Dorset Invader - Half Marathon #4

Friday afternoon we travelled down to Dorset, a journey that my car is beginning to know too well. On Saturday Team Um Bongo would be taking on the Dorset Invader, given the earlyish start time for the race we thought it would be wise to stay a little closer in a cheap Travelodge. This would be our third White Star Running event we've attended this year and it was probably the most eagerly anticipated. After we'd run the Larmer Tree Half Marathon back in March we were straight onto the WSR website to see what other events of theirs we could attend. We'd seen the Dorset Invader event and thought that it looked like a great deal of fun. Described as an out and back race, 95% trail and hilly it appealed to us! Paul was instantly sold on the medal alone, given his training goals I had fully expected him to want to enter the marathon. Paul however thought the half marathon medal which was in the design of a Roman Legionary shield was cooler than that given for the marathon. We entered the half marathon and also convinced Chris with little persuasion to join us, after all we'd run together for the previous two WSR events.

Unfortunately Paul didn't make it to the start line. The weekend before, his back went and he had spent the week leading up to the race laid up resting at home. It had been touch and go whether he'd even be able to make the journey with us so running was going to be out go the question. By Friday he was just about able to sit in the car with the help of some strong painkillers. I was absolutely gutted for him as this race had appealed to him in every way. We had also convinced Gary (he ran with us at Endure 24) and his Brother-in-Law Matt to join us for the race.

Saturday morning we'd been blessed with some delightful weather, the sun was out and it was going to be a hot day. We arrived at East Farm in good time to register and go through the usual pre-race faff and port-a-loo queuing. We met up with Gary, Matt and his wife Amy who'd camped the night before. Matt had chosen to run the marathon. WSR are no strangers to fun and had encouraged people to wear Roman themed fancy dress, there were many Roman soldiers and togas in attendance and Chris who'd dressed as the Roman God Neptune. Paul and I had toyed with the idea of fancy dress but had decided against it as we thought it may have got uncomfortable especially if it had been a hot day. A special mention has to go to fellow Essex person, Justin Horrocks who had come dressed in full historical reenactment armour and was attempting to walk the half marathon route complete with helmet, shield, body armour and some very uncomfortable looking leather sandals!

Team Um Bongo and God

As 09:45 approached we made our way over to the start line for the race briefing. There was approximately a field of 250 runners in the half marathon, not too many which added to the friendly atmosphere of the event. The race was started by a guy dressed as a Roman solider on a horse, probably the first and only time I will be able say that! Chris, Gary and I decided to run together, our only intention was to have a good time and just enjoy the experience. One thing we've learnt from previous WSR events is that there is little point in trying to beat a PB set on a road course, the aid stations were to be stopped at, graze and chat and along the way there would be photo opportunities and the hills are for walking! Whilst not going for a time we settled on the idea that we'd like to better the time we's set for the Larmer Tree Half Marathon back in March.

The race starter

The race started in the main field and took you out onto a dusty farm track and more or less immediately into a steady climb. The legs didn't feel too bad, I had been a bit concerned prior to the race as I was still suffering with some leg soreness from the mid-week running club sprints and I was a little out of condition over distance. Since the marathon back in May I had been resting various injuries and had not run more than about 8 miles so the prospect of running 13 miles was a daunting one. The sun was beating down on us and after the first km I was already feeling quite hot, the one thing I had managed to forget was a sweat band so I just had to put up with the beads of sweat rolling down my face. Whilst I was hot I imagine it wasn't a patch on Chris who's fancy dress costume was complete with beard. Needless to say it wasn't long until the beard was lost!

The 2nd km took us through a farm storage area before we joined fields. The ground was pretty uneven, this was probably the roughest trail terrain I'd run on before. We were slightly caught out by a gate between fields, we'd each taken it in turn to climb the gate when we were passed by a lady who informed us we could have just run around it! From then on when we found a gate we checked if we could open it first! The course took us through a section of wheat fields, which was reminiscent of the scene in the Gladiator film! I chose a path through the wheat rather than run across the wheat stubble. The last section of the wheat field was downhill, we cashed in on this whilst we could as we'd no doubt be punished by more hills very soon.

It's a hill, get over it!

At around the 3 km mark mark we encountered part of the 5% considered as not trail, a road crossing! This section was well marshalled and the traffic was held up so we could safely cross the road. The other side we ran alongside some woodland which provided us with some very welcome shade the sun was becoming quite oppressive. Where there are trees there are roots so I spent much of the time with my eyes fixed on the ground ahead of me listening out for the call of "root". In places the foliage was a little over grown so after being slapped in the face a couple of times I decided I had to drop back a little from Chris so I had some warning to palm away any branches myself! My confidence when running through woodland has certainly grown since the Dark Ox races. I am much more aware of the dangers and do not find the underfoot challenges a reason to slow down, I'm able to manoeuvre obstacles much more efficiently side stepping tree roots and rabbit holes. We had a brief moments rest whilst we queued to cross a stile which took us through a field before entering the adjacent woods.

Just past the 5km mark we reached the aid station. Now WSR know how to do aid stations, they're by far the best I have encountered at any event! At this point in the race I was doing OK so didn't really want for much. Massive props though for providing some veggie friendly sweets, whether this was planned or purely luck it was greatly appreciated by this herbivore! I usually miss out on jelly sweets as the vast majority of the time they contain gelatine or other nasties so it was a breath of fresh air when I checked the box of the Haribo jelly beans and discovered a lovely green 'V' marking them as suitable for vegetarians. I grabbed a few and a cup of water and we were on our way again.


