Wednesday 5 April 2017

New Dungeon Ghyll (Harrison Stickle) Fell Race. Awesome!

I always like to try out new fell races and especially new fell races in the Lakes! I'd got "executive clearance" to go away for the weekend, so the choice was Muncaster Luck, Kong Mini MM in Coniston or this. When I told a few folk I was heading to the Lakes to run a 3 mile race people couldn't quite believe me. They started to believe me when I said it would take me nigh on 1 hour, but enjoyment of races is sooo much more than stats!

By all accounts this is a classic short fell race and it really lived up to expectations. Low key start (in Sticklebarn), a very small field (only 61 runners but some top names out), change out of £5 and a route profile that would get a double take from even a mountain goat!

The simplicity of running to the top of a mountain and back down is what got me into fell running in the first place and this race certainly ticked that box - all 736m of it!
Approaching the summit of Harrison Stickle. Way steeper than it looks!!
The terrain was as expected - very steep and semi-path on the climb (up to 736m!) and rocky / grassy and slippy on the descent - really exhilarating stuff. Legs and lungs felt fine on the climb despite not really running all year but as ever it was the descent that caught me out! Nice to see Kieran and Neil there too from Erewash.

Results here 40th out of 61
Strava link here
Strava flyby here
New Dungeon Ghyll Fell Race Route














Yep - that's about how steep it was!

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