Edale Country Day Fell Race

Second time I've done this race, with the first time being in my Bob Graham year (June 2012) so I had a time to aim for !! Just over 41 mins was the goal, so (like a fool!) I set off fast.

What could possibly go wrong with the amount of races I'd done recently ? I'd even had 4 days off since my last race in Calver on Wed. Well, it was only about 5 mins before the wheels fell off - I should have known it really with Martin and Ed only a couple of metres in front of me. They should have nearly been out of sight !

Simon Bailey (orange) and Stuart Bond making 10 metres on me (far right) in ...errrr ... 5 metres!

Needless to say, the first climb (second half) was a real struggle with me looking for any excuse to walk, now that's not like me.  The traverse across the edge was also a hard exercise in 'clinging on for grim death' which I don't remember from 2 years ago. The descent was no surprise in its difficulty however - in fact it was easier than I remember.

Overall, I was surprised I was nearly 2 mins down on 2 years ago as it felt like I was maybe a minute down. Maybe next year I'll be 3 mins down! Still, it's an excuse to realize that not all races are a given if you're race fit and you need to tackle each one separately - with tough long steep climbs demanding extra respect !

Good excuse to have a beer and burger with mum in the Country Day afterwards which was again a lovely day out.

Results here
Results from 2012 here
Strava link here
Strava flyby here !