Lloyd Biddell

The Wheaton Aston 10k had become a bit of a post Christmas tradition and I entered it at the end of 2019 as I usually do.  Unfortunately it got cancelled due to flooding and then came Covid so my entry was carried over to 2021.  To be honest I was 50/50 at best with this race, coming so close to the Spine Race, but if I'm honest I really didn't want to know how out of shape I had become over the shorter distances.  Whilst training has got gradually better in recent weeks the focus has moved towards the Spine Race which takes place in two weeks time.  As a result, for the last few months I've done no speed work as its not really a tool that is needed in an ultramarathon.  In the end I decided to give it a crack on the basis that it would be a last opportunity for the legs to have a blast. Conservative start. The weather was a rather chilly 6 degrees, dry but extremely wet under foot and the roads were full of puddles making it impossible to take the shortest line.  Some of t

Despite the death on Day 2, at the time it just felt like the race attitude was that the show had to go on and I did privately question how many more deaths would be required for a change in thinking.  Since the race my attitude on this subject has mellowed somewhat, but I'd be lying if this didn't reflect my feelings at the time.  As heat increases the effect is exponential; going from 30-33 degrees will have next to no impact on the race, 40-43 degrees and you will probably get a few dropouts, 50-53 degrees and you will get quite a lot, and hypothetically if it went from 60-63 would probably mean no-one, including the Moroccans will finish the race.  As it was, it was officially recorded as 52.8 degrees with another media crew privately recording 56 degrees that day (I am guessing this is actual temperature rather than in the shade, but the latter is irrelevant because there is no shade). A hard fought medal.  Only c.350 awarded this year.  Also half a stone lighter.  I'm

For the final day we had the charity 'solidarity' stage.  We all had to wear yellow cotton t-shirts.  Despite looking like a swarm of bees, it was welcome relief as by now my shirt was like cardboard and extremely stinky.  In fact my lycra shorts had lost all elasticity and I binned them in favour of my long lycra tights.  Today was just 8km, not timed and as long as you finished the stage your classification overall was not affected. I decided to just bimble along, talking to the odd competitor along the way, including a good half hour chat with my fellow Italian competitor who finished one place ahead of me. Thankfully no photos of me looking like a bumble bee from this day... However, plenty of stock photos exist that record the day... After finishing there was talk about groups getting private taxis to Ouarzazate but I didn't see the point and I later found it they were very expensive in any case.  Whilst a six hour coach ride to the hotel, we stopped for lunch which co

Day 5 I don't remember too much about.  It was just a day of lazing around and recovering as much as humanly possible.  I got through the long stage relatively unscathed but my toes were given a right bashing so had blistered quite badly.  It was caused by the shuffling during the middle of the stage leading to greater lateral impact than normal in the toe box, but was then exacerbated by the rocky descent off the jebel.  The net result was my big toe on both feet had a big blister from the tip of the toe, under the toenail itself and through to the other side.  I sorted it out myself and didn't see the need to seek medical support. The highlight of Day 5 was a cold can of coca-cola the race organisers gave out!  It was at this point that I realised I only had a little over 3 minutes to gain to 10th place overall.  If I could come in the top 10 it would also mean a small trophy.  In a slightly bizarre way, I kind of wished I wasn't in this position as for most people the ti

Today was the big one, finish this and the consensus around camp was that the back of the race had been broken.  As I was in the top 50 I had a delayed start of 11am, which for some reason ended up being 10am.  There was a lot of sickness amongst staff as well as competitors and the thinking was to try and get everyone through the earlier CPs as soon as possible. After starting, for some reason I didn't feel brilliant and was certainly down on my relative overall position.  I then started to develop a back sore within the first km.  I contemplated continuing and just ride it out, but it was too painful to ignore.  I took off my rucksack to try and bash whatever it was in my bag causing the rubbing.  As it turned out an elastic compression strap that I hadn't secured properly had found its way to my back so was easily sorted.  It only took 20 seconds to sort and I was glad I did as even a few minutes more of running like would have caused significant damage to my skin. Passing t

