This Ultra Running must be addictive as not content with 95 miles Shirley decided to take on the newly arranged Hardmoors 110 which is to run the Cleveland Way (all 110 miles of it!) within 36 hours. This run starts at the Market Place at Helmsley and finishes at the Eventon Centre in Filey, which makes it a little bit further than the Cleveland way which finishes at the local parish boundary on the cliff top near Filey Brig.The accent is measured at around 6000 metres!

I was privileged to be asked to be part of the essential support team for this event along with Roger, Shirley's partner, Elaine Kavanagh, Sue Bradford and Sue Tennant. I say essential because apart from the obvious logistical support needed, in both the West Highland Way and the Hardmoors the rules state runners must be accompanied for at least the last two stages of the race and more if conditions dictate.

So Elaine, the two Sue's and myself left Taddy around 6:30am on Saturday 27th September heading for the east coast around the Runswick Bay area. We phoned Roger, who had been tracking Shirley from the start at 5:00pm the previous evening over the North York Moors, and got a fix on his position. He was on the cliff top a mile or two north of Staithes awaiting Shirley's decent along the cliff path from Boulby Cliff, the highest east coast cliff in England. It was about 9:00am when we rendezvoused with Roger and the weather was magnificent, a cloudless blue sky and the North Sea like a mill pond. We soon got down to the serious job of support and had bacon sandwiches cooked and eaten in no time at all, constantly surveying the skyline for Shirley (mental note - remember binoculars in future!).

The first runner visible on the approach was Shirley not far in front of a young French competitor "Julian", so her bacon was put in the pan. When she arrived it was remarkable how fresh she looked considering she had just run two and half off-road marathons across the North York Moors and along the rugged Yorkshire Coastline. After refreshments Elaine was ready in her running gear and set off with Shirley, accompanying her southwards towards Staithes. The next checkpoint was at Runswick Bay (67 miles from the start) so the team ate up all the scraps and set off to Runswick Bay.

Eventually Shirley and Elaine arrived and after a refreshment stop, Shirley and Elaine were joined by Sue Bradford, and they set off along the beach towards Whitby. We had decided to rendezvous in Sandsend and so upped camp and rolled on to Sandsend.

It was mandatory to have a support runner for the last two sections and over the previous two weekends I had run from Ravenscar to Scarborough and Scarborough to Filey so I was familiar with the route of the Cleveland Way path. At about 4:30pm the girls arrived, Shirley still going great after almost twent four hours and holding a lead over Julian from the Whitby checkpoint. After a quick snack Shirley and I were away on the penultimate section to Scarborough. Shirley was carrying an energy drink, which I was under instructions to make sure she drank and I was carrying a ham sandwich for Shirley to nibble en-route. We got off to a trot but Shirley had changed her trainers at Ravenscar and found the blisters on her feet were more painful than with her other shoes. We had arranged to meet with the support at Cloughton Wyke which was about five miles from Ravenscar and so Shirley had to put up with her footwear problem until then. The weather had remained beautiful all day and it was a great evening for running along the cliff tops. The path follows a route which occasionally has to drop from a three hundred foot cliff to almost sea level to cross various small streams. Hayburn Wyke was the most dramatic of these down and ups and as Shirley said, "I don't know how many steps I have gone up and down since leaving Helmsley yesterday!" I thought how do you do it and gave her a bit of sandwich. We eventually reached the Cloughton Wyke support stop and Shirley changed back to her previous trainers. Julian managed to get just in front of Shirley at the this stop and another runner with a support runner was just behind.

Shirley was slowing a little bit when we heard voices and could see light behind us on the cliff path. This was all Shirley needed to spur her on and she managed to pick up the pace once more and draw away from the opposition. Roger had said he and the girls would come out towards Filey Brig to meet us and so as we approached we kept and eye out for them. We descended Filey Brig at the tip almost down to the sea but there was no checkpoint there as threatened and so we turned back up the cliff and on to Filey. I was so pleased I had surveyed the course on the two previous weekends as finding paths such as the drop onto Filey sands from the Country Park would have been really difficult if unfamiliar. As we came off the Coble Landing and along the promenade we could see a few people jumping up and down and waving. It was Roger and the girls. This gave Shirley the final boost to almost sprint up the hill and along to the finish in the Centre. It was about 11:45pm and Shirley had managed 110 miles in 30 hours 36 minutes! This gave her fourth place overall and first lady position. The official timekeeper was in a sleeping bag and the whole finish was a bit of an anticlimax but I suppose everybody had been up a long time however the tea and Jamaica Ginger Cake and Golden Syrup Cake supplied were exactly what was required by me at least, but Shirley was too knackered to eat at first. It transpired the girls had come out to meet us at Filey Brig but had been unable to find the path to the cliff top from the beach, only managing to alarm locals by asking the way in the pitch black and falling in some bushes!

Julian Pansiot and the other runner we knew was close, an American named Gregg Pressler and his support runner arrived about half an hour after Shirley's arrival. Roger and Shirley were booked in at a pub in the town so despite the hour there was an added bonus of a couple of pints of Black Sheep before the support crews return to Taddy. That had been a full day for us so what about Shirley!

Congratultions to all taking part in what was a great event to be involved with but special congratualtions to Shirley who is simply astounding!