Would You Keep Going Knowing It Might Not Count? An Interview With Cathy Mousette

Most people would've called it a day. Cathy Mousette kept moving. She finished the Spine Challenger North with just 60 seconds left before the cut-off, becoming the final finisher across the line. We had to ask her how she kept going when the clock was against her.

Read on for the full story, plus fuelling, sleep strategy, the mental battle of refusing to quit, and some of the best questions from the Harrier community.

Cathy, introduce yourself to the Harrier community

My name is Cathy, Cathy Mousette. Just to put the record straight, I'm not a runner. I'm more of a fast walker. I was a runner, but now I've taken up Challenge walking, which I adore. So I'm a walker, quite a fast walker with the wind behind me.

What made you take on the Spine Challenger North?

I didn't really know anything about the Spine until my brother said he was watching all the runners come through. As I researched it, I thought it sounds good, I'll dot watch, which is what I did for a couple of years and then a friend of mine contacted me and said, “Would you like to do a Challenger walk with me?” Anything with “challenge” in it, my ears prick up.

That was the Allendale Challenge, which is 26 miles. I loved every minute of it. From there it rollercoasted to the Durham Dales, which was 30 miles, and then a 50-mile.

And I thought, I wonder if I could have a go at the Northern Challenger because I know 80 per cent of the route. I felt confident because I knew most of the route, so that's where it started.

And was this your first attempt at it?

No, I tried last year, but I got as far as Dufton and I was really struggling to take food on, just was not working for me.

I just stopped and thought it's pointless going on because if I carry on and I get stuck at the top, these wonderful volunteers will have to come and scrape me up and bring me back down. So that's when I thought, you know what Cath, quit while the going's good, come back down the hill. Cry, sulk, cry a bit more and go home.

I later found out from my bloods that there's no way I could have even contemplated doing that. So, I started eating lots of iron tonic, lots of greens, more greens than you can shake a stick at and yeah, had another go and finished it.

So rather than overhauling your race nutrition strategy, it sounds like the real change was the work you put in before race day?

Yeah. Because then I was able to eat, and I wasn't eating lots, but I was eating enough just to keep the cogs rolling and to keep me moving.

What about the nighttime sections, how did you tackle those?

I've done quite a lot of training. I've done a lot of walks locally. The problem is I wear glasses, and it made it a little bit more challenging. But I had my Garmin watch, had OS on my phone and, again, because I know the route very well, I felt that the confidence in knowing the route sort of overran the fear of my eyesight not being brilliant in the dark.

The pace definitely slows in the dark because everything seems very different, and you can only see so far ahead. But it was fine. The night section was short through the summer.

And what about navigation? Tell us about that.

Navigation was never a strong point for me to begin with. I love map reading but… Especially when you get tired, reading a map can be a little bit more challenging. So having an electronic device - the Garmin watch was really good to check. And I also had it on my OS map on my phone. And it was really mainly at night; don't assume that you're on the right track because a couple of times I assumed, and I wasn't. It's time-consuming if you go off and realise that you've gone wrong and have to turn around and come back.

Did you sleep?

I did. The problem that I personally had was that the race started at 6 p.m. on Sunday. I wasn't sure how I was going to cope with that because I've never started something like that at that time of night. I've gone out and done local walks at sort of nine o'clock at night to get a night section in, but this was all going to be quite new to me. I didn't get a fat lot of rest leading up to the start, it was all quite busy, but I thought, you know, just crack on and do it.

I got up to Shunner Fell, and everything was fine. And then I started to sneeze a lot, and my nose started running and running. I got myself into a little bit of a stew, and I think that took the edge off me a little bit because the morning had arrived and I'd virtually convinced myself that I was exhausted and I hadn't even hit the first checkpoint. It wasn't for me. I was going to come out, I was going to finish, da da da da. I’ll just get to Cove Lodge, there’s a safety team there…

There was no safety team at Cove Lodge.

So I had to keep going to Middleton. And all I wanted to do was to lie down when I got to Middleton and Teesdale, which I did for half an hour. I thought half an hour would be enough, and dead on half an hour, ka-ching! I was wide awake.

My next chunk of sleep was for about an hour and a half, and then Christine (who I teamed up with and walked a lot of it with) we had a bivvy just before Hut One because we became a little bit sort of disorientated. I had a bit of a hissy fit, she was definitely the calming influence, and she just said, let's just stop, let's have a sleep. We'll phone in let them know let's just stop and have a rest. That was the perfect opportunity to do so roughly about four and a half hours sleep in total.

Talk to us about how you felt as the cutoff was approaching. One of the people on social media said, “Can you ask Cathy what was going through her mind as the clock was ticking down? And now that she knows just how close she came to timing out, how does she feel looking back at that moment?”

Well, this is the most bizarre of things known to mankind and I still don't understand it myself but, when we got into Hut One the safety team were great and offered us drinks and everything and then a chap came to me with a phone with a video call of a gentleman, who I still don't know who it was, but he was basically saying you girls are doing a magnificent job but can you ramp it up a little bit? I think Christine was more aware of the cut off. Me? I was I was oblivious to it all, I really was.

I just put my head down and did as I was told and walked as fast as I could.

