RACE 19 - 3 FORTS HALF-MARATHON - 1st May

Two important things occurred in the intervening week of bank holiday weekends.  Finally ordered my Olympic tickets based on two criteria, event venues I want to see and cheapness!  So have gone for swimming, football (I've not been to Wembley yet), hockey, cycling (the velodrome looks awesome!), triathlon, canoe slalom, volleyball (no not the beach version) and mountain biking.  The latter is because it's being held in Essex of all places. Presumably they've had to build a mountain - but then it is home of surgical enhanced 'glamour' models so building 'mounds' is a forte?     


The next event was of the course THE wedding.  To try and miss it I went to the gym - bad move as most of the TV's were tuned to it.  It was funny though see the big no-neck muscle boys breaking off from their grunting and slamming down of weights to keep watching!
  
Well it's back to the same area of the South Downs as Race 10 but this time approaching from the south via Cissbury Ring from Worthing instead of the east and Steyning.  So lets start with some 'stuff' about Cissbury Ring.

Aerial from EH website

Starting with some Toponomastics - the scientific study of place-names.  This can be interesting as place-names almost always provide some sort of clue to the local history of an area, its former inhabitants and their way of life. Most place-names in Southern England date from before the Norman Conquest of 1066 and so characterize the landscape of the Anglo-Saxon occupation. So although the name Cissbury appears to derive its name from Cissa, one of the earliest Saxon invaders (449 AD), this is not in fact the case. The earliest attested form is in fact 'Sith(m)esteburh' which occurs some 500 years later in the reign of King Ethelred the Unready (978-1016). A 'burgh' - from which we get '-bury' - is a fortification, not a burial site and 'Sith(m)est-' means the latest or last and possibly refers to the site's re-fortification at some time after the completion of some neighbouring Saxon fort, perhaps at Burpham.


Spelling - varying from 'Sieberie' (1588), to 'Sissabury' (1610), 'Cis(i)burie' (1637), 'Cissibury' (1732) and 'Sizebury' (1774) - seems to suggest that the name was consciously altered (most probably in the late 16th Century) to accommodate a local legend which linked the earthwork to the Saxon warlord.

This and loads of other interesting facts can be gleaned from the website in particular many stories (included at the end) http://www.findon.info/cissbury/cissbury.htm One I particularly liked for obvious reasons is that up until the 19th century an Easter ceremony compromising of drinking, merrymaking and a rather dubious sounding dance called “Kiss-In-The Ring” occurred with the accompanying song's chorus “Hey Diddle Derry, Let’s Dance On The Bury!”  However the practice was stopped by the church as it was resulting in a large number of unplanned pregnancies. Of course this ban may be why the participants moved sites so often. Sounds a bit like the precursors to rave parties and music festivals! 


Also it is also said that if you run around the ring three times 'widdershins' (or 'withershins' -definition according to OED "1. In a direction opposite to the usual and 2. In a direction contrary to the course of the sun - considered as unlucky")  you will either be granted second sight, a visit from faeries or summon Old Nick. Somehow I don't think I'll be adding to my half marathon distance just to try that out!  


Faeries are said to dance around the ramparts on Midsummer’s eve… and 'Wiccan' practitioners carry out white magic rituals on Halloween. http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/kiss-in-the-ring-some-cissbury-ring-facts-and-fables/

Rather more factual is the archaeology (see http://www.sussexarch.org.uk/saaf/cissbury.html ) which includes this plan of the flint mines, stories about UFO's etc.  There is also an interesting aerial mapping project undertaken by English Heritage that  even shows up the scars created by WWII.   http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/research/landscapes-and-areas/national-mapping-programme/south-downs-nmp/  Somehow though, I've a feeling that all this information will pass me by on the run due to other concerns such as sore feet, aching limbs and so on.

Anyway back to the race (finally). Known as "The Tough One" the Three Forts Marathon is approximately 27.2 miles - which is a mile longer than a 'normal' one and includes a total of c. 3450 ft of climb with stiles and rough tracks underfoot. The Half Marathon  which is the one I'm doing has a total climb of 'only' c.1450ft and is 'only' 13.1 miles. So I suppose it's called the Toughish One or  Tough-Lite - possible Really Not that Tough? 

