I ran the Cleveland Survival on Saturday.  This is a 26 mile fund-raising event organised by The Cleveland Search and Rescue Team.  It’s run on similar lines to the Allendale Challenge, except that you are only given the route on the day.  There are also fewer peat bogs than at Allendale.

The weather was cracking with blue skies and a cooling breeze – perfect for running.  The event started and finished at Great Ayton and turned out to be a bit of a recce for the Gisborough Moors Race.  The route headed out via Roseberry Topping and High Cliff Nab, and returned via Captain Cook’s Monument and Little Roseberry.  In between there was a boggy section over The Quakers’ Causeway which I gather is part of the Commondale Clarts race.  The only downside was a few sections of the route being on road.

There were staggered starts between 8 and 9 am.  I had one of the later starts.  As most of the entrants were walkers, I spent the first half of the race overtaking the field.  Towards the end I caught up with the second placed runner (a guy from Kent) after a long slog into the stiff westerly wind.  No sooner had I overtaken him, than I promptly took a wrong turning and had to get back on course via the unofficial route of Kildale churchyard.  After running with him for a while, I pulled away on the return leg over Great Ayton Moor.  The first placed runner was about 10 minutes ahead of me and never in sight.  He turned out to be Richard Clark (Esk Valley) who was putting his local knowledge of the moors to good use. 

Once the staggered start times were taken into account, Richard Clark emerged the winner in a time of 3 hours 58 minutes.  I was surprised and pleased to finish in second place 6 minutes behind him.  As this was a low key event, my prize was the same as all the other entrants: a hot meal at the finish and the satisfaction of a good day on the hills.

See you at Gisborough Moors.

John Duff

read John's grammatical challenge on his blog

Cleveland Search and Rescue website