Arc 25: What’s it like?

Race Review From Dan Summers

Arc 25 is the new race from the team behind the Arc of Attrition by UTMB.

From the coastline near St Ives, through Godrevy Beach, and finishing at Porthtown, this point-to-point race has a 9-hour time limit with additional checkpoints and safety cut-offs on the route. Runners are self-sufficient and face potentially extreme weather conditions and darkness.

We caught up with mountain leader and friend of Harrier, Dan Summers, to get the low-down on his Arc 25 this year.

“Was it actually going ahead?”, were my thoughts when the weather forecast predicted Storm Eowyn would hit Cornwall over the weekend.  Luckily there was a 36-hour window that exactly coincided with the race. The skies were blue, the sea was rough and nearly 2,000 runners were descending on Cornwall to run 25, 50 or 100 miles along the coast path.

This was the first year that Arc of Attrition would be part of the UTMB World Series. There are few more passionate race directors than those that organise the Arc and, having spoken to them, they made the decision to partner with UTMB for all the right reasons. This was a race they loved and they were determined to keep all of the amazing things about it the same.

Arriving at the race village, the atmosphere was buzzing, the 100-mile race was in full flow and everyone was registering for the 50 and 25. I was doing the 25. Kit check and registration complete, we headed to the Premier Inn in Cambourne for a good night’s sleep.  Eat, sleep, eat and back to the event village to be bussed to the start.

The Arc 25 was the final quarter of the full 100-mile route. It had everything, technical descents, mud (lots of mud), road, sand, steps and plenty of flowing trails. As a UTMB race, it attracted a very strong field at the front of the race, but also a number of people taking their first steps into long-distance running. The finishing times varied between 2hrs 41 mins and 9hrs!

I lined up in the first of 3 waves. At the start line it’s so easy to doubt yourself, look around and think how “fast” everyone else looks (I also knew how fast some people were from checking before the race – which didn’t help!). After a long wait, we were off. Right from the start, the pace was relentless and I did my best to hold on to a group of people that seemed to be about right for me. We hurtled down muddy, rocky paths to St Ives and then on towards Hayle. 

Eventually, everything settled down a bit and I managed to get into a rhythm. Next up were the “Dunes of Doom” – basically, sand dunes with difficult route finding. This year the course was marked which was much easier but somehow the sand seemed harder than it has in the past.

After the first checkpoint at 11 miles, the race had settled down and I was running on my own.  I could see the person in front and so kept pushing to try to catch them but also kept imagining I was being chased (which was in fact true). This kept me on it and pushing to the end. 

The final section has 3 steep climbs from the sea up to the headland – they aren’t long (around 100m of vert) but wow, they hurt!  Halfway up the climb to the finish, I could see the person behind me starting the climb and I knew that I could relax a bit. I crossed the line in 3:21 to take 13th place (later downgraded to 14th from runners in the second wave).

A quick hug from Jane (one of the RDs) at the end and I was suddenly feeling pretty awful.  After a few biscuits and the free beer (non-alcoholic), I was back to life. We stayed on to welcome people in for the next few hours and also for the prize giving as I’d won the vet 40-44 prize. The prizes were all made of plastic that had been cleared from the local beaches – a very cool touch.

As for UTMB and the Arc - in my view, it was amazing. The race had a much bigger capacity but it still kept its soul!  Now, when can I go back and do the 50-mile? Then I’ll have done the full set!

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*Images used with permission and thanks to Sportograph.com