Angela Martin and Jeremy Tandy took on a seriously tough challenge on Exmoor last Sunday. The Coastal Trail Series, run by Endurancelife, are a series of coastal races throughout the year of varying distances and degrees of difficulty according to terrain and total feet of ascent. The Exmoor course is widely regarded as the toughest in the series and is a gruelling test of endurance for even the most experienced trail and fell runners. The course encompasses steep climbs, open moorland, wooded coombes, cliffs, rivers and a stretch of coastline of unsurpassed beauty. On a glorious sunny day, that was more like June than April, the runners could appreciate this beautiful scenery, but it made for hot running conditions.
Angela opted for the most testing race, doing the 45 mile Ultra Plus with over 13,000ft of ascent, while Jeremy ran the 26 mile marathon with over 5,000ft of ascent. Despite the heat and a slight calf niggle, Angela finished this brutal race in 11hrs 23 mins 36 secs to be second lady, making it her hardest challenge to date after the iconic Lakes 50. Jeremy was also on form finishing the marathon in 4hrs 37min 53sec to finish 15th overall, and despite being his slowest marathon ever, he was pleased with this time due to the hard terrain it was over.
Many thanks to Jane for the run report
