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The Winter Green Man Ultra

Bower Ashton, Bristol

Ashton Park School, Blackmoors Lane, Bower Ashton, Bristol, UK

Sat 06th March 2021

4 races

£69.29 - £147.17

Organiser's Description

The Winter Green Man Ultra comes in two formats - the 45 mile distance and the 30 mile distance. Both races are held on the same course on the same day and have the same checkpoints and finish, just with differing start locations. The Green Man Ultra 45 is a very challenging full loop of the Community Forest Path, starting and finishing at Ashton Park School just outside the centre of Bristol.
The Winter event will run in an anti-clockwise direction.

Bookings are on hold for this event due to Coronavirus restrictions. The organisers will be in touch if you already have a booking for this event.

Races

gmu45
Solo Entry

£79.68 CLOSED
gmu30
Solo Entry

£69.29 CLOSED
The Double GMU45
Winter & Summer Event Entry

£147.17 CLOSED
The Double GMU30
Winter & Summer Event Entry

£126.40 CLOSED

Book

gmu45
Solo Entry

£79.68 CLOSED
gmu30
Solo Entry

£69.29 CLOSED
The Double GMU45
Winter & Summer Event Entry

£147.17 CLOSED
The Double GMU30
Winter & Summer Event Entry

£126.40 CLOSED

Do it for charity

Let’s take on dementia together

What's Included

All finishers will receive a GMU medal and Technical T-Shirt.

Trophies are awarded to the following:

Men’s & Ladies 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th in GMU45
Men’s & Ladies 1st, 2nd & 3rd in GMU30
Men’s & Ladies Veteran 1st in both GMU45 & GMU30

Free entry into the following years race for the first male and female of both the GMU45 and the GMU30. Same for the veteran male and female winners.

Course Details

GMU45
Date: Saturday 7th March 2020 08:00
Location: Ashton Park School, Bristol
Distance: 45 miles / 72 Kilometres
Elevation: 3100 feet / 945 metres
Cut-Off: 12 Hours
Number of Checkpoints: Four
Downloadable Directions

GMU30
Date: Saturday 7th March 2020 11:00
Location: The Brassmill, Keynsham
Distance: 30 miles / 48 Kilometres
Elevation: 1900 feet / 580 metres
Cut-Off: 9 Hours
Number of Checkpoints: Two
Downloadable Directions

Winter / Summer Double

Runners who complete both the summer and winter 45 mile events in the same year will additionally be awarded a prestigious GMU buckle. Four different buckles are available, awarded cumulative running time over both events – Sub 15 hours; sub 18 hours; sub 21 hours; sub 24 hours.

Further Information

All competitors must register on-line prior to the event. Collection of race numbers and a safety brief will be at the start location at least half an hour before the start of the race, where competitors will present their kit for examination on request.

Participants will be given a race number which must be clearly attached by safety pins. If this is not clearly visible you may be delayed at checkpoints.

The course is very challenging and for competitors own safety and fairness the following rules must be adhered to. Failure to comply with these rules may result in disqualification from this and future events.

The event is under race conditions and entrants will be issued with race numbers
Checkpoints will be provided (4 in total) to (a) monitor times & wellbeing of competitors, (b) provide water and some nutrition.
Check point cut-off times are set which will allow completion of the event within a 12 hour period. Anybody who falls outside these times, at any of the checkpoints, will have failed to have completed the challenge and not be allowed to continue. The cut-off times are as listed departure times for the 12 hour timelord.
All entrants must be 20 years of age or over at the start of the race.
Each competitor must ensure that they carry with them all mandatory requirements needed to complete the race.
Every entrant must confirm that they have read these rules and other event information and therefore understand the nature of the event and that participation is at their own risk.
At the end of the race finishers will receive (a) bespoke Green Man T-Shirt, (b) bespoke Green Man medal, (c) Signed certificate to confirm entitlement to either a Woodwose or a Woodwight (providing completion inside 12 hours).
Hot food will be available at the finish.

