoidable pools of indeterminate depth. The only saving grace at the point being we had finally turned and had a tailwind and we’re heading for the finish marquee ( which we could see from mile 5…..as we ran past out into the bay). The Striders team did us proud, with a hefty haul of silverware, with prizes for the (as announced) old man and old lady of ‘Team Nash’ and a couple of prizes for the ‘slightly less old ladies’ of Bell and Burrill. Retiring for pub grub and rehydration at the very accommodating Pheasant Inn at Allithwaite as the tide raced back in.
One crossed off the bucket list. Cheers Jez.
1:49:55. Ali Nash 8th overall (3rd male vet)
1:53:06 Richard Stone 15th
1:54:27 Stewart Spink 18th
1:55:36 Rob Burrell-Donkin 20th
2:03:11 Jeremy Wright 34th
2:09:51 Jack Verity 53rd
2:12:22 Frank Beecroft 60th
2:15:15 Louise Nash 68th (2nd lady and 2nd vet lady)
2:16:26 Gemma Bell 72nd (5th lady and 2nd senior lady)
2:18:24 Clare Burrill 77th (7th lady and 3rd senior lady)
2:23:49 Tim Mosedale 98th
2:28:13 Darren Longhorn 113th
2:31:10 Vicki Johnston 125th
2:31:12 Dairine Nethercott 127th
2:38:22 Richard Smith 173rd