Nice drive down the A24, the spring sunshine through the trees produced a beautiful dappled light. Nearing Worthing, passed a bike race - they must have started early presumably to miss the traffic.  Some of the bikes on show were really impressive - full TT, disc wheels (which probably was a bad choice considering how windy it was), aero helmets ...... much kit envy as I drove by! Also passed first Chanctonbury Ring (looked taller and steeper than I remembered) and then worryingly quite a bit later, Cissbury Ring which also looked rather tall and steep!  


Parking up at the recreation ground (second car again) went off to scout out the facilities - changing rooms, showers and most importantly a cup of tea.  The place soon started filling up - there were over 600 registered for the two races.  There was a great atmosphere in playing fields however ominously they had put up OS maps of routes. Also there was a six hour cut off for marathon - overheard some runners already saying that's not enough (though looking at the results the majority made it back in time).


The race was being organised by Worthing Rotary Club and was supporting Ferring Country Centre, a local independent charity that provides meaningful training and work experience for people with learning difficulties (http://ferringcountrycentre.org/) who were also manning the bag drop off.  So the whole thing was well organised, with supporters out in force - using is as an excuse for a walk in some outstanding countryside while cheering on their loved ones (and as I found out during the race pretty much everyone else).  All in all, with the sun shining, the crowds in a good mood, the support - it was a real feel good start to the race.


The marathon runners set off at 10:00 with the rest of us setting off at 10:15.  The first two miles was a reasonably gentle (well comparative to later ones at any rate) slope up a shoulder of land adjacent to the golf course.  It was at this point I had a strong sense of deja vu.  I realised why I recognised the route up to and around Cissbury Ring.  


Back in the mid-90's I had spent six months living in a hotel (six months of my life I won't get back!) in Worthing at a public inquiry looking at options for a by-pass.  I was working for a firm providing landscape advice to the Department of Transport whose preferred option was a cut and cover tunnel pretty much on the alignment of the current road.  The objectors wanted a countryside route through the South Downs, tunnelling under Cissbury Ring, then on a massive embankment across the valley.  So to assess the impact that all the various routes and their various connotations, I had to walk all the footpaths and publicly accessible land working out the visual impact.  Eventually, about a year or so later, the inspector recommended the preferred route - saving the countryside, but the project was put on hold due to the previous recession.  Those of you that know the area will realise that the Worthing by pass still hasn't been built (an aside - another project I was working at a similar time, A3 Hindhead bypass - the tunnels are complete and the bypass will be opening this summer - 16/17 years after we'd started work on it!)


Away from environmental statements and back to the race.  While the gradient was okay (ish) there was a strong headwind - which at least was cooling to some extent.  Then it was our first view of the ring - briefly - as we went over and immediately back down the steep slope the other side.  The next mile and half was along a rough downwards sloping track which made for some pretty fast running.  The deeper we got into the valley, I think the realisation began to hit that what goes down would have to go back up again so the pace slowed a little in trepidation.  Also we overtook a couple of the marathon runners at this point and whereas they continued straight on we were signed up a steep slope.


At this point I decided to take it steady and I was glad I did. This part of the route is called the Steyning Bowl which is a favorite place for para/hang gliding due to the wind striking the ridge - and boy didn't it!  It was an uphill run until we got to Chantonbury Ring which was signed as 6 miles raced.  After a welcomed drink stop and jelly baby it was off down a long slope back into a valley.  This part of the route was the second 'sting' in the Steyning Stinger (race 10) except we were going down instead of up.  I'd forgotten quite how long a slope it was - I'd obviously erased it from my memory!  Note-to-self: I really must learn how to run downhill.  I was overtaken by a dozen runners all haring down while I seemed to running at the same pace not using the slope to my advantage.  Also I must be doing something wrong as the thighs really hurt at this point so long was the decent.  


Once in the valley, it was as you'd guessed a long steep climb back out again.  I overtook some of the runners who overtook me going down hill as quite a few seemed to attack the slopes and then have to walk whereas I'd adopted the steady plodding jog approach to the uphill sections.  By this time I'd managed to pick up a couple of runners.  Although I'd tried to adopt my normal approach of pacing someone of a similar speed - due to the nature of this course, fast downhill and slow uphill - I hadn't managed.  However two guys decided that my approach to this uphill was doable so had me drag them up.  We reached the top of what  I had over optimistically  thought was Cissbury Ring to find it was just the shoulder of the valley and we had a shallow valley to cross to where the ring loomed ominously above us.  It was a case of head down and run as fast as possible with a helping and cooling wind at our backs.


