The Rowbotham’s Round Rotherham 50 Mile Trail Race is a 50 mile Race/Walk devised by Ralph Rowbotham. When Ralph Rowbotham found himself with some extra time on his hands due to the British Steel strikes in the 80’s he meticulously crafted the course.
I’m born and bred not to far away from some of the route so this race has a little bit home about it. The route as described in the title goes around Rotherham, working it’s way through various towns, villages, woods, fields and even an Abbey!
This race reports is going to be fairly short and sweet for me as I was lucky enough to be joined by Mark Fielding from Retford AC. I first met Mark through friends at Retford AC at their interclub cross countries back in 2014 (I think, could be 2015), which were my first experience at proper running races. I soon moved towards the fells and ultimately longer races and with my friends from Retford AC retiring and ultimately moving to the Lake District and we moved to the North East I didn’t run much with Retford AC runners until recently.
I wasn’t sure what Mark’s race plan was for the day, but I knew mine (just survive). It was three weeks ago since I’d completed my Everesting of Roseberry Topping and I was very mindful that my legs would be heavy or even a bit flat and I could soon be walking if they didn’t have it in them. I was keen to not get carried away from the start although we did start fairly quick for me, although the legs felt fine I started to walk most if not all the ups and maybe some flats at times to preserve my legs as long as possible. We discussed races, Retford AC and how they’d got a few new faces and in doing so the time/miles were flying by.
We quickly found ourselves at the first checkpoint with a quick refill of water we were on our way again. The second section is pretty much a blur to me and again we were quickly at the next checkpoint. We’re back to race talk and more so about the rise in popularity of the Back Yard Ultra. Mark ad Nick Kendall from the club have done quite a few Timed events alongside Back Yard Ultra’s and as I’m going to be joining the ranks in March 2024 I was interested to know more. We’re soon going under the M1 and heading into Harthill, this almost marks the halfway mark and I assure Mark that we’ve got some nice running ahead of us once we’ve climb out of Harthill.
Fairly quick pit stop at Harthill and we climb out as promise with a good few miles slowly descending through fields. Again other than the airport we pass (I think), times flies more talk about running, kids and trips abroad and we find ourselves running down the hill into the Woodseats checkpoint. I’d been mostly on gels and Tailwind up to this point and decided to get a good feed in of some solid food, soup, flat’ish coke and a jam sandwich dipped into my soup. This was where things started to make a turn for the worse, we left the checkpoint and walked just before the bridge in the fields and I slowly started to get stomach ache.
I initially thought I was starting to go off my food as I normally do around 6-8 hours, but this just got progressively worse until I was almost bent over with it. This carried on for about 2-3 hours, with me whinging about it until I realised it might be trapped wind. I try and massage my stomach to try and push the gas out to ill effect. Long story short we manage to get to the last checkpoint before the finish with 6 miles to go, I eat lots of water melon and have a coffee and sit and wait. I think my stomach had a chance to work things through and I’m soon replicating a whoopie cushion.
The relief was more or less instant, I started to run a little bit more although the legs were complaining a little and the terrain turns mostly to tarmac/hard packed trails from now on in. I was fairly happy running a little and walking, but Mark mentioned that if we could push a little more we should get in under 11 hours, so push I did. We were coming down towards the finish past all the roundabouts and I tried to run all the way, but had to walk a little before we turned the corner to the finish.
We received a great welcome from the various spectators waiting for their loved ones or team mates to finish as we ran into the clubhouse. I won’t lie I was glad this one was over, but thoroughly enjoy running with Mark, who probably could have completed this close to if not under 10 hours. I tried to get a hotdog down me, but only managed half. Mark was commenting about he wondered what he was getting made for tea while one of the race marshals we talking to us and she chuckled that I didn’t answer (I think she might of thought we were a couple to which I quickly pointed out we were both married and Mark was referring to his wife), it made us laugh and something to chuckle about thinking back about it now.
Talking of wife’s just as we finished chuckling about who’s cooking tea, Zoe messaged me she was hear and Jessica was losing her s**t. So a quick thanks, good running with you and I off before my daughter has a full meltdown (this happened anyways on the drive home). All in all this is a great event with a great team behind the event, the course is a little bumpy but mostly runnable and would probably like to come back when the timing is right and try and put a good time in (maybe even under 10 hours).
Oh I almost forgot, we managed to get around in 10 hours and 58 minutes.
Author: Justin Bramall
Passionate about all things ultra running, from tackling epic distances to embracing adventurous challenges. I thrive on pushing limits, exploring new terrain, and sharing the grit and glory of the ultra world.
