There are 80 runners registered so far, and my race number will be 37. The field will probably be fairly competitive, as the race is part of the Runfurther Vasque Ultrarunning series.

1. Route

I've received the official route for the first edition of the Hardmoors 55 last week. A few changes to the route as compared to the Hardmoors110. Checkpoint 1 is at the tip of Sutton Bank (White Horse), which brings a few extra kilometres. It follows the Cleveland Way after Osmotherley, instead of short-cutting by Cod Beck reservoir. And finally, the race passes through Slapewath for the last checkpoint before finishing at Guisborough

2. Mapping

Before the inaugural Hardmoors 110, I was wondering what kind of mapping solution would be appropriate, and went for the full 1:25,000 laminated OS maps. This has been proved not ideal, as folded maps are cumbersome on the run, and not suitable for the occasional peak.

This time I've made some small laminated route cards bound with a key-ring. The easiest way I found to build them is simply to slice my laminated OL26 map. I have to admit that cutting a map into pieces made me feel a bit awkard, as if that was a sacrilege. The map is double-sided and the route crosses the whole map, but rather luckily the route doesn't overlap across both sides. The advantages are two-fold: first it'll reduce the weight by about 60% from 200g to 80g, and secondly it will be much easier to keep in hand and follow the route card by card. The drawback is obviously that if I get seriously lost or need to withdraw, I will lack of an overview.


Hardmoors 55 OL26 map slicing.
The card sizes and placements are accurate, but the route is approximate.


3. Objective

In 2008, I took 14 hours to reach Saltburn on the Hardmoors 110. Completing the Hardmoors 55 in 12 hours seems like an achievable goal, but it's not going to be easy! Here are my expected split times (slightly updated on 12/03/2010), based on speeds measured on the Hardmoors 110, and hoping to slow down a bit less in the second half on the Hardmoors 55.

Split Total Limit Speed
km time km clock clock km/h
Start Helmsley 0 00:00 0 08:00 08:00
CP1 White Horse (Sutton Bank) w 14.5 01:33 14.5 09:33 10:00 9.30
CP2 Osmotherley Village Hall DB 20.9 02:31 35.4 12:05 13:00 8.28

Lords cafe 12.1 01:34 47.5 13:39 7.69
CP4 Wainstones 4 00:32 51.5 14:11 7.50
CP5 Bloworth Crossing 8.1 01:08 59.6 15:19 7.11
CP6 Kildale Village Hall DB 8 01:11 67.6 16:31 20:00 6.72
CP7 Roseberry Topping 9.7 01:33 77.3 18:04 6.25
CP8 Slapewath w 7.2 01:13 84.5 19:17 5.90
CP9 Guisborough Cricket Club 4.1 00:43 88.6 20:00 23:00 5.70


Ultra mapping