KOLE'S REMARKABLE 100 MILE RUN
Kole Broadfoot-Cox, one of our Art & Design students and avid trail and ultramarathon runner, set himself the challenge of running the length of the Calderdale way, not once, but twice, totalling 100 miles over moorland, woodland trails, boggy farmland and rough cobbled Calder valley streets. He also organised the entire thing including support runners and vehicle crew to provide food, water and spare kit etc. Kole has written about his remarkable experience, its an amazing achievement and certainly not something anyone could do!
‘On Saturday 15th June I set myself the challenge of running the Calderdale Way twice, a total of 100 miles (160km) with 16,941ft of elevation. The Calderdale Way is a circular 50 mile route with 8740.5ft of elevation that starts at West Vale, picking up some local footpaths and goes through many small towns, villages, moorland and woodlands across the stunning Calderdale landscape.
I started my run at 5:57am from Shelf Park with another runner who stayed with me for the first 10 miles. Over the course of the run I organised several pacers to join me at various stages to provide moral support. I also had to arrange a support vehicle that would meet me to provide changes of clothes, food and water.
The 100 mile route took me a total of 24 hours and 37 minutes. The weather was always changing. I started out in light rain that soon cleared but came back much heavier later on. Fortunately, there were spells of sunshine and clear skies during the day.
During the night I found myself focusing solely on my movements. At one point in the darkness I heard a group of bulls heading my way as I jumped into one field. I stayed calm and walked (briskly) to the next stile.
I found the mental aspect of the easy, I had a clear goal to focus on. The run was physically demanding but I was careful to run at a pace that conserved my energy, often reminding myself that I still needed to do another marathon or two. The worst thing I found were all the stiles, they just kept on appearing, over and over again.
This was my longest ever run but I hope one day to compete in big ultra running events such as the Winter Spine, a non-stop, 268 mile race along the Pennine Way.
Having spent the week recovering, I keep wanting to go back to 3am on the Sunday morning as the sun started to rise, giving me a massive boost to keep running and finish the last 22 miles’.
