Updated at 19:33
On Sunday, I ran the
Three Forts Marathon, which is a 27miles (43.5km) cross-country race in the
South Downs hills, near
Worthing. It's actually slightly longer than a marathon, and relatively tough due to the ascents over each of the forts (about 1050m in total). My main concern before the race was whether I could run uphill or not.
The weather was perfect for running: very cloudy, so not too warm, but slightly windy. The first ascent (
Cissbury Ring) went smoothly, so did the descent to the Adur River. 50 of us took the wrong way at some point in this descent and had to go back a bit :) I managed to run the second ascent to
Devil's Dyke as well. The route then goes back down to the river and up again to
Chanctonbury Ring. This ascent was a bit harder for me, but I managed to run it anyway at a slower pace. Just as I thought I could run it all the way long, two last sneaky ascents on the way down to Worthing stopped me, and I had to walk 3 times for about a minute. The final 3 miles went very fast and easy, downhill but not too much, allowing to take the maximal advantage from the slope. I finished in 3:56:35, ranking 31
st out of 189 finishers. This is quite good for me given the ascent (winner finishing in 3:07:03).
On the way down from Devil's Dyke.
Overall, this was a good event with friendly marshals, nice route and views. No major problems on the physical side, but my thighs could be a bit stronger in the ascents. Last but not least, it was very nice to meet Mike, who's going to finish the UTMB this year. Happy to put a smiling face on an e-mail address :)
Ultra friendly race.
