there was an online service that some people recommended - let me see if I can find the details - not free but no hassle
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I remember with some French gran fondos, you pay an outrageous fee for a French ‘doctor’ to certify you. IIRC it was €130
£65
never used them myself
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Thanks for that, clearly my google skills are useless as I’ve done all kinds of searches.
I’ll keep a note but still probably avoid 2021.
So far (touch wood) I am fairly lucky stomach wise.
On a marathon I take on a gel every 20 minutes, so 7 at the moment.
But anything longer I only eat solid food and that is always what is available.
The advantage of the track is that food and water is available every 400m. I didn’t have a plan, but food wise I grabbed something from a plate every other lap for as long as possible sweets/crisps to start with as that is what was available. As the day heated up I was conscious of drinking a lot of water and therefore needed salt. They bought out the really salty new potatoes, they hot the spot so I pretty much had one a lap until they were gone. Then pizza appeared and that is the main solid food I ate until the end along with the odd sweet/crisps. From about hour 8 I reckon I also had quite a of orange segments and strangely cucumber looked really appetizing (although I smiled as perhaps not the smartest as there is the rumour it takes more energy to consume cucumber than what it gives back).
Additionally I had bought my recovery powder which is a disgusting chocolate shake, I had 3 or 4 of those over the course of the run to get more protein in.
I only drank water, only do on ultra’s as I rely on solids for carbs, though this time as I could, I made my own bottle of water where I added a salt tablet, which I consumed over an hour or so during the peak heat of the day.
All in all, I ran 556 laps, I reckon I grabbed food or water (or both) on about 80% of them.
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Try watermelon instead of cucumber. That’s saved me on a numerous ultras. Super refreshing and nice to have a new taste in your mouth after all the sugary crap and salty stuff.
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Hadn’t thought about watermelon until you mentioned it. Absolutely agree I always grab some watermelon in with the salty crap as well when I am sick of it all.
However there was none available, which is a surprise thinking about it. Maybe wrong time over here? NZ food availability is very seasonal.
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Big fan of grapes !
Following “grapegate” at double brutal it was with much irony i ended up asking my crew to get some on the white horse 100 recently, the juicier the better (as well as destroying two calypos in as many minutes).
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Keep the the suggestions coming. I’ve got a friend & 2 of his mates doing a DIY 100 this weekend in place of the Cheshire Ultra 100 & I hope to be popping along to see how they’re doing a few times.
Salted boiled potatoes have saved me in the past, but any support I provide will have to be from the back of a car.
Soup and pot noodle type things. Make it about 15 mins in advance so they can pretyt much neck it immediately / on the go.
Salty, warm and something a bit different whilst being easy to digest.
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Some of my friends really like salted peanuts, I tried them and nearly choked on one 
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I like cold pizza
rice balls have worked (loads of recipes online)
Biltong to chew on
Soggy supermarket wraps are normally easy to eat - had a nice plant based hoisin one on the weekend. One day out of date so was really easy to eat! haha
i’ll keep thinking of more unusual stuff.
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cherry tomatoes - juicy and sweet
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Pot noodle… never risked it before but needed something warm at final checkpoint in the middle of the night and worked well… swerved the curry option tho.
Anythng savoury and fatty… sausage rolls, scotch eggs, pork pie?
Or cool squidgy filling… cheap cheese and red onion sarnie, pastie/slice/pie cold
Bouillion ? for something hot & salty…
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My friend is a vegan so I’ll be swerving some of the suggestions for him, but looks like I might hit a treasure trove of goodies at the fruit & Whoops aisles of my local supermarket on the way over.
I’d love to provide hot stuff as it could be grim weather for them but I may be limited to taking over a flask or two.
Cheers.
Honestly, anything hot is an absolute life saver. Even a proper manky, sugary cup of tea, if it’s warm, will taste like absolute heavenly nectar. It does so much to lift the spirits in my experience.
That’s why the instant pot stuff are so good. All you need is a flask of boiling water. And they last forever so if you/they don’t feel like them, then bung them in the cupboard for next time/food binge emergencies.
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Great information @YKK. In my long runs, Pizza was great, but a real faff to get out of my back pack. What worked really well for me is mini spring rolls.
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PSA: Wendover Woods 50 opens tomorrow.
In for Wendover Woods 50 
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Replying to my own post, bad form.
I took along flasks of tea, Irn Bru, grapes, jelly babies, Brunch bars & the jewel in the crown was lightly spiced home made aubergine & chick pea curry re-heated from a briefcase stove.
Two of them started at 6am on a mainly off-road 10 mile route. After 4 laps they decided was turned up too much & they opted for road loops. I turned up when they had gone through 40 miles & stayed until around 18:30 by which time I felt like the loneliest dogger in the car park 
. I went home for my tea, got my running kit on, torches looked out & headed back to give them a bit of company.
Unfortunately the next time I saw them they were walking in having called it a day at " only" 77 miles 
.
They did really well. I think that first 40miles & fairly incessant rain for a lot of the day did for them & they’ll have more success next year.
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