I got to the top of the hill, but it's scree coming down, and I lost my footing and rolled 20-30 yards down this hill, bashed my head on a boulder, and broke one of my poles. I managed to pull myself together and at that point I thought, you know what, it doesn't matter what they say. I just want to finish it. A medal, I'm not bothered about a medal. I just want to finish this. I've had enough of this. I really want to go home now.

Got to Hut Two and I could feel that time was ticking on even faster because a cup of tea was handed to me. I took one mouthful, then it was taken away. I was given a biscuit. I was given a package of Haribo. I was physically turned around and gently pushed away from Hut Two.

I asked Christine, Are we going to make it in time for the cutoff? And her reply I think was, if I get my own way, yes. So the pair of us just put our heads down.

I had no concept of time. My watch had gone right the way around so I couldn't actually see it. I thought, stop looking at it, it doesn't matter. And then it was only when we got to the last three miles that two gentlemen appeared all in running kit. So I just stood by to let them pass and they said, come on Cathy, we're the welcoming home committee. And I went, right, okay. And I was aware of them watching, looking at their watch.

Then they kept saying, can you run? And at that point, that's when the shovel came out and I started digging so deep.

It was an out-of-body experience at that point.

And then I was swapped over and two ladies appeared. I was lopsided, I had one pole, and I just looked and it was Anna Troup and Mel Sykes, and I just thought, my goodness gracious me, they've sent the big guns out. They were wonderful, they ushered me on and said some really lovely things.

And they said, do you know where you are Cathy? Yeah, yeah. And at that point she said, just keep going because everybody is out waiting for you. And that initially put the fear of God into me because I thought, what does she mean by everybody? I just want to quietly finish. I don't want a big fuss.

And at that point, when I went on to the village green, that's when I tripped, and my bag weight took me forward, and I was just aware of people saying, "Get up! Get up!”

I was aware of the cutoff, I was not aware of the time. I hadn't got a clue what the time was, and I had no idea how close I had got. It wasn't until my husband came over and said, “You're never on time for anything, but you cut it fine there.”

Had things been different and, further back, someone said, “Look Cathy, you're not gonna make it, you've missed the cutoff.” Would you have just kept going anyway?

Yeah. Yes, yeah, yeah.

So the lady you ran with - Christine. Another person on social media asked, “Looking back, what difference was there running solo to running with company? Did either give more of an advantage, or which did you prefer?”

I was blessed with her because she was a very quiet person, but she chatted. You know, we got on so well. We chatted at the right time, if that makes sense? But we had lots of quiet time.

Christine lives in Belgium, so her hill work training was non-existent. So when we hit the hills, she found it harder going. So I would go so far, and just wait for her so she could still always keep me in sight.

So we worked our way up, right the way up to Cross Fell, just as it was coming in dark and the good old traditional fog mist rolled in, which made it even more difficult. And we were both walking together, and I just glanced over and Christine was walking with her eyes closed.

So I stopped and said, right, you walk behind me, right behind me, and I'll walk and navigate. Not that it needed much navigating, but when you're very tired, it is easy just to walk off on an angle and end up in a ditch. And it actually worked. We took it in turns to sleepwalk. 

And that's when the hallucinations started.

As I was walking along, I looked sideways at a ditch, and there was a row of different breeds of sheep all smiling at me. But they weren't smiling at me in a kind way, they were smiling at me in a very menacing, creepy way. And I looked on the other side, and there was some more. And I shook my head, and I looked on the other side, and they were all still there.

Then further down the road there was a dinosaur with a little dinosaur on his back. They were all very friendly, but eerily friendly. We were both delighted to see the lights of Garrigill. Absolutely ecstatic to see Garrigill.

What kept you going?

When I’d convinced myself that it really wasn't for me at all, I felt incredibly tired, my nose was running, I was probably dehydrated. I can do it, I can't do it, I can't do it. I got to the checkpoint and there she was, standing in front of me, a goddess. She looked at me, and she said, “Cathy, you look a little bit broken, but I'm gonna mend you.”

So she whisked me away, plonked me into a big tent, brought me my drop bag, and she said, “Right, do you want something to eat or do you want a bit of a sleep?” After a lie down, she appeared, and she said, “Right, it's a traditional curry, bacon sandwiches, scrambled egg, or rice pudding and jam.” I said, “What would you give to someone like me?” and she says, “Rice pudding.”

And I never looked back.

Had three bowls of it, a cup of tea, and I left the checkpoint a new woman.

So, rice pudding, and I just wanted it. I just wanted it so much. I wanted to finish it. I wanted to be that person to touch that wall, regardless of whether I came in very last or even if I was timed out.

I just think the desire to get out there and to prove to myself, yeah, you can do it. Because I'm not a spring chicken. I'm fairly fit, but I think when they say it's very much mind over the fitness of your body. And for me that's what it was. 

I think a lot of people would probably agree and say you could be super fit, but actually if your mind starts saying, you know what, you can't do this, you don't want to do this. But you've got to overcome that, you've got to work through that and push. And I think that's what I did.

So, what’s next?

I'm doing the Cheviots Challenge, which I love up in the Cheviots. That's 25 miles and that's just a jolly. That's just something special because I love it up there so much.

And then keep putting the miles in, then back down to Edale in June to do the Southern Challenger. Let's have a go at that one!

We'll certainly be keeping a close eye on Cathy when she takes on the Spine Challenger South next year. Something tells us she's not done collecting incredible stories just yet.