Many thanks to the Organisers and their helpers for a great event. After the first 10 or so miles the route really was beautiful and went through some interesting areas with a few challenging hills. All went well till the last 200yds - could see the finish but there was a 7ft fence and 2 barb wire fences in the way - not sure where we went wrong!

Just got back from West Ayton after completing the Woldsman early on Sunday morning (would you credit it we / I got "misplaced" in Thirsk and finished up at Leeming Bar via the wrong road). It was a great event in country that I have never been in before. Some of it was so much like Salisbury Plains; I would not have been surprised to see a Saracen APC crossing our tracks.
I have been asked by “She Who Must Be Obeyed” to give a special thank you to the Lady and Gentleman who give me a lift back to West Ayton. Madam was not looking forward to driving over strange (but beautiful) country at six AM and give a huge sigh of relive (or was that great big snore) to hear me knocking on the caravan window in the early hours of the morning. Once more a heartfelt thank you to the organisers and the Lady and Gentleman who give me the lift.
David H

It might be a possibility John!

Will have to do some work on my feet/footwear and my food intake before trying anything longer though - do many of you struggle to eat anything more substantial than a couple of Jaffa Cakes at the checkpoints? (Never have I been so pleased to see Jaffa Cakes than at Huggate Wold btw...)

Madeleine - well done and I envy you that swim. I was climbing stairs like a woman twice my age yesterday

I agree - it was a wonderful event. Bit windy and cold to start with, warming up a bit, but not too much, later on. I suffered with blisters last year, but was absolutely fine this year - wonder if that's just miles on your feet? Scenery was fantastic. Food excellent (with a very slight disappointment at not getting a baked potato at Thixendale this year! Pasta was good though). And wonderfully helpful and friendly marshalls. I was chuffed to bits to do it over 4 hours quicker this year!! Don't think I'll keep that rate up next year! I've been pottering round very slowly today- legs are quite sore. Off on a conference with work for a couple of days - looking forward to using the hotel pool!

An excellent day out and thanks to all the organisers and helpers for making it so - 24 hours ensuring other people enjoy themselves is a big committment and this walker certainly appreciates your efforts.Hope there is a Woldsman in 2010!
Glad you enjoyed the walk Clare - you certainly couldn't tell that you had not walked more than 25 miles previously - I struggled to keep up with you all day.Great achievement.Is it the 100 next year?

The Woldsman was my first ever 50 mile event (in fact first time I've ever done more than 25 miles) and I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to this kind of challenge. Or the Wolds. The weather was perfect and the hospitality of the check points and village halls was much appreciated. I also received a lot of encouragement from other more experienced walkers, which helped keep my mind off my horrendous blisters, and got me round in a surprising time of just over 14.5 hours.

Thankyou to the organisers and all the volunteers who made this a successful and fun day