The podium are in, but many runners are still going on the SILVA Northern Traverse.

They have now run through three nights, battled against testing conditions, and overcome the challenges of sleep deprivation as they move ever closer to the finish line at Robin Hood’s Bay. 

At Hawsker the end is in sight

In the night, third man Juha Lehtonen made it into the finish in a time of 61:55:15. Meanwhile, second woman, Nia Albiston made it in a few hours later in 64:59:04. Nia has previously volunteered on this event, so it is wonderful to see her excelling at this challenge. 

Third woman, Eddie Sutton, was moving extremely well early this morning as she ran through Hawsker this morning with Michael Verill and Stuart Franks. At 285km in, runners really are reaching the home stretch when they get to Hawsker, but the muddy and undulating cliffs don’t offer the runners an easy run into the finish.

However, Eddie looked extremely positive.

She said, “I’m most looking forward to a cup of tea at the end. I kept falling asleep and then waking up. I teamed up with these guys because they live here and I kept getting lost. When I fell asleep last night, these guys were 4 hours behind me. I don’t know what I was doing. I was standing in this bog going – I don’t know what I’m doing!”

She was moving well, managing a run at a decent pace – incredibly impressive given the huge distance she has covered. She said, “My feet are raw, but running wise I feel good.”

She made it into the finish at Robin Hood’s Bay this morning to lots of supporters who follow her popular podcast Tea and Trails, which she hosts with fellow ultra-runner Gary Thwaites.  

Lordstones was a hive of activity throughout the night

 Early this morning, many runners were preparing to go back out into the wild weather of the North York Moors after having had a few hours’ welcome rest at Lordstones.

We caught up with a few of them before their onwards journey.

Ilona and Phillip Morgan are running the SILVA Northern Traverse as a couple. They are looking forward to throwing their pebble into the sea when they get to Robin Hood’s Bay.

“It’s nice – I recommend it doing it as a couple,” Ilona said. “Forget beach holidays in Spain, just do a long-distance trail!”
The pair have been stopping for plenty of sleep along the route, and are 4 hours ahead of their schedule they’d worked out in advance of the event.

Sean Higgins has been fuelling well on his journey. He said, “I’ve had some rice pudding and had pizza at the petrol station. And I had a big breakfast at the bike shop.”

He is looking forward to making it to Robin Hood’s Bay. He said, “I’m most looking forward to taking all my gear off. I’m sick of running in wet gear. I’ve got 5 layers on.”

Richard Whitaker was also struggling a bit with the weather, but was feeling much better after some much needed rest.

He said, “I’m feeling okay. We were pretty cold when we got in a few hours ago, but we’ve eaten plenty and warmed up. I’ve had a good sleep and just sat down for a while. I’ll just go very steady from here.”

 He is back for more having done the race last year. He said, “The weather’s been a bit more brutal than last year. Last year had more of a holiday feeling. The weather’s been tough, tough, tough. The feet have been alright though.” 

Although the next official checkpoint is at Glaisdale, runners also have the opportunity to stop at the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge. Many runners took advantage of this convenient stop to have some lunch and shelter from the rain today.

Great tales of adventure at the finish line

The Event Centre at Fylingdales Hall was buzzing today with elated runners, as runners arrived throughout the day into the finish line in Robin Hood’s Bay. Some were broken, some were overcome with emotion, while others were just simply ready for a long sleep, but all of them were glowing with their sense of achievement.

Duncan Potts had an adventure in the final section of his journey. He said, “There’s a point where you cross a ford. I thought I’d cross it but I fell in the river and it was trying to drag me under a bridge. I was sitting there being pulled under and my first thought was – what an embarrassing way to go. I got out and was drenched top to bottom. This was 2 hours into probably a 10 hour leg. I thought I need to keep moving and try to have some food.”

“Then as I went round the river, I saw this fire and 10 meters off the path, I saw the Hermitage. There was a guy in there in a dry robe and he had a fire, and on the fire he had a vat of vegetable soup. He gave me some chunky soup, but I didn’t have any cutlery with me, so I was scooping the soup with my hands. I was around the fire and put on some of my layers from my dry bag. This was in the middle of the night.”

“Afterwards, Race Control rang me because I was wondering around a forest in circles. After about half an hour I worked it out.  It was one of those nights, but I got through. The rest of it I really enjoyed. How friendly and welcoming people are is brilliant.”

The lack of sleep definitely took its toll though: “I’ve really enjoyed it. It hits you like a wave of tiredness though. Since Friday I’ve had 2 hours sleep. I felt okay on it but I’ve had some weird hallucinations.”

He had a brilliant journey though. “The best bit for me is the unexpected things you see, like some of mines in the Dales are really Mordor-esque with some really steep climbs. We got the full mix of weather though.”

Krystal Garnett and Richard Moreland were elated but tired when they got into the finish. The couple got married in November, so this is their honeymoon. For Krystal, this is also her third time lucky, so there was much to celebrate.

She said, “The hallucinations were insane. I thought Richard’s poles were our dog come alongside for treats. And the flagstones were paintings, like scenes from Harry Potter!”

It’s been an absolutely epic achievement for the pair.

It was another tough day on the SILVA Northern Traverse, but the scenes down at the finish have been incredibly inspiring. These participants have really shown their mental strength and resilience. Yet there are still many who will be running through a fourth night.

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