Cheviot Goat Winter Ultra – Gillian McColl

The Cheviot Goat is one of my favourite races, it’s tough, the terrain is unforgiving, and it’s normally held on the first weekend of December so very few daylight hours. The organisers (Cold Brew Events) are very clear that you need to be capable of looking after yourself in the cold and dark. It was my first proper winter ultra in 2018 when I was still a newbie to the ultra scene, I took on this race to test myself mentally and physically and it did not disappoint. When I reached the finish line, I swore I would never do it again but somehow found myself back for more in December 2019. My excuse to go back was, that it would be good training for the Spine Challenger in January 2020.

I felt a lot more confident in 2019 and ran the full race myself (a lot of people look to pair up during the night), I wanted to see how I would cope without any company, and I wanted it to be 100% at my pace. 2019 was the year of the storm, the night before the race the organisers made the safety decision to run the route in reverse so that we would do the highest point (The cheviot) before the storm really kicked in.

Northumberland dealing with the after effects of Storm Arwen

It meant I would get to see The Cheviot in daylight hours and get over the boggiest section too, being able to see the bogs was definitely easier than trying to find a route around them in the dark. I finished the race quicker in 2019 which I was pleased with and once again I said never again!

I’m not normally a fan of doing a race more than once so why I was on the same start line for the third time I do not know. I’ve still not worked out why I keep going back to it, maybe because it’s tough, maybe because every time it feels different, or maybe it’s down to the fact I’m so nervous about drowning in one of the bogs that I go back over and over to confront my fear.