I’ve been involved in Survivor since the very beginning. I’ve known Craig for years and when he told me about his idea for a backyard ultra in 2021, I was bang up for it.
The date of the first trial event was perfect for me, because it landed about a month before my attempt at Hardmoors 100 in May 2022.
I thought it would be a perfect way to run a controlled 50 miles and it worked brilliantly when just before the 50 mile point, there was only Mick Browne and myself left. I told Mick at the start of the lap, that if he finished the lap, he would win as I was taking a shortcut back at 50 miles, which I did, much to the entertainment of the gathered crowd at the starting pen when I appeared over a random hill.
I’d enjoyed the first one so much, that when the second event was announced in August 2022 I decided to see how far I could go and maybe win. However, Craig had selected a slightly different loop to the first event. It seemed easy at first, but it crept up on you and by 50 miles, my feet were battered by the rocky surface of the first section of the loop, so I yet again took a shortcut back and came 4th, with Matthew Swan running out the eventual winner bagging an impressive 17 laps bagging him a massive 68 miles.
For the third test event, Craig had moved us from the open moors to the relative luxury of Charltons Village Hall in April 2023. After a strong 2022, I’d started 2023 with a back injury that sidelined me for most of February before catching Covid in March. I came to Survivor aiming to do what I could and felt as though I was coping well, especially with the mud of the new course, but I flagged badly on 6th lap and finished a mere 10 seconds ahead of cut off, immediately going straight back out, but after a short distance, I decided to take another short cut and end my attempt, finishing bang on marathon distance. I hung around for the rest of the day and marshalled the last lap, which took place on a different route. It was a head to head between Paul Elsley and Shaun Flewker-Barker. Paul passed my marshal point looking strong and well in the lead, but later on in the lap, got himself inextricably lost and handed the win to Shaun.
For the next test event in July, I was unable to run, having double booked myself with a race the next day. I turned up to spectate and I was pretty glad I didn’t run, because there were heavy thunderstorms that turned the course into a quagmire and the rain seemed to make running a miserable affair, a view shared by the runners because nobody finished the race. However, for the October 2023 race, I was coming in off the back some strong performances, including a sub 12 hour Round Rotherham 50 miler in sweltering heat.
However, by the time Survivor rolled around, the first autumn storm had happened and laid waste to the course in such a way that even the sick mind of Craig Davie would not put runners through laps of it over and over again.
Instead, he put an alternate route on, which played well to my secret aim of trying to win.
I arrived on the day feeling fit, well prepare and confident. I’d even brought my club mate Paul Fortune along as a sacrificial lamb (I actually thought he was capable of winning it). In preparation for the muddy underfoot conditions, I’d brought brand new shoes, a pair of £20 Higher State trainers with massive grips and they felt really nice for cheap new shoes.
The first few laps ticked over easily with me hitting 41-42 minute lap times comfortably. Around lap 6 or 7, people started to drop out in ever increasing numbers, but I was still moving well and hitting 42 minutes consistently and as it got dark, it seemed like I was running some parts of the course faster than other competitors who’d been finishing their laps well ahead of me earlier in the day.
Craig had told us that this race had a twist, being that there would be 12 qualifying laps and the 13th lap would be a winner takes all race. As the laps edged closer to 12 there were only 7 or 8 runners left and we were all guessing what the twist was. We all guessed correctly that there would be a change of route, but as we sat around after lap 12, Craig instructed us all to line up by the door. I was starting to get stiff from sitting around and was keen to get back out, so I jumped to the front on the queue. We were then led into another room, where we were forced to play pub games (Jenga, Memory Snap and Coin Pitching) for time penalties/bonuses.
I went first at the Jenga and thought that someone would easily drop the pile and pick up the penalty before it became my turn again, but everyone managed not to knock it over and it was my turn again. I got to the table and realised that all this hanging about was making me stiff and that I was probably going to knock the pile over anyway, so I had a tantrum and swiped the blocks off the table.
I can’t remember who won the Memory snap and gained a 30 second head start on the next lap, but the game went on forever, a symptom of asking people to play a memory game after running 50 miles.
The Coin Pitching was lost by Shaun Flewker-Barker who joined me with a 30 second time penalty.
As Shaun and I stood and watched the first runners leave without us, Paul Elsley showed how much the waiting around had affected our legs when he pulled up limping seconds after starting running again, then Shaun and I were off. Within a minute, he had pulled about 100 yards ahead and this was with me running not far off my 10k pace.
After about a mile, having picked off one runner, I was running through a tunnel of trees on my own, no head torches in sight ahead or behind until the first runners came back at me on their return leg. Unsurprisingly, Shaun was in the lead and eventually won.
I came 5th having been unable to catch those in front of me, but running a final lap of 4.7 miles in 57 minutes. As disappointing as that was, it turned out to be an excellent training session, because a few weeks later, I took two hours off my course best time on Hardwolds 80, finishing in 21h:44m and cutting 57 minutes off my 100km personal best. So even if you don’t win Survivor, they’re great ultra training runs, fantastic exercises in mental toughness and great fun with likeminded runners.