It was icy to start. The most treacherous bit was walking from the pick up at Meldon village hall (the finish) to the coach. The difference with being on foot is that you can always walk along the grass verge once you feel it getting slippery.
We set off at 7.15 am having been bussed around Devon to South Brent, with head torches. After a short walk/run to Shipley Bridge to get warmed up, we had a short bit of icy tarmac to get onto the moor proper. We were supposed to be going in groups with a mountain leader, but as we gained height the mountain leader was well behind. I set off in the front group. There were a couple of experienced ultra trail runners with GPS watches. As we gained height the ground became increasingly frozen, which was just what I hoped. Dartmoor can be boggy enough in the summer, let alone the winter, but with the top inch or two frozen solid it became much easier to run. Sunrise was absolutely brilliant and we crossed the boggy ground around Red Lake and Erme Head with ease. Then the wind picked up and the fog rolled in. This thinned our lead group down to four: Matt, Charlie, George, and me. Matt and Charlie were clearly highly experienced trail runners - they talked about doing the Arch - 100 miles around the Cornish coast in the winter. Charlie had also run the Glencoe skyline, which I'd seen on television and is a reasonably elite event. George talked about running the Bristol Ridgeway, 45 miles, over Christmas, and was going to run 125km Gran Canaria traverse in 30 hours in a month's time (which both Matt and Charlie seemed to have done). So I tagged along, listening to them chatting and realising that there is a whole Audax-like culture for trail runners.
The first stop was at Foxtor Cafe, Princetown, which I remember from a Dartmoor Devil and a couple of other Devon audaxes. Our entry free included cake and a hot drink. Four of us became five as Lyndon, with his dog Bessie, joined us, he'd entered the 30km run from Princetown.
I struggled on the next section, which followed the old railway line from Princetown. They were better runners than me and used to making up time on easy ground. We passed a large group that were taking the 30km walk option for the event. Fortunately the fog stayed away - she good luck for the organisers, with the wind being from the northeast the western side of the moor had better weather. There was a short road section at Merivale and then a walk up the steep hill to the Staple Tors. There were two problems now. The wind had freshened to a stiff northeasterly breeze, block headwinds are just as bad for running as for cycling. And, it had warmed up enough to thaw the ground. So every step now sunk into the mire that is Dartmoor in winter. So there was as much walking as there was running. The elastic between me and the others kept stretching but I was better over the boggy ground than they were (good route finding, a longer stride so I could leap bits they couldn't, and some brute strength and ignorance). After skirting Cocks Hill we dropped into the Tavy valley and the next check point at Lane End. I could feel a blister and some bruising on my left foot as the mud sucking bog had loosened that trail shoe.
Here they had hot drinks and a huge range of home made tray bakes, which even El Supremo would have been proud of (my early memories of Audax are of David Hudson's catering on controls in lay-bys). We had 15km to go.
The next 7km were all up hill, Ger Tor, Hare Tor, Chat Tor and around the side of Dunna Goat to pick up the old mineral railway that skirts the north side of Great Links Tor, and the highest point of the run, at 552m. It was really cold and partly frozen up there, and i needed all of my bog-hopping skills kept me up with the rest. From there it was all down hill to the finish at Meldon Village Hall and we stayed as a group of four, Lyndon having dropped back near Hare Tor, to finish in 6hr 26min. We were at least 45 minutes ahead of the next group of runners.
At the finish they had hot stew, unlimited tea and biscuits. It was one of those gold-plated days - good weather, good company, a good run, great food. I really enjoyed it. I'd booked two nights in the Travelodge at Sourton Cross (1 mile from the finish) but I only used it for a hot shower and change of clothes and was fit enough to drive home to Basingstoke after that.
All the training worked out well. I had planned to do a 30 mile 4.5 hour run locally before Christmas but fatigue and a chest cold ruled that out. I think if I'd not had the bug I would have been able to run a bit more fluently in the second half and not struggle so much to keep up with the others.
There is a summer traverse and anyone looking for a trail running experience that's just like Audax should enjoy that. Link is attached.
https://www.climbsouthwest.com/events/dartmoor-in-a-day/Legs are stiff today and I've got Compeed blister patches on both heels. My left foot is slightly bruised but given the amount of rough terrain - lots of half-frozen peat bog, rocks, stones, river crossings, mud, etc, that's fine and there's nothing that will stop me running next weekend.