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Haven't heard of the Mercian Challenge, but it sounds great! How long did it take you – assuming it was in one push? I did a Race to the Stones (100k) in 2019 and as enjoyable as the challenge was, I've come to learn that I love shorter distances.
Was thinking of maybe doing 2-3 days of running, so 100 miles could actually work quite nicely and may even be enjoyable.
speculoos-
Yeah it was a good race. Checkpoints every 20 miles so quite long distances between but well stocked. It's run at the same time as a longer race that covers the whole length of the Offa's Dyke path.
Took me 30.5 hours, which I was relatively happy with. The final section was half really nice and half steep hill after steep hill so by the final few miles I was done, suffering from sleep deprivation and hallucinating, desperate to go to bed. My own fault really, hadn't eaten anything since the final checkpoint and took my mind off the race management as I was thinking I was close to the end. Got lost a few times during the second night which didn't help morale. Pretty sure I wouldn't have made those errors with a fresh head. At some points the map just didn't make sense but looking at it after I couldn't see why I was confused. Should have just stopped for a few mins and run through the basics. Came 5th after starting dead last (staggered start to avoid some pinch points in the first mile or so) and passing a lot of people in the second half.
Arducius
Yes! I ran the Mercian Challenge last year (2019) which is the first 100 miles from Chepstow to Montgomery.
The path is very well way marked with the little acorn signs. There is a fair bit of elevation but nothing too daunting - the highest point and largest climb is crossing the black mountains before you descend into Hay on Wye, but even that climb didn't seem that long.
It's very scenic, passes through small villages and towns often though so plenty of scope for food and drink before a bivvi a few miles up the path.