Glaisdale’s Sam Dunwell finishes second in his first 110 mile ultramarathon

As a former Royal Marine Sam,28, is no stranger to endurance fitness tests, but even he had to admit the 110 mile Hardmoors race was a little beyond anything he had attempted before.

The Hardmoors 110 follows the dramatic Cleveland Way National Trail encircling the North York Moors and the Cleveland Heritage coastline.

Commencing in the market town of Helmsley, competitors have 36 hours to complete the 110 mile single stage trail race, passing through the North York Moors and the beautiful Cleveland Hills before following the coastline to Filey.

Sam said: “I only entered Hardmoors as a last minute thing I had thought I’d do it in a few years and then I thought, you can put things off forever .

“It’s hard. The only thing I’ve ever done that was close to it was the 55 mile Hardmoors race which I did last year.”

“Last year was hard, I was annoyed with everybody, even the race organisers for doing it! This year my perspective changed, I thought I’ll just set off and see how I go.

“I felt rough about 10 miles in, I was nowhere near the front, but I just kept going at my own pace.”

“Around mile 60 somebody gave me some watermelon and it was as if my body reset, I got up to second and stayed there.”

“Around mile 100 I was thinking I could do the 160! I might give it another go next year and take the win.”

Sam set himself three goals, the first was to finish, the second was to complete the course in 24 hours and the third was to achieve a top ten finish.

He did all three, completing the gruelling endurance trial in just 20 hours and 40 minutes.

And how did he feel afterwards? Sam said: “My body was in shock and I’m very stiff, my knee is bad, but I’m getting better now.”

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