Ultrarunner Robbie Britton: ‘After you stop hurting, you only recall the elation’

Britton has had quite a busy year – running across Iceland, going around Mount Blanc and winning medals at the world 24-hour. But, he tells Matt Butler, that was just a warm up for 2016’s daunting Ice Ultra in Sweden

Ultrarunner Robbie Britton will be running in temperatures of -30C in Sweden next year (Natalie White)

You could say Robbie Britton never learns. He and a fellow ultrarunner, James Elson, ran the length of Iceland at the end of last summer – the week after most roads had closed for the winter and the mountain rescue operations had gone into hibernation. The expedition, which took five days and may be a world record merely by virtue of them being first to do it, was branded “foolhardy” by some of the locals.

The locals may have had a point. The pair of Britons spent most of the time running into a gale-force head wind, alternately battered by sleet and rain, and were forced to retrace their steps on the penultimate day because their route was blocked by a swollen river. The back-tracking meant they ran a full 100km on the final day in order to finish within the time they had alotted themselves.

But the expedition, which involved a night spent in a cowshed, with all the expected stench and slop, has not put 28-year-old Britton off hostile environments. In fact the Iceland trip was but one “adventure” – his word – he set out on this year, which included a 105-mile race around Mont Blanc and the world 24-hour championships. The former was not successful: he pulled out before the end, blaming a lack of will rather than his battered feet. The latter was: a world bronze and a European bronze medal, along with global and continental team golds.

But these will pale in comparison to next year’s plans. He will begin the year in February with a five-day, 250km race in Sweden, ominously called the Ice Ultra, which will be held in temperatures hovering around the minus-30 mark. A 53-mile race over Scotland’s West Highland Way will follow in April.

Then there is the team European 24-hour title to defend, most probably in October. And he is talking of entering a 48-hour race. All, he admits will involve pain, either mental or physical.

Which, if you are unfamiliar with the ways of an extreme distance runner, begs the question: why?

Ask 100 long-distance runners that and you’ll no doubt get 100 different answers. Britton’s answer is at once simple and deep: “With trail races there is the adventure aspect, but... I just want to see how far I can go.

“When you sign up for a marathon, you start out thinking ‘how can I cover that distance?’ Britton adds. “Then you do it and nothing bad happens to you so you think ‘maybe I’ll try a 50km’. Then it goes on from there. Fifty miles, 100km, 100 miles, you think ‘that’s pretty cool’ – then you realise there is really no limit. Once you have done 100 miles you know you are capable of more, even if sometimes you reach the finish line and collapse.

“But your short-term memory plays tricks on you. After your legs stop hurting about a week later, you only remember the elation. And that’s what keeps you going – you want to get that feeling back again.”

But even Britton acknowledges that the monotony of a 24-hour race is a whole different beast to a long trail run.

“With a 100-mile or 100km race there is a sense of achievement when you finish. With a 24-hour race it is relief. Just an overwhelming feeling that you don’t have to keep running anymore. But I keep surprising myself with what I can do. It feels good to finish a 24-hour race, which got me thinking: how good will I feel after 48 hours?”

There is an extra motivation for the Ice Ultra, apart from the apparent gluttony he has for the sort of punishment he was subjected to in Iceland. Before discovering an aptitude for running unfathomable distances, Britton studied geography.

“The environment we will run through is fascinating to me,” he says. “I did my dissertation on hunter-gatherers so to see the sort of place they lived in will be amazing.”

The Ice Ultra will cater to Britton’s quest for adventure, rather than test his limits. After all, it is a “mere” 50km a day. He will spend the winter in the French Alps, partly to prepare for this race and also because he wants to learn to do ski-mountaineering, a combination of scrambling, cross-country skiing and climbing.

“The Ice Ultra is more to build a base for the rest of the year – an extended training block and to give me some purpose to my winter in the Alps,” he says. “But it will be bloody cold. Whatever I felt in Iceland might seem easy compared to this.”

Will he ever learn? “Possibly not, but it is fun,” he says.