Over night there was more carnage.  Despite wearing ear plugs, you could hear frequent vomiting and hearing people make a mad rush to the toilet.  Some succeeded, some didn't.  For many the two toilet bags we were given at the end of each stage was not enough and it wasn't always easy to get more.  Toilet paper was becoming a tradeable commodity.  I was running low too, but my backup of spare facemasks (which unlike many others I hadn't binned) proved to be a saviour! Anyway, the start today was very sobering; a tribute to the French runner who had sadly passed away.  The start was very muted and involved walking about 800 metres with his team mates before we gradually transitioned into a jog.  It took me a while to find my legs but I seemed to be having a slightly better day.  The run to the first CP was mixed but involved some significant early dunes before flattening out onto a long and straight section with fairly hard ground.  I ran with another French runner who I was

Another night of terrible sleep ensued which made me even more glad of the sleeping mat as it least meant I was reasonably comfortable.  Overnight, things started to fall apart somewhat at camp, various people were starting to come down with severe sickness, vomiting, diarrohea or both.  We are not talking about the odd person either, it seemed quite prevalent and the onset quite sudden. At the time I put it down to the very hot previous day and symptoms of heat distress. I had my mix of granola for breakfast, but frankly it was a mistake.  In normal times, I love granola and I can eat it at all times of the day, but today it just didn't sit well.  With the benefit of hindsight I think the carbs were just too complex for my stomach to process.  What my stomach craved was something pretty simple to digest and it just couldn't process what I was giving it.  I went to the start line feeling rather delicate. I was a little worried about the race from this point onwards.  Convention

We waited at the start line which became the usual pattern of an extremely long speech including translation into English, resulting in an off somewhere between 5 - 15minutes late each day.  I was about 3 rows back, so fairly well positioned and it was clear that even at 9am it was going to be a warm (!) day. Start - Always impressive, as was the helicopter piloting skills. The first few km was a mixture of flattish but stony ground and it seemed to be similar to any other race e.g. some very fast starters who didn't look like they would hold their position and then a main group of about 15-20 runners.  When I say group, it was more a case of people spread over 50 or so metres and taking slightly different lines especially once we transitioned into some dunes.  At the time I thought these dunes were reasonably substantial, but with the benefit of hindsight, they probably barely meet the definition of dunes.  It was through these that I realised I was awful at tackling them, for som

We went off to the airport, this year meeting at Gatwick at 8am ready for the 10am flight to Errachidia with Titan Airways.  Whilst hand luggage allowance was 5kg, as I had a small looking race bag I pretty much took all of my main kit (c.6.5kg) with me, only checking in items that are not allowed in the aircraft cabin.  The flight was pretty uneventful, landing in a very warm Errachidia Airport which clearly is not that used to handling many flights, let alone those that are international.  Nonetheless, everything was reasonably quick and before long we were on the coaches for the c.90 min ride to camp.  On the way we were handed our race book and water card - so to be clear the book can count towards your overall bag weight for the technical checks (about 100g+). On arrival, we were more or less left to our own devices (other than being given some poo bags which we were shown how to use as part of the briefing later that evening), not before picking up a packed lunch.  It wasn't

Pre Race Kit Review Day 1 - 32.2k Day 2 - 32.5k (Dunes Day) Day 3 - 35.5k Day 4 - 82.5k (Long Stage) Day 6 (Marathon Day)

In my preamble I went through the kit I intended to take and the general intention to go for the lightest possible items.  This post reviews the kit, what worked well, what didn't and things I would have done differently with the benefit of hindsight. 642 - My number for the week. I think the first takeaway lesson is that the kit should all be treated as single use only.  If there is something you want to take, for instance a rucksack that you want to use in future events then I would choose something different for the MDS.  The conditions are so severe that as you will see below, much of what I took got a severe beating in only a few days. The final thing I would add was that it was a record breaking year for toughness - temperatures reaching up to 56c.  If the kit could (or couldn't!) survive those conditions then I think it acts as a good guide for future editions of the race. Clothing Raidlight Short Sleeve Shirt - Short sleeve was definitely the way to go for me.  The heat