Shepherds Walks Coastal Challenge Ultra, 6th June 2026
Jamie Harding reports from just one of the coastal ultra’s taking place this weekend:
“On the same day that Arthur, Nina and Roberto were doing the serious ultra from Bamburgh and Tynemouth, I was running along part of their course from Budle Bay to Druridge Bay. The Shepherds Walks Coastal Challenge offers a choice of running or walking over three distances: 15, 26 or 37 miles.
As the coach took us from Druridge Bay to the start, it seemed like quite a long journey, but I reassured myself that it wouldn’t feel so long when I was running, because the coach had to go inland to follow the roads, while the event route would be more direct, following the Coastal Path. Once we started, we were quickly at the coast, then into the shadow of Bamburgh Castle.
The Coastal Path between Bamburgh and Seahouses was overgrown and quite difficult in places; it was very tempting to run along the road, which was just a few meters to the right. But I was stopped by the fear of disqualification, being thrown out of England Athletics and receiving an invitation to the Enhanced Games.
The first checkpoint was at Beadnell and there I bumped into a group of runners who had just finished a training run. One of them said that he had seen Harry at the DK Mile the night before, so I explained to him how Harry often struggled to keep up with me during Claremont sessions.
The next stage to Craster had better paths and I knew I was making much quicker progress than expected when, after an unexpectedly short time, I saw the outline of Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance. Unfortunately, as I got closer, I realised that it was actually a slightly oddly shaped tree, the real Dunstanburgh Castle was a few miles further down the route so I took a picture when I got there, to remind me what a castle looked like for future reference.
On the Craster-Alnmouth stage I found myself among the walkers of the marathon event (who had started at Beadnell). This was great for three reasons: I did not have to worry about navigation, they were all very friendly when standing aside for me on narrow paths and overtaking them reassured me that I was going faster than walking pace.
The checkpoint at Alnmouth was further on than I had expected and I was feeling tired and dehydrated as I made my way through the village, eventually tripping and falling. I reduced some of the impact by grabbing a fence, but this meant that only my head and shoulder were available to break my fall as I hit the ground. Although I believe in people talking openly about their feelings, I was very glad that there was nobody in earshot to hear me express how I felt about this particular situation. Thankfully the checkpoint was not much further and the people there provided some excellent first aid and support, insisting that I sat down for a few minutes before carrying on.
After that small drama, it was a relief that the next leg, from Alnmouth to Amble, was completely uneventful. It did not have the spectacular scenery of the earlier legs, but the underfoot surfaces were the best on the entire course.
The people at the Amble checkpoint told me that it was five miles to the end so I knew that it was do or die, with my money definitely on die. However, it was only one of my knees that gave out, which gave me the perfect excuse to walk the last couple of miles back to Druridge Bay.
This was a most enjoyable event that I would recommend to anyone, despite a disappointing time of almost nine hours, several minor injuries and the ongoing stigma of my tree/castle identification difficulties.”
Coming through not quite unscathed, Jamie finished 8th out of 65, in a time of 8:52:45, great work!
