Jo Kilkenny - Ultra Runner

Viking Way Ultra in Memory of Anthony Downing

10Jan2012

The Viking Way Ultra is a 147mile race that is starting on 7th April and runs from Humber Bridge to Oakham. It is a non stop race and has a cut off of 40 hours.
34 runners, including myself, have been selected to participate in this tough event organised by Mark Cockbain, an accomplished Ultrarunner himself.
The event is self sufficient (no crew allowed) with basic stuff being provided at checkpoints every 15-18miles.
I am probably not going to do any other races before it, concentrating on this event and getting up to recce the route as often as possible so navigation is a little easier when tired on the actual event.
I am doing this race in memory of Squadron Leader Anthony Downing who was the RAF serviceman who died of injuries sustained in Afghanistan over christmas. Ant was a a good friend and a talented endurance athlete. I met him when I crewed at the Enduroman Double Ironman in 2009 and was lucky enough to have him in my life. Anyone who knew him would describe him as a gent. He was a kind, generous and modest guy who lived life to the full and whose only weakness was the copious amounts of tea he drank, his only addiction.....he normally couldn't open his eyes in the morning til he had his first cuppa which always made me laugh!
He was a talented runner and cyclist, having cycled across the States in 25 days, a fact he was pretty modest about. He had also planned on doing Arch to Arc 2013 even though he thought I was insane for doing it. Much as he liked to claim he was more sane than me I think he was at a similar level of insanity.
He was an all round great guy and leaves a void in many peoples lives.
Those who worked with him both liked and respected him and his loss will be felt for a long time so to honour his memory I am raising money for the RAF Benevolent Fund. Please give generously to a very good cause in honour of a very good man.
www.virginmoneygiving.com/Jokilkenny

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Beacons Ultra

28Nov2011

I have been enjoying my time back ultra running without the thoughts of sea swims in the back of my mind at all times.
Likeys Beacons race is a two lap route around the Brecon Beacons and is billed as 45miles (its apparently more like 46/47miles)
I travelled up on friday afternoon with another ultra runner, Kev. A lot of ultrarunning friends including Mimi Anderson were comming up so it was more of a social event with a bit of running to be done in between.
A few minutes before the start of the race I started having mild stomach spasms. I took my medication but was resigned to the fact that it was not to be a fast day for me. The spasms lasted most of the race but were intermittent so was actually able to enjoy the event and was still feeling pretty fresh at the end. My legs felt great, better than they have done in a long time, I was surprised at how little aches I had the following day. In fact only this weekend I did a 45mile training run at a little faster than 10min miling and it felt easy towards the end and have no aches now. I'm not going to complain about it, just enjoying it as long as it lasts.
The main event of the Beacons weekend was the pub quiz which was great fun....the Welsh team cheated so they won of course.
Great weekend all round, well done to everyone who took part. Our Elagen teams took 1st and 3rd overall.
Off to Scotland for the Yamaa Winter Ultra this weekend so am looking forward to it.

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GlenOgle 33

14Nov2011

last week was the first edition of the Glen Ogle 33 Ultra. Organised by two fellow ultrarunners I was looking forward to a weekend of catching up with friends while fitting in a nice training run. At this distance I am not fast enough to be vying for a top spot but was still pleased when I managed a sub 5hr time.
The course is a runners dream, mix of road, forest, bike routes and the scenery is spectacular. I had decided I would be coming back next year before the run was even finished. Organisation was smooth and the goody bag consisted of some great stuff including IrnBru and beer (well it is a scottish race)
Top event and one other ultrarunners should pencil into their diaries.
Well done to Bilbo and Mike for putting on such a great event

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