Ed (right) tackles the Moyleman
by Ed Tuckley
The Moyleman is a Downland marathon which starts and ends in Lewes. The course features over 2,750 feet of climbing including Blackcap, Kingston Ridge, Firle Beacon and Mount Caburn. It’s very well organised and there’s even a relay option for pairs of runners with the handover taking place in Southease at the halfway point.
This year I opted for the full marathon. Luckily the weather was fine and runners were upbeat, chatty even. That didn’t last long. I ended up battling my mate from Lewes AC, also called Ed, along with a couple of other runners. We attacked the climbs seeing who would crack first. Whereas I was swallowing cloying energy gels every few miles, Ed would have run the whole thing on nothing, but as a matter of politeness, he had to accept a single jelly baby from a child at the top of Kingston Ridge.
Crossing the Ouse, I reached halfway in 1 hr 42 and in roughly 9th place but I knew it couldn’t last. Sure, enough the long grind up Firle Beacon was damaging and the chasers reeled me on the way down Bo Peep. Why hadn’t I done more training? Anyway, stronger runners glided past me including the leading second leg relay runners. It became all about damage limitation and hanging on.
Another chase group caught me at Glynde. Coming out of the village the course heads skywards straight up Mount Caburn. I could see in the distance tiny figures in agony as they neared the summit. On a hill like that, the hardest thing to do is start jogging again once you’ve started walking.
At last, I was stumbling down Chapel Hill into Lewes (by this time the descents were as painful as the climbs). Inevitably, Ed materialised out of the corner of my vision and the pair of us attempted to sprint up Cliffe High Street. By this time my legs were mutinous and instead of navigating the sharp right turn leading to the finish at Harvey’s Brewery, they (and me, because I was still attached to them) crashed into a bollard.
Ed beat me but I’d beaten the hills of the Moyleman… sort of. The winner was Mike Ellicock in 3:04:19. I managed 13th overall in 3:44:20