Arc of Attrition 2024, The UK's toughest winter race

The intrepid Wendy Goldthorp, our Club Cross Country Captain/Welfare Officer/Child protection Officer, took on for the 2nd time the gruelling and hard Cornish race. As no other Trotters were there to witness it, here is Wendy's account of the event.

On Thursday 25 January I travelled to Cornwall to register for my second attempt at the Arc of Attrition. For those of you not familiar with this event, it’s a 100-mile race (103 miles - if you include coming off the course to go through checkpoints!) on the South West Coast Path following the acorn symbols and GPX on your watch. There is a 36-hour time limit and the 7 checkpoints in between have strict cut-offs.

At midday on Friday 361 adventurers, of which 49 women, set off from Coverack heading towards Lands End to finish up in Porthtowan.

The day time weather and ground conditions were pretty similar to last year. Day time temperatures were warm so I was in a tee shirt. The ground was dry,except in the usual spots where it was boggy or claggy mud - the kind of mud that wants to suck the shoes off your feet. A friend Alby Walters of Riviera Racers came down and crewed me overnight which was amazing.

Last year I timed out as I had back issues caused by the 2-hour car journey down and the 1-hour coach drive to the start line around windy lanes. So this year, I bought a cushion for the coach and several packets of heat patches which I kept on applying throughout the race, which seemed to do the trick. For the first 40 or so miles, my pace was similar to last year. I felt really strong and on target. I followed the running program Trotter’s coach, Joe Hornsby, set me last year. I also did my own strength training program, typically three times a week, on top of my weekly mileage.

Staying out of the physio tent this time helped as it cost me quite a bit of time last year. Compared to my previous year’s splits, I sped up after Mousehole, coming into Lands End around 50 minutes faster than the year before. I changed into road shoes at the start of Marazion through to Newlyn – it was welcome relief to run in a different type of trainer. I also swapped socks over 3 times (Ininji toe socks with lashings of Gurney Goo on my feet) with fresh trail shoes at Lands End (mile 55).

Overnight the temperature dropped coming into Porthleven (checkpoint 1) and there was a noticeably cold wind following the coast path. As it was a full moon, there were unforgettable views of high rollers crashing into the cliffs while heading towards the Minack. I made a point to take it all in. I ate three small but solid meals at the checkpoints, after Penzance (mile 40) I struggled to take on board my sports nutrition – food that I’d road tested before, but now couldn’t face.

By the time I got to Cape Cornwall at mile 61 I had to keep sitting down as every time I moved I was dry retching. I had a bit of a wobble as I wanted to reach the finish, but I also wanted the sickness to stop. After a short deliberation and getting some Rennies from the Mountain Rescue crew, Alby persuaded me to get back out there to aim for Pendeen, the next cut-off being at 9am. I’d already got into Cape Cornwall about 25 minutes faster than last year, so I was happy with that. Those last four or so miles were pretty grim as the sickness returned.

At times I was OK with timing out so the sickness could stop, at other times I attempted to speed up as Pendeen felt within my grasp. Eventually the sweepers caught me up and I conceded that in my current state, I wasn’t going to be able to get to Pendeen on time (made it 13 minutes after the cut off).

My second attempt ended with a bus ride back to race HQ. I have some regrets that I didn’t push hard enough to make that cut-off but taking comfort from the positives: The fact that my back held up, I arrived at Cape Cornwall 25 minutes ahead of last year and that I ran further than before - some 66-70 miles (depending on if you go off the official route or my watch) - 11,761 ft elevation and 21:13:27 on the move. Of the 361 starters, 217 finished and 144 DNF’d. The race was won by Mark Darbyshire in 18:51:54. Sabrina Verjee was the first woman with a time of 23:03:40 (and placed 15th overall).

These are, of course, fantastic times from the front runners, but what I find equally inspiring is the woman in her early 60s that I had a brief chat with on the start line. She’d run the Arc last year and timed out at St Ives (mile 79) and was back for another shot. It pushes back against the notions we sometimes have of what we’re capable of accomplishing as we get older.

Injury-wise I got off very lightly. A few bramble scratches here and there. My feet are intact, albeit a little swollen. My quads and calves feel great! I even managed to get into a full squat this morning without difficulty. Either that’s all the training, or I didn’t run hard enough! Would I give it another go? In a heart beat! I’m taking next year off as I’ve spent the last 2 years training for both Arc attempts. With being self-employed and family life, trying to get the training done has left little room for anything else beyond this. Although I have to say, I’m still focused on getting my first 100-mile race completed and I do have my eye on something else for next year