Technically, I achieved the St Edmunds Way FKT last year but it was part of a fastpacking adventure that included an overnight bivvy stop as part of my bivvy-a-month challenge. I hoped I could complete the 133km (83 miles) a lot faster than the just over 24 hours it took me back then, so I've been very keen to go back again.
This time I would:
- Set myself a time target of 18 hours (this felt fairly respectable).
- Minimise stops at shops to refuel along the way.
- Travel lighter and faster.
- Not stop to sleep!
I caught an early train from Ely to Brandon and set off solo from the start of the trail - 500m from Brandon station - just as daylight broke at 7:30am. I'd got the route GPX on my watch and I'd also setup Garmin's PacePro for the first time - tapping in my target time of 18 hours.
The St Edmund Way breaks down nicely into 3 marathons both in terms of distance and refuelling points. This makes it easier to mentally break down (compartmentalise) the run.
The first marathon section was from Brandon to Bury St Edmunds. This follows the Little Ouse river into Thetford and then picks up the Icknield Way down to West Stow country park. The final stretch follows the River Lark into Bury St Edmunds, home of the shrine to Edmund, King of the Angles, who was killed by Vikings in 869.
I felt pretty good through this first section, eating and drinking well and taking it easy. Even with the gentle pace I arrived in Bury ahead of my target, my watch showing an overall completion time 1 hour 10 minutes ahead of schedule. I was relieved that so far there was nothing noticeable from my bad night's sleep or from fighting off a cold during the last week. In Bury I stopped at the Tesco superstore on Fornham Road (on route) to top up for the next section. Unfortunately, I spent way too long in there - it was rammed with Christmas shoppers and getting around the store was very slow. By the time I'd set off again, I'd lost about 25 minutes.
The second marathon section was from Bury St Edmunds to Sudbury. This crosses beautiful undulating Suffolk countryside and passes through the wool towns of Lavenham and Long Melford, both with local shops to refuel. This section includes two disused railways - Sicklesmere and the Lavenham to Long Melford. It's easy running, mostly flat on good trails - not always the case in summer as I found out last September after heavy rain when the Lavenham to Long Melford path was flooded and covered in head-high stinging nettles.
During this section I'd started to feel a little low and pretty tired. I'd eaten less than I had done earlier as I'd started to feel a little nauseous. I ate some ginger sweets and some crisps I'd picked up from Bury and it was like flicking a switch inside me - the fatigue had gone and I was suddenly able to easily run again. I guess I must've been low on salts, even though I'd been sipping electrolyte throughout. Keeping an eye on my pace, I managed to creep my lead back up to 50 minutes by half way as I reached Lavenham, where all that remained of daylight disappeared and I donned my headtorch for the remaining half.
I reached Sudbury at 6:45pm and had plenty of time to top up at Waitrose (200m off route) before closing time. Though, similar to in Bury, I lost a lot of time in a shop. I went into Waitrose with a lead of 40 minutes. When I set off again that was down to 14 minutes.
The final marathon stretch was from Sudbury to the end at Manningtree. It loosely follows the River Stour south to Bures and then follows the Dedham Valley through to the end.
Despite this section being entirely in the dark, I found I didn't get lost at all and in fact I spotted signs that I'd missed last September, thereby avoiding some dead ends and saving lots more time. I still had energy to run and was eating and drinking well. Though to counteract all of that positivity, I had pretty severe GI issues over this section that didn't subside until the last hour and really slowed me down.
My focus during this time was to increase my lead back to a safe level. Over the next few hours I gradually increased it back to 25 minutes ahead of target and that's where it stayed until I reached Stratford St Mary and the final 6km along the Dedham Valley.
By this point I felt on a high as there was so little left to do. My watch was predicting me finishing at just over 17.5 hours but that spurred me on to try to reduce that time as much as I could. After digging deep over that final 40 minutes or so, I reached the end of the trail at Manningtree station just after 1am in 17 hours 23 minutes 16 seconds, smashing my previous time (and current FKT) by 6 hours 48 mins 11 seconds!
I took a quick snap of the station at the end, but didn't hang around as there were lots of people milling about. I wasn't sure why as the last train was well over an hour earlier. I stopped my watch and set of on a very slow walk (no running!) to my Airbnb at the other end of town.
Summary:
- 🎧 I didn't listen to any music/audiobooks. I kept them as an emergency mood-booster but managed to get through without needing them.
- 🪑 The only sit down rest I had was for 4 minutes on a bench in Nayland (100km).
- 💰 I spent less than £50 on this adventure. £10 on my train ticket and £40 on food and drink.
- ☯️ At this time of year, Suffolk has 7 hours 47 minutes between sunrise and sunset. With my run being just under double that, this run was pretty much exactly 50% in the light and 50% in the dark!
Perhaps I'll try again for a faster attempt one day. I'd massively improved on my last time but there's still room for improvement. I spent way too long in the shops (note to self: don't go in the weeks before Christmas) and I carried much more than I needed to. I took 2 spare long-sleeved tops, a spare t-shirt, spare shorts, 3 spare pairs of socks, a waterproof coat, hat, gloves, first aid kit, spare torch, spare batteries and still had plenty of food and 1l of fluid at the finish line. Some of that was intentional as I knew I'd need some things at my Airbnb and no shops are open in Manningtree at 1am. I suppose that's the challenge with self-supported adventures away from home, you do need to take a bit more as there's no safety net 👍