2020 was never meant to be a big year of defining races. I had planned a couple of 50 milers and a flat 100 miles for the year punctuated by a second attempt at the Paddy Buckley Round in July. At the start of the year training was going well but I skipped the first race (the Green Man Ultra) because I had a nasty cold. To be honest, it was quite an easy decision – the Green Man is a great local race but it was not a big goal for me and clearly not worth the risk of pushing through an illness. Two weeks after this we were all locked down by Covid-19 and all bets for the year were off. It soon became clear that the July Paddy Buckley was unlikely to happen and the two reccies I had planned came and went whilst we were still unable to leave our local area. In late June it became clear that restrictions were starting to lift – I decided to go for it and set a date for an attempt without any further reccies. I knew the route but wouldn’t have seen any of it for a year and