Taking on two races in one day

The weather report hadn’t been looking good all week.  It was the end of October after all, and mid-week we had the sort of downpour that would have made Noah nervous.  As usual when I have a race coming up I was checking the forecast daily, and mentally adjusting what kit I planned to use.  This however, was the first I’d ever had to plan for 2 races in one day…

Earlier this year it was announced that Cornwall Council were not renewing the lease on the United Downs Raceway, our local track which has been the home to go-kart, stock car, and banger racing in Cornwall since the 1960s.  As such, the track was due to close and the local news started to report that plans were in progress for developers to move in and build a rum distillery and “visitor center” on the site.  In protest and to raise awareness of the issue, 2 local runners (David Andrewartha and Gino Crawford) ran laps around the track for 10 hours (1 hour for each of the 10 years of lease the council reneged on!)

When David announced later that he’d be organising (he’s the RD for Bys Vyken Events, well known in Cornwall for putting on excellent and slight a 24 hour race around the trackly quirky races) on the weekend of the final ever track meet, it was a no brainer: I had to do it.  There was only one problem – I had already organised a team from my karate cub to run the Kernow Killer (a very muddy 10 mile obstacle course race) the same day!

Not to worry, the track race (dubbed the UDR 24) was going to include the option to run for either 12 or 6 hours instead I could do the Kernow Killer, and have a few hours to eat and rest before doing the UDR 12 – how hard could it be?

Despite the ominous forecast and torrential downpours from earlier in the week, we awoke to a bright and sunny Saturday morning.  The forecast looked pretty decent for the rest of the day, although with a weather warning for the evening with heavy rain and 40+ MPH winds predicted.  Oh well, I figured I’d cross that bridge when I got to it, and at least it looked like we might get a few hours of reasonably pleasant weather before it turned bad.

A quick breakfast, drop the kids at the in-laws, and my wife and I arrived at The Kernow Killer in plenty of time to meet the rest of the team before our 10:45 wave start.  The sun was out, and spirits high, and we were even treated to a huge double rainbow in the sky as we warmed up to get started.