Punchbowl Marathon 08 February 2009 Gavin Long reports: As my first venture into ‘ultra’ territory, the Punchbowl Marathon was a good choice. The extraordinary snow conditions added to the event as I’m not sure it would have been quite so impressive in the mud and rain. Hard-packed snow made for slow progress over the opening sections and I nearly came a cropper several times on the untreated roads, although I did perfect my double Salko into single twist. Several inches of snow covered the Devil’s Punchbowl to give it an Alpine feel. Despite knowing that I would regret it later, the steep slope up to the Punchbowl rim was too much of a challenge to consider walking. The crisp, clear, cold morning turned into a warm sunny lunchtime, and my rucksack of spare clothing and emergency supplies grew heavier. Mile 24 hit me hard and I rearranged my pack, ate, drunk, consulted the map and in fact tried everything to delay having to start running again. A sign welcomed me to Ockley Common with a warning of MOD training “Beware of snipers in bushes” or something similar, when it should have read “Beware you are about to embark on a sadistic kilometre through thawing bog and 4” deep icy water”. Initial attempts to avoid getting wet were futile, and our little group opted for the ‘straight through the middle tactic’. Damn it was cold. It did however shake me from my fatigue and revitalised me to finish the last 4 miles at a decent pace. Beans on toast, topped with chips & cheese was an interesting yet very welcome combination at the finish.