The Hateful 8 Ultra Loopy Winter Edition, and another Podium

Earlier this month I had a slightly unplanned race appear on my radar, the Hateful 8 “Loopy Winter Edition” race.

The race is put on by Mad Running Junkies, led by the wonderful Kev. Kevin is a great figure in the local ultra/running community here in Wales, especially in the South. He has participated in races I have run, and he has ran through checkpoints I have volunteered at. He has also volunteered his time to help at races (I met him when he was helping at the final checkpoint, 3 days into my Wild Horse 200 mile journey last year).

The Hateful 8 race format is basically to run as many 9 mile loops of the course as you can, within an 8 hour time limit. If you complete your (pen-ultimate) loop after 7hr 59mins, you are allowed to start another loop if you like. The winner is whoever finishes the most loops (and if there are multiple people with the same number of final loops, the elapsed times come into play to decide placement). Each loop you must get a unique card for that loop punched in two different places.

Last minute entry

After finishing the Yr Wyddfa Snowdon 100 mile race, I very nearly signed up for a 110 mile race in North Devon (I ran the 110km North Coast version two or so years back and was keen to do the full 110 mile route).

Thankfully, Carmen talked me out of it. North Devon takes about 5 hours of driving to reach, and on top of that the entry fee was quadruple the cost of the Hateful 8 ultra’s entry. Lastly, it was only about 1 month since I last ran a 100 mile race, so probably not the best idea to jump in so soon to another 100 mile + race!

Anyway, the Hateful 8 ultra itself was brilliant. I ‘just’ needed to wake up at 3:30am in the morning on the Saturday of the race to drive to South Wales and make it in time for registration.

The early start also meant I could save money by not requiring any accomodation the night before.

Race day

Weather reports earlier in the week signalled rain today. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to that. I last checked the report around Tuesday and hadn’t bothered looking again. However, on arrival, having banked a bit of time, I checked again, and was pleasantly surprised. The weather outlook was quite good!

Being a 9 mile loop, I had loaded all sorts of gear for various contingencies into the boot of our car, so whatever the weather may be or how it may change, I could adapt.

Strategy

I always try to have a plan or strategy for all my events. Sometimes I like to race and push myself, sometimes I just want to complete the event. For the Hateful 8, I wanted to push myself to the best of my ability.

Thinking about 9 miles (14.5-ish km) and estimating around 300-400 meters of elevation gain per loop (I had no idea what the course was like, or what the topography would be!), I decided that if I could average 1 hour and 30 minutes per lap, over the full 8 hours or so, then I would be happy with that, and depending on the skill level of other runs participating, it might net me a podium position.

So my goal became to ensure I could finish 5 laps in 7 hours and 30 minutes (giving me plenty of time to start a final 6th lap, and hopefully be able to secure a podium spot). For reference, I had extrapolated the time estimate for each loop from having run the Wild West Ultra (64km and a fair amount of ups and downs) recently in just over 6 hours, which is ‘close enough’ to the 8 hours and a bit I would be running for this race.

Gear and race prep

Registration was quick and efficient. I parked my car close to where I could see the general starting area was – already thinking about how I could optimise time savings here!

I organised all my kit in the back of the car so it was categorised. Shoe changes if required on one side, clean socks with them, unrolled, ready to go.

Food / nutrition in a big box to the side, with lots of sweet and savoury options.

Pre-filled hydration flasks, ready to go (2 x spare), with a big flask of water to refill them on subsequent loops.

I should have taken a photo of the boot of the car. I was proud at how well organised it was.

My race pack was as light as possible. 1L of water (mandatory) and the basic required kit which included a waterproof shell/jacket, basic medikit, foil blanket, and a bit of spare nutrition. Nice and efficient, and it felt wonderfully light compared to what I’ve been carrying on recent races!

How it went

Overall, I took the good weather we had received as a reason to work hard and make the day’s preparation, as well as my training count. I pushed hard considering the average pace I landed on by the end of the race.

On the first loop I started off at a comfortable pace, which as it so happened was running alongside two other guys, Ben and Jon. We were running in the front of the pack, but I wasn’t too concerned as it felt good to me.

The 9 mile loop ended up having a roughly 50/50 split of road and [gravel fire track / forest and woodland trail].

The route was marked with little flags and was quite easy to follow. However about 2/3 of the way around the first loop the three of us missed a flag and continued running up a hill and went slightly off course. The early morning rising sun had got in our eyes and we all missed the flag.

We had been running in the front of the pack and luckily noticed the guys down below us on course. We had to correct course and descend again to meet back up on the correct route.

