What a fantastic day we had for the second running of our Foxton Hound Ultra Saturday, 17th August!
We made several changes for the 2024 renewal, including:
- a new start/finish location
- an earlier start for the 100k, allowing more runners to finish in daylight hours
- a longer cut-off time for those running the 100k
- an alteration to the 50k route
- the addition of a third indoor checkpoint
- signage in place for the full route (apart from fields of livestock)
- a wider and greater selection of nutrition at each checkpoint
- the addition of free recce runs in the build up to race day
The feedback we’ve received has been brilliant and we’re really proud of what the team has achieved with this race.
The addition of the organised recces in the build up to race day meant that we have been regularly maintaining the route for several months now, enabling runners who wanted to head out on solo recces in the build up to race day the opportunity to do so unscathed!
34 100k runners confidently set off from the new start/finish venue of Winwick Hall at 7am. Some faces we recognised, either as repeat entrants from the 2023 event, or from having attended a number of the pre-race recces. It was a nice, relaxed atmosphere as the field ran off around the corner of the hall and onto the footpaths beyond.
An hour later, and 79 rather more nervous 50k runners toed the start line. A large number of whom were running the Foxton Hound as their very first ultra! Mathew Horrocks, who had placed second at the 2023 event, settled into first position early on, never fully able to relax as there were plenty of runners pushing him on, making him work for the lead.
Mathew was determined though, and bettered his 2023 time by nearly 10 minutes, crossing the finish line in 4:15:55 (gun time). This beats the previous course record for the 50k set last year by Ryan Brown of 4:16:38, despite the addition of the 700 foot climb up Honey Hill in the final 5k this year!
Second across the line was Theo Duerden, finishing just one minute behind Mathew in 4:16:56. Matthew Hartgrove was not far behind, in third, with a 4:19:30 finishing time.
It was a matter of chip readings to decide the female winner, with the first two female finishers of the 50k race having run the event together and coming in at 6:05:19 (Rachel Lewis) and 6:05:20 (Ella Corcoran), both from Northampton Road Runners. Third female finished less than ten minutes later, with Natasha Kingston, also of Northampton Road Runners, clocking a finish time of 6:15:09. All three were well supported out on the course by last year’s winner, Lynne Nicholls.
In terms of the 100k, Daniel Hendriksen, returning champion from the 2023 event relished the opportunity to race, setting a fast pace for the other runners. Daniel had company in the form of Damon Hannis up until Checkpoint 5 (Billesdon), where Damon decided to pull from the event, not wanting to push it too hard in the build up to an upcoming longer ultramarathon.
Harvey Eales then slipped into second position here, having remained between 10-15 minutes behind the leading duo consistently since the start of the race.
Ben Shirley, who had placed second at the event last year then rose up into third position, leaving a large gap between himself and fourth place. Although the runners now seemed set to finish as Daniel-Harvey-Ben, anything can happen in an ultra and we didn’t want to shout about anything until they reached the finish line!
On this occasion though, the order remained the same, with Daniel Hendriksen taking first place for the second year running and smashing his 2023 time by more than half an hour to finish in 10:31:58 (gun time). Harvey looked incredibly chipper for someone who had just run 100k and cruised over the finish not long after, finishing in 10:52:05. Ben then went on to finish third, with a time of 11:30:11.
In the ladies race, Lily Canter and Helen Rodway both passed through Checkpoint 3b at Stoke Albany together, but Lily had drawn into the lead by Checkpoint 4 at Hallaton, leaving Helen in second position and Maryann Devally as third lady. Maryann had unfortunately had to withdraw from the event in 2023, and once again this wasn’t her year, as she was forced to retire at Checkpoint 6 (Kibworth Beauchamp) struggling with her back. By this checkpoint Helen had dropped back into third position with Rebecca Martin passing through the checkpoint six minutes ahead of her.
By the seventh and final checkpoint, at Sibbertoft, Helen had slipped back and was now twelve minutes behind Charmaine Williams. Lily retained her lead by 9 minutes here, continuing to push forward to the end and placing first female in a time of 14:41:29 (gun), with Rebecca Martin finishing in 14:54:24 and Charmaine retaining her third place with a time of 14:56:40.
The provisional date for next year is Saturday, 16th August. We look forward to seeing everyone back in 2025!