A 54km route on the Purbeck with 1210m of elevation was awaiting Tom Ralph and Patrick Kingston when they lined up for the Maverick Jurassic ‘Long’ race. As was to be expected with a Purbeck race and any venture along the Jurassic Coast, there were many demanding climbs to face and some death defying descents to boot. It’s all part of the fun and that’s the kind of challenge that Patrick and Tom relish.

No stranger to the high altitude, Patrick has several mountainous ventures in his back catalogue including the 55km Nivolet-Revard which is in the French Alps. That one featured 2,860m of ascent. Then there was the CxM Sierra Blanca ‘Destroyer’ race which was 42.2km and featured 2,800m of elevation.

This summer he completed the Krakonošov Hundred as well which was 100km race in Czechia incorporating 13,000ft of ascent. He then returned to the French Alps for the 27km Mini’Hard which featured 5,500ft of climbing. After that he went on to cover 88 miles of the TDS route from the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc over three consecutive days, racking up almost 30,000ft of ascent.

It was a second go at the Maverick Jurassic ‘Long’ race for Tom after completing it last year in 6 hours 54 minutes. He’d learnt a lot from that race about what sort of pace he should set off at to be able to stay strong for the duration of the race and what sort of nutrition he could take in to keep his energy levels topped up.

The route headed out from just outside Corfe Castle, across the marshland towards the coast, passing Old Harry Rocks and traversing along the coastal ridge of the Purbeck Way. It then took the runners down to the southerly the tip of the Purbecks before hitting the notorious steps of St Aldhelms Head. It then headed along Hardy Way, past Corfe Castle and then back to finish where it started.

It’s a gruelling route so saving energy wherever possible is key. Patrick attacked the race quite hard, with a 6:47 for his first mile, although that was mostly downhill. He then followed that up with a 7:01 and then a 7:19, showing no fear of the climbs that were to come. The first of the really big climbs came on the sixth mile and that incline went on till 8.6 miles.

An incredibly steep descent followed before the next big climb started on the tenth mile. That was another very steep, mile long climb. The descent back down took him to 13.1 miles, so that was a half marathon done. There were still five or six very tough inclines to come but Patrick wasn’t phased.

Drawing on his experiences of last year’s race, Tom took it much steadier to start off with and looked to save his legs for the later stages when he would really need every ounce of energy he’d conserved. He was running it with his friend Peter Reynolds.

Most of the big climbs had been tackled by the time they reached the 28 mile point. It was still undulating from there but there were no more really long climbs to face.

Completing the course in a time of 6 hours and 8 seconds, Patrick crossed the line in 40th place out of 302 participants and was 8th out of 40 in the vet 40+ category. It was a really strong run from Patrick and all his experience of running in the mountains and long training runs on hilly terrain had definitely helped him.

The course had changed from the previous year and Tom managed to wrong at one point which added an extra mile onto his race. As if it wasn’t already going to be long enough, that bumped the distance up to 34.21 miles. Reaching the finish line in 6 hours 52 minutes and 51 seconds, Tom came 116th in the overall standings and it was an improvement of 1 minute 46 seconds over his time from last year.

Joseph Turner was the winner of the ‘Long’ race, getting through it in 4 hours 13 minutes and 34 seconds which put him 18 and a half minutes ahead of his nearest rivals. They were Sam Skinner and Marc Smerdon who finished in 4:32:03 and 4:32:08 respectively.

Chrissie Wellington was first female, getting round in 5:06:27 which put her in 9th place overall. Charlotte Brittain was second female in 5:33:40 which put her 20th overall and she came in one place ahead of Beth Owen who was third female in 5:34:38.

The event also featured a 101km Ultra which incorporated 2553m of elevation. That route started at Hardy Monument, following the South Dorset Ridgeway to Osmington before heading onto the South West Coast Path. Passing Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove , it then picked up the ‘Long’ route for the remainder of the race.

The ‘Ultra’ race was won by Owen Haynes in 10 hours 59 minutes and 45 seconds. Lee Davies and Kayley Price were second and third in 11:12:30.

It was definitely a good strength building exercise for Patrick and Tom as well as a good endurance builder. Really it was about enjoying the experience though and taking in all the breath-taking views when reaching the top of the big climbs. It was also about finding the character to overcome a very tough challenge, both mentally and physically. They showed they had the minerals to do that so full credit to the both of them.