We had been keeping the pace fairly consistent, trying to run steady when the conditions allowed and conserving our energy on the hilly sections by walking. The only problem with the walking is that the boys take a far longer stride than I do. I was struggling to keep up even power walking which was doing my already tight calves no favours so found it easier to do bursts of running followed by a quick walk to ensure I didn't drop too far behind, not ideal but it meant I didn't hold the group up.

We'd briefly studied the course profile prior to the race an knew that there was a challenging section about mid distance where we'd be hill climbing for approximately 3 km. We came across a welcome sign "Lovestation Ahead", for those unfamiliar with WSR events a Lovestation is like their fantastic aid stations but even more awesome! We were met by a friendly bunch of volunteers dressed in togas who'd laid out a real feast of goodies. I was a bit overwhelmed by the choice as there was so much to choose from. After a cup of water I spied the cider, the drink of all good athletes and partook in a little drinky (it'd would have been rude not to). I washed that down with a flat coke and then spotted Gary eating watermelon. Oh my never did I think watermelon could be so refreshing, it was the perfect accompaniment to a hot half marathon. We posed for a quick photo, grabbed another handful of jelly beans and were off on our way again.

Lovely selection of goodies on offer at the Lovestation

Enjoying cider and watermelons at the Lovestation

Once the course flattened out we encountered our next challenge. We were running between two fields and the foliage on either side of the path was coming up to my shoulders. This is where I could have done with my own Roman solider to clear the path with his sword. Unfortunately the best I had was a Roman god aka Chris who didn't seem to have any special path clearing powers, disappointing. We did our best to continue with the running but found it too difficult, we were barely able to see the path underfoot and the grass and brambles were doing their best to slow our progress so we walked again. I was grateful to be wearing compression sleeves on my calves, this offered some protection to my legs but my arms on the other hand were getting scratched as we fought our way through the undergrowth!

Battling our way through the foliage

As soon as we were out we hit a single file track. We got stuck behind a few slower runners but stayed behind as there was not really a point we could pass. Once the course widened out we passed a handful of runners and Chris gave me the option of leading the group for a bit. I opened up to what felt comfortable and stretched my legs out a little, the course was feeling nice and flat but it wasn't long though before Chris recognised that I had taken us off too fast. I had been running at an average pace of 5:30 km whereas we needed to be closer to 6:00 km. I think it was the frustration of having been slowed down by the earlier foliage and slower runners.

Brian May or Roman God???

At 18 km we reached the final aid station on the half marathon course. We briefly stopped to fill up water bottles followed by a quick customary Team Um Bongo high fives before pushing on to get the race finished. This section of the course took us back along part of the route we'd started on so we had a rough idea of what stood between us and the finish. We were soon walking up the hill in the wheat field which I had very much enjoyed running down. By this point my calves were feeling pretty tight and unforgiving. I did my best to keep up with Gary and Chris but found myself walking and dropping further back. At this point I had kind of wished that they'd carried on and left me behind but true to the spirit of Team Um Bongo they stopped and waited for me. Apparently they'd only just realised that my shorter stride meant I had to run to keep up with their walk!

Trying to catch up with the boys!

At 19 km we were back on familiar farm track, whilst slightly uphill we were able to push on as we knew the finish was not far away. We entered a field and could see the finish line and crowds of people at the bottom of the hill. A very steep descent followed, it was a job to manage the speed for fear of falling down the hill head over heels. Longer strides worked better than shorter ones but I still struggled to keep up with the boys who were bounding down the hill. Once at the bottom it was through a gate back into the main field for the finish straight. Chris kicked on for a sprint finish but noticed whilst I was doing my best to keep up I wasn't going to be challenging him to the line so slowed down and the three of us crossed the line together. We crossed the line at similar times with my gun time registering at 2:19:51 which was under the target of 2:20 we'd hoped to beat and much quicker than our Larmer Tree time of 2:27:56.

Badger man aka Kevin waving the runners in

Sweaty Team Um Bongo embrace

We were presented with our awesome medals and made our way over to the goodie bags where we were also given a homemade Dorset apple muffin (which was delicious). The goodie bags were pretty decent, they contained a bag of crisps, some biscuits, a bespoke Dorset Invader neck tube and a jar of strawberry Dorset Invader jam. Other races ought to take note, this was actually a goodie bag worth having rather than the bag of usual random crap and leaflets you get at most events.

Fantastic goodie bag and not a leaflet in sight!

We caught up with Paul and Amy who had spent the time investigating the farm shop and sampling some homemade cake. Paul had also decided to mix some of the local ales with his painkillers, I was a little concerned but he seemed happy enough! I had already changed out of my race kit when we stumbled across the Roman baths. A pool had been constructed out of hay bales and lined with tarpaulin, in hindsight I wished that I had gone in for a dip. I imagine the water was cold and would have helped my sore legs on their way to recovery. Instead we headed back to the farm shop to pick up some fudge and some gifts for our cat sitters before making the journey back home to a much flatter Essex.

Posing with the most epic medal ever!

In conclusion I had a great time. WSR had done it again! This race was an inaugural event for them and they got everything right, I can say without a doubt we'll be back next year (Paul wants his own medal). The WSR experience is a unique one, every event we have attended has left us wearing a smile. The races are small enough to still feel personal and we have already started to recognise people from other events. The organising team and volunteers are all fabulous, the event organisation is spot on and they've thought of every last detail which makes their races stand out. Each course we have run has provided us with the opportunity to run through some amazing countryside, sure it is challenging, there will be hills, sometimes mud but it's all part of the experience. We don't enter these events to run a good time but to have a good time!

Well said!

Thank you to everyone at WSR, you've been the highlight of our 2015 race calendar and we'll be sure to be back in 2016. We may even have to buy a season pass and relocate to Dorset!