The Woldsman – 2024

by Steve Brown

On Saturday 6th April I took part in the East Yorkshire LDWA’s (Long Distance Walkers Association) Woldsman 51-mile spring challenge. It’s not an ultra as such. The organiser’s stance is – it is a walking challenge but runners are more than welcome – it’s about personally completing the challenge, not how fast you do it. It has a generous 20 hour cut off. Non-LDWA members are welcome.

Entry – this is old-school – print-off and complete an entry form – enclose a £30 cheque – post it to Graham, the lovely race organiser. He then confirms entry via email. The gpx + detailed route description are emailed out a week before the event once they’ve done a marshal’s walk to check the route..

Location – the event starts and finishes at the showground in Driffield. I arrived there on Friday evening by train with a backpack (Horsforth – Leeds – Hull – Driffield – 2 hours). It’s about a mile / 15 minute walk to the show ground – slightly further because they locked the nearest gale, so I had to walk past the camping to the main gate and then back in.

Event Camping – camping or camper van – £5 for both Friday and Saturday night. The money goes to their chosen charity – Yorkshire Air Ambulance last year. It is chalky well drained ground, so not boggy in spite of all the recent rain.

Catering / Facilities – The main hut was open until gone midnight on Friday for teas/coffees/hot water + phone charging + socialising. Toilets and showers were open all hours. The hut was also open 6am Saturday for breakfast – toast/porridge pots/tea/coffee – and registration. All very friendly.

Registration – At registration you are given your self-clip card – small laminated sheet with your number and letters A-G listed below. There’s no race number bibs.

Minimum kit – OS Explorer maps 294/295/300 & Compass. Waterproofs. First aid kit & Survival Bag. MUG (NO MUG NO DRINK). Extra clothing to keep you warm. The OS maps can be on your phone provided you’ve downloaded them + have sufficient battery to last the day. They can also be print outs from OS maps online provided it is at least 1:25000 scale and covers enough of the surrounding area.

The event itself…

There’s no start line as such. I had a leisurely breakfast, registered, re-packed my bag and then ambled up to the hut for 7:50 – start time being 8am – to be told that most walkers set off at 7am. There is a mass start at 8am – for runners – but most people just set off when they are ready. You tell the race secretary at the desk when you set off and he notes down your time.

So – 7:51 – off across show ground and through a few streets – follow a short section of road north and then follow a series of private farm tracks and public foot paths. There’s odd sections of roads + a few busy roads to cross. Most of the route was either rough farm tracks or along the dales – shallow grassy valleys. I wore my normal trail shoes – Brooks Cascadias.

The first 25 miles were undulating – none of the hills too taxing. The serious hills started at around mile 35 – the sort of hills that appear around a corner and you think – FFS!!. There were 3 or 4 of those. None of them took more than 10-15 minutes – head down – one step at a time. I did my usual run / walking for the first 25 miles – run the downhill and flat – walk the uphills – usually being overtaken by the walkers I passed running down the hill. I walked from 25 miles onwards.

There’s very little route signing and no taping – you self navigate the whole route. I used my printed off maps and didn’t need to refer to the route description. A lot of the time I just followed the people in front and relied on Coros to tell me if I’d deviated from the route by more than 20m (three times).

Weather-wise – mostly warm and dry but very windy. It was mostly just damp under foot – no serious bogs to traverse once you got out of the showground.

Self clip points – 8 of them – A to G. There’s various points on the route where you could, if you were that way inclined, take an easier route between check points. To guard against that they place self clip points on the proper route. The points are clearly signed and have a clipper hanging on a length of string – the clipper having pins arranged in a certain pattern. You clip your card at each one and then hand the card in at the end as proof that you followed the correct route. The self clip points were easy to find + had beacons / lights once it got dark.

Pit stops – There’s someone at each pit stop noting your number as you arrive. Food – mostly crisps, Aldi’s version of penguin bars and kitkats, bananas + lots of cakes. + water/squash. The 25 mile checkpoint had a lunch menu – fish finger sandwiches, veggie finger sandwiches or spaghetti hoops on toast + hot drinks. Vegan and GF options were available – usually a labelled box somewhere. The final checkpoint at Wetwang (what a fantastic name for a place!) also did pizza.

For me it got dark (and cold) just before the final check point at Wetwang. I didn’t spend much time there – quick in and out – only 7 miles to go.

The Finish – I found the crossing back over the showground the most difficult to navigate – it looked completely different in the dark. I finished at 10:51pm – so 15 hours exactly. The finish line is the race secretary’s desk in the hut, where you hand in your self clip card and he notes your time. I sat for 15 mins composing myself. I was fine while I was still walking but the second I stopped… oh dear. Once I could stand again it was time for food. There were various things on the menu – I didn’t look beyond the meat pie with mushy peas.

The numbers…

263 starters – 241 finished – 21 non-starters – 22 retirements

First finishers – Lisa and Jared Walridge – 8:59

108th – Stephen Brown – 15:00

p.s. The LDWA also have an annual flagship 100 mile event – usually on May bank holiday. That is open to LDWA members (membership costs £23 for a family) that have completed a qualifying 50 mile event such as the Woldsman in the previous year. This year’s is the Speyside 100 – next year’s is the Flower of Suffolk 100. Before you ask – yes – it has to be done!