Starting from the beach kiosk in Peel both me and my partner Nikki Arthur set out on our own journeys around the Raad Ny Foillan, Isle of Man coastal footpath. We both set off at 2pm on Saturday the 22nd of October 2022 in a clockwise direction.
Starting at 2pm meant that the tide would be out for most of the first 26 miles. This was important as the majority of the first 26 miles are run on the beach and between Ramey and Maughold you drop back onto the beach. This would not be possible if the tide was in.
Thanks to a decent back wind the first 22 miles were easy and at the point of Ayre I was actually 10 minutes ahead of time. However the Point of Ayre was a turning point. Those next 5 miles heading to Ramsey were extremely difficult due to a strong headwind, very poor terrain and next to no runnable lines. The tide was not as far out as I had imagined!
Hitting Ramsey brought a big sigh of relief and I felt grateful to be hitting some tarmac and meeting the first of my support runners, Jack Freeman. Jack took the hit of the strong winds by running in front of me and I started to feel more comfortable.
After having lots of undulations coming out of Ramsey dropping on and off the beach. My confidence started to pick back up. Jess and Jordan were out In force on the road to cheer me on and then I met my support crew , Chris and Jude Wade, near Maughold Church and refueled.
It felt like darkness had set in really fast as I was only a few hundred meters from the crew when all I could see was the bright beam of light from my head torch illuminating the backs of jacks feet kicking up splashes of mud as we squelched down the muddy farm lane to gob ny Portmooar. Coastal erosion has nearly destroyed this part of the Raad.
Undulating road and trail took us to Laxey and we arrived there still 6 minutes ahead of schedule. Jack stopped here and Sam Jones stepped in to be support runner and Lloyd Taggart as support crew. I said my thanks to the previous crew and we took off hiking up the steep path onto Laxey old road.
From there Sam set a strong pace which I managed to hold onto heading towards Douglas. Time passed quickly on this section as we chatted our way all the way into the half way point.
At the checkpoint in Douglas I had to roll out my hamstrings due to their tightness. Ollie Chambers joined us to run and both of them became a wind break. We headed to Port Soderick where Ollie left us to head back to Douglas. Me and Sam pressed onto Port Grenaugh with Sam maintaining a great pace to help me get there on time.
At the Port Grenaugh check point I realized that I had slipped to about 6 minutes behind time. Sam was switched to Brogy as support runner and Lloyd switched to Chris Hancox. By this point I was struggling to get solid foods in me. Brogy handed me a silver lidded pot from the hob and inside was some salted tatties and boiled eggs. ‘Gi these a go’ he says in a broad Scottish accent. I try the tatties and they go down quite well. Great! I took a slurp of what water was left in an open bottle, grabbed a couple more tatties and we took off towards Darbyhaven.
This part of the Raad was terrible, the ground was so slippery and the fields were like mud bogs. We struggled through but by the time we made darbyhaven we’d lost loads of time and I was feeling like everything was going wrong.
My guts weren’t too great at this point either.
Never the less we continued towards Langness, I suddenly had to go for a nature poo but felt much better afterwards.
The rain was coming down quite hard around langness and it was really foggy. We went off track a few times and had to discuss which was the right way to go. It was pretty late and I was tired, I should have just listened to Brogy. I was certain we were going the wrong way. We weren’t though.
I lost track of time during the langness section and got disoriented, when we reached Chris with the support car I knew we were behind on time. I didn’t want to look, it would have just made me more disappointed.
We all had a quick chat, refueled with fluids , more tatties and some sweeties then took off towards Port St Mary. I was frustrated and wanted to pull back some time so asked Brogy to set a strong pace of about 7:30 min miles. Let’s try and get some time back I said. Brogy agreed and picked it up. It was tough at first but I settled into it after a few minutes and we were running quick, we charged through Castletown , then Scarlett and we were flying on the road section around Gansey towards Port St Mary prom. We made loads of time back and I was buzzing again.
The next time we met the support car, Gary Kelly had joined and brought more tatties.
I grabbed some poles here ready for the steep climbs of the sound loop.
However I realized I didn’t really need them. My legs felt fine climbing the hills and the descents were fine too so by the time we’d gotten to crew at the sound check point I left the poles behind. This was where we’d decided that I didn’t need to be stopping as much as the support runner could sort the fuel out and catch me up. On reflection this is something I should’ve done at other checkpoints.
We powered into Port Erin and I was feeling ready for this last very hilly 15 miles up the west coast to Peel. At Port Erin Brogy was switched for Gary Kelly and together we attacked the hardest part of the course. It was wet, foggy and it was very dark. We both know this section very well however the conditions were against us and we did go the wrong way more than once and had to readjust to get back on track.
Gary was pulling away on all the up hill sections and dispute my best efforts I was struggling to stick with him. I know he was just trying to help me get round quick but this was getting hard.
After Cronk Ny Arrey Laa there is a big descent to Glion Mooar and this gave me an opportunity to recover. By the time we got to Niarbyl I felt strong and was excited. I could feel the end approaching and my energy felt like it had tripled. Chris was waiting here with Nikki, Sarah, Becca and Ruairi. What a crew! I gave Nikki a big hug (she’d been sick and had to pull out at 50 miles) she congratulated me on a stellar effort and smiled. I asked if she was ok, she shook her head ‘not really’ she said. I said, we’ll chat later and started running. Ruairi grabbed my fuel and ran after me. Gary came too and the three of us ran up the road.
Half way to glen maye the pace was ramped up even more. I was thinking maybe , just maybe , I could make 17 hours. Once we went through the gate back onto the trail we nailed it down to the beach. Ruairi took a tumble but got straight back up on his feet. Got to the beach and headed up to the glen then out onto to the cliff tops . I was running well on the flats and downhills but struggling on the uphills so I knew 17 was going to be a push. Ruairi was a great help with his motivational chat to get me to the end. I would get as close to 17 as I could. I kept looking for the two statues which meant we were at the back of the hill. We nailed it round the back of the hill and once we passed the final kissing gate I knew the finish was in sight. Ruairi just said come on man let’s open up. So we did. We nailed it down the hill , Ruairi did a ninja tumble and found his feet again. We came out at Fenella and Ruairi cried “Give it everything” and I did.
Everyone was waiting. Finished took a breath and collapsed on the chair. What a journey.
Raad