Checkpoint Timing

The race utilises chip-timing. As competitors pass through checkpoints 1, 2 & 3 and finish, their times will be simultaneously available for view from our event results page. This will enable family and friends to follow the race progress and also leave supportive comments.

Competitors must go through all check points and even though we have chip-timing, it is your sole responsibility to ensure that the check point attendant has recorded your race number; failure to do so at any check point may mean that you have failed to complete the race and could be disqualified.

Any competitor found to not follow the predetermined race route will be disqualified.

Navigation

The course is self navigation and tough. With the use of the downloadable written directions and GPX files below you can eliminate navigation issues. For those less confident with these navigation tools, but still wanting to take on the challenge, running with a timelord is the way to go.

Timelords

In 2015 we introduced the timelords. These are entrants who try their best to run at specific times – 9, 10, 11 and back of the pack 12 hours. Any novice ultra-runner or person concerned with navigation can simply join a timelord who runs at their own race pace.

It must be noted that the timelord’s principal role is to offer navigation assistance and endeavour to complete the race within their given time period of either 9, 10, 11 or 12 hours. The check-point departure times are purely guide times.

A timelord has many considerations on the day including at least a 5 minutes stay at a CP for everyone to fuel and take a toilet break and ground conditions can play an impacting role also. A timelord may also choose to push harder at the start with a view to allowing a walk/run pace on the last leg – so there are many variables.

It may be that once a timelord has a formed group, the group unilaterally decides to increase pace and finish a bit earlier. On the flip side to this it may be that, during the later stages of the race (final leg), some members of a group require a slower pace which means the timelord arrival time may be delayed.

The only issue here is the 12 hour timelord position, because any finishers outside the 12 hour limit will not receive their certificate so the 12 hour timelord must allow sufficient margin to be within the 12 hour period.

If you are considering following a timelord add an hour to your expected finish time. The Green Man Ultra is notable as a tough and muddy course. If you choose either the 9 or 10 hour timelord, be prepared for a faster start than possibly you would expected. This is due to initial bottlenecks which are likely with so many starters and the obvious issues caused if the faster timelords were caught at the back of a queue.

Timelords will be conspicuous by wearing Electric Orange timelord tec-t’s and have their hour marker flag attached to their back-packs. They will also be acknowledged during the Race Brief.

Timelord expected CP arrival and departure times

A Timelord will try to run at a reasonably consistent pace. The below times are a rough guide of where they will be when, in order to achieve their target times. Based on a 08:00 race start:

Please remember – these guys are all experienced ultrarunners and have exceptional knowledge of the course. They have a really difficult task trying to pace their run to their allotted times. At the start they may seem to go off a bit faster than they should – but this is purely to avoid bottle-necks at the early stages.

The 9hr Time Lord will depart:
CP1 at 9.30am, CP2 at 10.45am, CP3 at 1.00pm, CP4 at 3.30pm and finish at 5.00pm

The 10hr Time Lord will depart:
CP1 at 9.45am, CP2 at 11.15am, CP3 at 1.50pm, CP4 at 4.40pm and finish at 6.00pm

The 11hr Time Lord will depart at:
CP1 at 10.00am, CP2 at 11.40am, CP3 at 2.30am, CP4 at 5.10pm and finish at 7.00pm

The 12hr Time Lord will depart at:
CP1 at 10.10am, CP2 at 11.55pm, CP3 at 3.15pm, CP4 at 6.00pm and finish at 8.00pm.

Mandatory Kit List

Checkpoint details and directions (booklet downloadable from this website)

Competitors must be self-sufficient, and carry the following mandatory items:

Backpack or equivalent

Head Torch with spare batteries

Ordnance Survey Maps 155 & 167 (a printed version of our downloadable direction booklet is fine)

Compass or GPS device

Whistle

Mobile phone

Emergency foodpack consisting of a chocolate bar, Mars or similar

First Aid Kit

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