I love to plan ahead and so I have entered a number of races for 2021. Some of them were postponed in 2020 and carried over.

So here is my plan for the year

January - Virtual Montane Spine Race

I was keen to have something to get my teeth into in January to kickstart the year. I wanted to up my miles a bit and when I saw the Spine race was doing a virtual race I decided to enter and have a go.

268 miles is a lot further than I normally do in a month. Infact it will be the furthest I will have ever run in a month since I started running ultras in 2007. So I’m under no illusion that this is going to be a tough challenge for me.

I have set out a plan to get it done!

Saturday 6th March - Blacks to Beacons Ultra (50 miles)

https://www.limitlesstrails.co.uk/events

I’ve not done this race before but I know the area fairly well and so I’m really looking forward to it. Hopefully it will be able to go ahead but we’ll see!

Saturday 1st - Monday 3rd May - Great Lakeland 3 Day Event

https://www.greatlakeland3day.com/

I loved this event in 2019 so it will be so good to take part again. I love the fact that it is in a different part of the Lakes each year. It is very different to other races I do in that you have to work out your own course which adds to the whole event.

Saturday 12th June - South Downs Way 100

https://www.centurionrunning.com/races/south-downs-way-100-2021

I’m really looking forward to this race as I’ve never done any of the Centurion races before and I’ve been told this route is excellent.

Saturday 21st - Thursday 26th August - Deadwater 6 day event

I’m really looking forward to this event which I’d planned to do in 2020. The race starts just inside Scotland at Deadwater and finishes near Chester. I will have to carry more gear than the Dragon’s Back so I’ll be training with that in mind.

Saturday 18th December - Tour de Helvellyn

https://www.nav4.co.uk/tour-de-helvellyn

I did this 38 mile race in 2019 and I planned to do it again in 2019 so I’m looking forward to taking part at the end of this year.

I’m also looking to volunteering at various ultra races throughout the year including the Cape Wrath Ultra (8 days) in May, West Highland Way Race in June and the Skyline Races (3 days) in September.

I’m hoping to be able to attend other ultra races for ‘Run to the Hills’ to do some live videos of the events as well as our regular weekly podcast.

Obviously all these events are dependant on how things go with the ongoing virus situation.