Slightly annoying to add unecessary elevation, but it was only lap 1, and it wasn’t a massive deviation.

I was thankful for the other guys that had up till then been running just behind us (Luke and Paul). They’re wonderful runners in the community and proved it once more by shouting up to us which had helped us spot them down below.

By this point we were now on the last stretch of the first loop. I now had a good idea of what a loop entailed, and knew how to pace myself for the rest of the day.

Loop 2, running strong

Each loop, we were given a card from a deck, e.g. Ace of Diamonds. At the start of the loop the card gets punched, then again half way through the loop at a water refill station. On loop completion, the race crew write down the time you arrived on the card, and issue a new one.

On completion of loop 1, I went straight to the car to change out one soft flask for a new one, then set directly off on my 2nd loop.

I was in 2nd place now, just behind Jon. I started formulating predictions on competition in my head now as I had decided I wanted to hang onto my position.

• Jon, I had no idea about, hadn’t run with him before.
• Ben. A very strong runner. He often wins races, and had won the Yr Wyddfa Snowdon 100 race just a few weeks prior. I would not be trying to race or keep pace with him as it would be detrimental to my overall strategy and ability to maintain a consistent pace.
• Luke and Paul, now running a little further behind (last saw them when we were closing in on the last loop finish line) – both great runners with excellent ability. Luke had won this race last year, so I knew I would need to be aware of his ability on this course if I wanted to maintain my position. Paul seemed to be running strong too.
• Rachel – a strong local runner (she ran the Wild Horse 200 last year and we were leap-frogging eachother for much of the last 100 miles on that).

Ben soon caught Jon and myself up on loop 2. He had stopped to put on his Nike Alpha Fly shoes. Perfect for the long stretches of road, and they would still do well on the fairly hard packed trail.

I started wishing I had lighter road or hybrid shoes with me at that point, though it was more his natural ability propelling him forward rather than shoe choice.

Jon’s pace was slightly too slow for me at this point so I set opened up a bit of a gap, increasing pace, taking back 2nd position, and putting myself between Ben ahead of me, and Jon just behind.

Onward to the finish

The loops flew by, and I found maintaining my pace was working well for me as the hours went by. Two of the loops were in reverse, which changed things up a bit for everyone!

On each lap I was diligent to refill my water, make sure I was fueling and eating well, and didn’t take more than a minute at the car.

At the start of the race I was doing loops faster than my average target time, and toward the end I was doing loops a little slower. In the end it all worked out perfectly, with me starting my 6th loop almost bang-on 7 hours and 30 minutes. At this point I had run about 70km, and the average total pace was sitting at about 6 minutes and a bit per km – similar to what I had run on the Wild West Ultra. My extrapolated/predicted pace had been accurate for this one.

On the last lap I relaxed a little and slowed down a bit. Each loop had included an ‘out-and-back’ section near the start/finish, where you ran a section of about 1-2km that meant you could pass other runs going the opposite direction. I had noticed that I was around 20-25 minutes ahead the closest behind me on earlier laps, so I had a big buffer between whoever was in 3rd place.

Ahead of me, Ben on the other hand had opened a massive buffer of at least the same amount of time between himself and me, but I wasn’t concerned with catching him, so it didn’t bother me much. I was only focused on finishing my 6th lap and retaining 2nd place.

Side note: this out-and-back section was amazing for cheering on fellow runners. Everyone was friendly and encouraging. We were all high-fiving, cheering eachother on, and encouraging one another. I think 100% of those running that day fit the model for perfect sportsmanship and comaraderie.

Rolling in after 9 hours (9:22:23), and 88.71km of running (1,744 m elevation gain and the same loss), I finished my 6th loop and snagged the 2nd place trophy.

It was lovely to chat with Kev, the lovely volunteers, and some of the other runners that had taken part. I spent 45 minutes or so relaxing and chatting a bit before tackling the 2 hour drive back home.

A fulfilling day out, and another trophy to add to my 2nd place trophy collection 😃

Everyone also received a small bag of goodies. A very thoughtful and unique surprise to the end of the race!

Thanks again to Kevin and all the wonderful volunteers. It was a small-ish event, but had a warm and inviting atmosphere. It was also great to meet new faces and also meet in person some other runners I only knew virtually through Instagram.

Highly recommended if you are in the UK and can make the journey to South Wales next time around! If you’re not, then I would encourage you to try a looped race format – they’re a lot of fun to see others no matter if you’re slow or fast, and having your own personal re-supply and checkpoint at the end of each loop is brilliant as you can cater well to your own needs.

Special thanks to Daz Photography for many of the race photos.