Manvers Dusk till Dawn Report
This was an untra running event starting at 6pm Saturday evening and finishing 6am Sunday Morning. Run as many laps as you can in 12 hours, each lap being 5km. A great introduction to the sport of ultra running and very well done to our athletes!
The runners were supported by Martyn Walter and Martin Hookway.
Liz Jackson – 10 Laps
Mark Webster – 13 Laps
Sharon Maughan – 12 Laps
Katey Bickerstaffe – 4 Laps
The following report was written by Mark Webster:
It never would have crossed my mind to enter the Manvers Dusk till Dawn event had it not been for the DAC members who ran the Thunder Run a week earlier.
Reading their reports, seeing their photos and hearing them talk about it the days after made me really want to do something similar….that’s when I saw an article about the Manvers event.
It was a simple format, turn up at 6pm Saturday, run as many of the 3.21 mile laps as you wanted before 6am Sunday. 1 lap, 5 laps, 10 laps, doesn’t really matter.
I’m training for the Robin Hood marathon and my plan this weekend was to run 16 miles which equated to 5 laps of this course. So I got my head down and ran the 5 laps plus a sixth before stopping for a breather.
It was at this point I bumped into Sharon Maughan (maybe I should have hidden from her looking back because I knew as soon as she grabbed me that I was there for the full shift…and I wasn’t wrong)
I’d done 6 laps and Sharon had done 5. We both decided that we wanted to do 10 laps so we were well on our way. I managed to guide Sharon around pretty well, yanking on her lead when she started to wander off.
We ran the last daylight lap with her dog Lochie accompanied by her other half (Mark) and his grandson both on their bikes. There was a ‘You’ve been Framed’ moment when these 2 collided and Mark was sent flying over his handle bars head first and into a ditch.
No major damage so I didn’t feel bad about laughing at him. As night fell we got our head torches out. Sharons cost £18 and you could see for miles, mine was £3 from a shop in Mexborough and was about as bright as Sharons daft mutt. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
And so we carried on through the night, tip toeing past the travellers site, dodging the boulders, squeezing through gates, trying to remember to avoid the same muddy puddle that we seemed to end up ploughing through each time, and remembering of course to sign the sheet at the end of each lap.
At about my 9th lap my knee stated to hurt alot and we both decided to have a break and take advantage of a free rub from the masseur. This helped and we had a couple of laps where we walked briskly arm in arm, talking nonsense, I think we managed to dodge the mud bath on these 2 laps.
I’ve heard it said that when people lose or have a significant reduction in one of their senses that other senses can improve to compensate. I now know that this is true as I witnessed it on a few occasions when Sharon decided to treat me (and all of Manvers sleeping resiedents) to her high pitched high decibel imitation of a Peacock. (I think it maust have been a Peacock in labour)
Sharon reached her target of 10 laps at 04:50, but she was far from finished, I’d limped the last 2 laps and we had to walk and I was struggling, but she got me through it. If I’d have been alone I’d have probably called it a day at this point.
She’d also done her maths and she knew that we could do another 2 laps provided that we set off on the last lap no later than 05:40 (after that time they wouldn’t let anyone back out). Didn’t make any difference how much I mentioned by knee pain, this woman was going to do 12 laps and that was final.
One problem, having only been able to walk the previous 2 laps in 1hrs 5 mins each, we now needed to get around in less than 50 minutes to be back for the 05:40 cut off. So I gritted my teeth, swore and grunted alot and we went for it, we timed it to perfection and got back at 05:39, a minute to spare.
I think Sharon had given up on me as she desperately tried to find someone to do the last lap with her, I thought ‘sod this’ I grabbed her hand and off went again accompanied by a lady from Manvers who like me was now on her 13th lap.
We were the last 3 out on the run and as the lights of the clubhouse came into view with about 1 mile to go, we stepped it up a notch and finished in style with what felt like a sprint finish but probably looked more like a shaky shuffle with everyone who was still there really cheering and encouraging us over the line.
It was an incredible night and a fantastic experience. I was supposed to be the one supporting Shazza but she supported me in them last 4 laps. Not sure if I ever thanked her properly on the night so if you’re reading this
THANKS SHARON YOU WERE FANTASTIC AND AN INSPIRATION
Sharon did 38.5 miles and I managed 41.75 miles but I owe Shazza at least 2 laps so we’ll settle for a draw.