At the base of Cissbury, a final stop for water and then what we knew to to be the last uphill - as it was the way we had descended about nine miles ago.  At the top cheers of the crowd and the knowledge of only two miles to go - all downhill.  It was a narrow path so thanks to all the racers, dog-walkers, and others that let us pass.  Offered to let my companion passed - we'd lost the other on the last uphill, but he said he was more than happy letting me set the pace.  So with about half a mile to go he did to me what I've been doing in most of my runs to date - eased past and drew ahead and there was nothing left in the tank to catch him!  


It was a great race, very hard on the legs with all the gradients and the feet because of the flint tracks etc. Very friendly and well organised, with great weather - though I could have done without the head wind but to be fair, it did mean we had a tail wind towards the end.  The scenery was stupendous but I really ought to visit both the rings slightly less energetically so I can have a good explore and appreciate the incredible panoramic views.  


It was then a stagger (legs had seized up) to the changing rooms and a shower.  Its great being able to have one at the end of a race - really civilised and makes you feel human again. then off to see Mum and Dad - we'd agreed to meet at Petworth  (National Trust property) a 40 minute drive away.  However being bank holiday weekend and the fact its currently the subject of a TV programme plus there was a scout and guide camp going on - meant the place was heaving - so we had a roast at a pub - Stonemasons Arms - instead.  The portions were enormous as even after my run I couldn't finish it.  I could have done with borrowing mum's sticks though - legs very stiff.                  


Result: 69th out of 309 runners in a time of 1:52:36

Stories from the West Sussex Ring

( © Valerie Martin 1997)

To say that Cissbury has a history, is an understatement. The sound of the chipping of stones once rang out over the surrounding countryside as Stone Age people, 3,600 years before the birth of Christ, sank over 150 mine shafts, some up to 50 feet deep, in their quest for flints. The shafts had a veritable rabbit warren of galleries leading from them. It was here that the ancient miners perspired as they toiled with primitive tools fashioned out of red deer antlers. The Cissbury mines are believed to have been engineered when other shafts in the Sussex area had been exhausted. It is hard to imagine but the hill was at this time one of the major commercial and industrial nerve centres of the Neolithic world, and supplies of Cissbury flints have turned up in northern England and all over Europe. At the time of Abraham, flint extraction was still in its heyday at Cissbury and tools, weapons and articles of ritual were regularly transported along the ancient ridgetop trackways en route to great centres such as Stonehenge.

Two thousand years separate the sweat of these old flint miners from the construction of the mighty Iron Age Fort at Cissbury as a tribal headquarters and refuge in times of danger. An amazing estimate of some 60,000 tons of chalk were excavated from the ditch area to build the fine ramparts we see today. Even they are a shadow of the former great earthwork which may have employed 200 men and taken two years to complete. It was awesome and spectacular, surmounted by an impressive enclosing mile-long defence wall of massive hewn timbers. There were originally between 8,000 - 12,000 of these massive lumber supports surrounding Cissbury, each about 15 feet high. A construction of no mean feat in those days.

By 50 BC the Cissbury Camp appears to have gone out of use as a fortress and was abandoned to the wind and rain. It took the Romans to see the potential of the downland and they began to cultivate considerable areas of land within the ramparts. It was possibly administered and occupied as a military station and a unit of some long forgotten legion was probably quartered on the sitelooking out to sea.

The Romano-British presence eventually diminished on Cissbury and the landscape reverted back to a deserted open space. Perhaps around a century later the Saxon pirates came up the valley frightening the local native tribes. The hordes trekked out in small pioneering groups to take by force any likely spot where they settted down and commenced farming. Legend says that Cissa, the early Saxon leader, in fact resided at Cissbury.

Around AD 1005-1020 the Saxon Royal Mint at Steyning was transferred to Cissbury (possibly through the threat of invasion). The coins were then minted within the embankments of the old disused fort. The exact spot of this mint has never been located, although over thirty 'Cissbury' minted coins are in existence.

