{"id":3272,"date":"2018-01-01T20:15:56","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T20:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/?p=3272"},"modified":"2018-01-01T20:15:56","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T20:15:56","slug":"winter-cross-ultra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/?p=3272","title":{"rendered":"Winter Cross Ultra"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whilst most of us were curled up under our duvets, finishing off the leftover Turkey and Quality Street, one Roadrunner was on the startline of a rather unusual event across the water in Meonstoke. Unusual for its unorthodox cut off time and its course layout, this technically challenging event was the perfect way to burn off those roast spuds for our distance doyen Dan Williams.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/B712F027-45EC-4367-AC17-494B3A7DA283.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3274\" src=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/B712F027-45EC-4367-AC17-494B3A7DA283.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"617\" height=\"618\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The cross shaped course consists of 4 out and back legs of varying distances and varying difficulty all to be completed between sunrise and sunset on one of the shortest days of the year. 2 distances were on offer, 45 miles taking in all 4 branches of the course and a 50k using 3.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/9D1E0C3A-50E7-4299-8E1F-550056D1F47D.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3275\" src=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/9D1E0C3A-50E7-4299-8E1F-550056D1F47D.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"632\" height=\"479\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/AE76FA24-F267-43DC-8048-D137DB4B406E.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3276\" src=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/AE76FA24-F267-43DC-8048-D137DB4B406E.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"622\" height=\"634\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>7.30 am and Dan set off on his journey. Travelling North on the first leg of the race, it should have been a fast and flat start as it was 9k along the old railway line. However temperatures had plunged overnight freezing everything sight, making the path precariously icy. Eastward next and this 21k leg is the toughest of the race with 2 huge climbs as Dan made his way onto the South Downs Way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe views were fantastic\u201d he tells me \u201cIt was pleasant running when in the open with the sun on me\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/81C2F66D-9237-45CE-9455-26BD9266A1E2.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3277\" src=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/81C2F66D-9237-45CE-9455-26BD9266A1E2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"616\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a>And what views they were. Vistas over the Solent and across our diamond \u00a0utopia. However the immense climbs were followed by some chalky descents, made even more hazardous by the icy conditions.<\/p>\n<p>The West leg was next which took Dan through the picturesque villages of Exton and Meonstoke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe country roads were that icy that it was best to find a muddy frozen verge, it was quicker and safer\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the conditions Dan ran a blinding race, completing all 31 miles in 4.53.10 and finishing 9th overall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe race had a handful of real quick runners (2:30 marathon types), so I am really pleased with my result, especially with the awful underfoot conditions\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/E3CB0C6F-166F-4A25-AD96-0D6E307228C3.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3273\" src=\"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/E3CB0C6F-166F-4A25-AD96-0D6E307228C3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"552\" height=\"547\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And so he should be&#8230;. what a fantastic result! Well done Dan!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whilst most of us were curled up under our duvets, finishing off the leftover Turkey and Quality Street, one Roadrunner was on the startline of a rather unusual event across&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3272"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3278,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3272\/revisions\/3278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/isleofwightroadrunners.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}