Nearer to our own time, during Elizabethan days, an old chart records the name of 'Old Bury' relating to Cissbury Ring. This title appears to have remained up until the 19th century when Easter festivals were conducted there. The function appears to have been very emotive and 'Kiss in the Ring' was enacted as the locals danced with high spirited gaiety in a circle, singing as they went: " Hey-diddle-derry, let's dance on the Bury".

It was not uncommon as proceedings drew to a close for young people to disperse into the surrounding fields and scrub. Far too many 'Easter' infants are said to have been born nine months later as a result of these capers on 'The Bury'.

With the 19th century, came the age of the hilltop explorers and the Reverend Edward Turner wrote in a paper dated 1849 saying he had discovered the foundations of a Roman camp headquarters or praetorium on the centre of the hilltop. This has not been located since nor confirmed by any later surveyors. It must be said that it was around this time that the summit of Cissbury Ring was under cultivation and oats were grown on the plateau.

In 1857 a gentleman by the name of Mr G V Irving made a study of the windswept location. Strange as it may now seem, he thought the flints of little consequence and dismissed them! Some people of this era presumed the site to be a burial ground of the Romans, or even the Celts.

There may even be treasure beneath Cissbury Ring! It was believed that an ancient civilisation had concealed their wealth of gold in the hill. A story tells of some men from the Worthing area who discovered the legendary tunnel leading from Offington Hall to Cissbury Ring. The passage was sealed with debris and they eagerly cleared the way with their picks and spades as they imagined the reward awaiting them. The unlikely tale ends when the treasure seekers were faced with hissing serpents at the end of the tunnel and the men retreated.

Coming to a more realistic era in 1867, Colonel Lane Fox began some excavations on Cissbury Ring. He dug down into a selected pit and with much elation came across a mine shaft, although at this point he did not realise its significance. He found a gallery running under the rampart and ditch, (the actual roof to this gallery being only some 3 feet under the ditch). As this explorer was crawling along, a skeleton's jaw fell on him! He had unknowingly disturbed the remains of a woman aged between 25 and 30, buried head downwards in a vertical position in the shaft. The skull had become dislodged and it was her lower jaw which had landed on the poor man. It was surmised that the body had been restrained around the arms and legs and lowered into the pit before infilling with debris. However, was she buried dead or alive? It was later determined that the arms of the woman were short due to her suffering from infantile paralysis.

Following this, a spate of excavations brought more attention and enthusiastic investigators to the Cissbury hill site. Plans of various joint operations revealed a quite unique subterranean network of radiating galleries under the crest of the hill.

By 1878, a gentleman by the name of Mr Park Harrison disclosed that he had found the underground caves to have been utilized for habitation, including fires. Yet another skeleton was then unearthed in debris in a disused shaft. It was that of a male, aged between 25 and 30, and he was said to have suffered from hemiplegia as a child. A large typical flint hatchet was laying discarded beside the remains. It seems strange that both skeletons showed evidence of being afflicted with some disability. One imagines that flint mining would require an amount of physical strength, which leads one to question whether these are the remains of flint miners or other unfortunates!

During World War II, the Ring was brought within the Sussex Defence Scheme and trenches were dug and gun emplacements sliced into the Iron Age ramparts. Barbed wire was evident everywhere. In 1942, a sculptured head which had been deftly chiselled out of chalk, came into the news as being discovered at Cissbury. It was promptly forwarded to the Worthing Museum. The artistry had been executed to half life-size and appeared rather grotesque with what might be described as an Adolf Hitler "look alike" growth on the upper lip. Before the end of hostilities, the offender owned up and it was revealed as a practical joke. The work of art was quickly condemned to a cupboard in the museum and was never seen again.

To bring Cissbury up to within living memory, in 1953 archaeologists discovered a further skeleton from the Neolithic Age in a tunnel. This was another woman, aged about 20. She had been carrying a torch and it was thought she had met a ghastly fate when the passage had collapsed 3,000 years ago and had crushed her head.

When roaming the ramparts of Cissbury Ring, the walker may now survey the scene from a different perspective. It has not always been a windswept summit, and when one considers the past history in conjunction with that special Cissbury atmosphere, it must be questioned if there are forces of a overpowering nature at work.