Middle Fell, Fell Race, Wasdale, 18th out of 78

I've often headed up to the Lakes in March. Partly as it offers the first signs of spring and secondly, that's when the smaller fell races start in earnest. I often do Black Combe, but couldn't make that last weekend, so thought I'd try this one as it fitted in. Graham could make it too from Newcastle so a great excuse to meet up.

Headed up early Saturday morning to catch some early light with my new camera (sample shots above from my Fuji XE-1 which as you can see from the link produces great shots thanks to it's completely radical X-Trans sensor) before heading over to the Strands Inn to limber up and meet Graham.  

This winter's been terrible for me in terms of running AND biking. Very achy glutes and tight hamstrings means that even walking round the office has been painful at times. I think I'm over the worst of it now but warming up felt very painful. Nevertheless as soon as we were off you forget about pain and just leg it ! 

Near Summit of Middle Fell. Wasdale Screes in Background. Photo courtesy of Granddayoutphotography.

The glorious sun made the ascent from Greendale (home of Joss) to Middlefell very hot and thoughts of cramp soon entered my head !  I reached the summit in about 10th but soon lost ground on the steep (but non technical) descent. Worse was yet to come though because as soon as it levelled off, my calves just packed up after that long descent and started to cramp up ! I could only just run, but a few hundred metres up the road and the niggles subsided meaning I could take about 4 runners on the run in finishing in 18th.

Lovely atmosphere on this spectacular spring day on this great small local fell race. Nice food too and beers in the Strands in afterwards catching up with Graham, I think we were first in and almost last out!

Race start : Two Pubs = Result!

Yes, I actually stopped to take this photo mid race !!

Results Courtesy of @fellrunninbrief Thanks guys !

High Peak Marathon (Night) Route, 37 Miles, 11hours

Another nice long route the weekend just gone - a version of the High Peak Marathon route (aka the Derwent Watershed). This takes me up to TWO 12 hour runs now in October.

Sunrise on the way to Mill Hill & Kinder

Having attempted and (just) surviving the Lakes 3000's earlier in the month with a cold, I was hoping that this would be relatively easy on the legs. Also - Tuesday night's club run last week felt like I was back to my old self - easy, fast running with no niggles then or the next day. Phew!

Various people were semi interested in doing part of the route with Saul and me, but in the end it was just Karl who ventured out to explore the night time running fun from about 1230am onwards.

We set off from Yorkshire Bridge (easier to drive to) and Karl met us there from his caravan base in Baslow. We soon set off up the 2 mile climb to Stanage which felt as difficult as first climbs always do. Weather was lovely - settled and mild. We got to Lost Lad and then Foul Clough in around 2.5 hours which is where Karl headed back - aiming to get 4-5 hours in the bag.

The next section saw quite a few bits to practice / do differently next time ;

• Descending off last lad too early - wading through bog not ideal.
• From Foul Clough we went direct N to Featherbed Moss. Next time go down Abbey Brook then NW to the path
• Dropping too low around Cut Gate on what was a reasonable path which then headed down not up
• Missing the path up to Bleaklow Stones - not heading to the crest of the hill

We were fine after Bleaklow Head not surprisingly as that's where you joing the Pennine Way. Saul was struggling with feeling tired and so we tested out his 2 man bothy bag for breakfast which worked a treat - it was only just big enough to fit all of Saul's food in though !!

Time was marching on due to us being slow over the bogs, so we thought that we'd change the ending to miss out Brown Knoll / Rushup / Lose Hill and replace it with Kinder North Edge to Crookstone and Hope Cross - at which point it was my turn to try and fall asleep whilst running! A swig of Saul's flat Coke soon sorted me out mind...

We finished pretty strongly up WinHill then down Parkin to get back in around 11 hours. A quick coffee in Outside and back with 10 mins to spare before Teresa headed out to work. Phew!

Sunrise trying to break through clouds above Kinder Res

Strava link here

Wingerworth Wobble Fell Race, 4.5 miles

Great race the weekend just gone - the Wingerworth Wobble. I've done this race twice before but they didn't run it for a few years so I've not done it for about 4-5 years.

It used to be in December I think, but the autumnal weather didn't disappoint this weekend. Great weather with light fog clearing and after getting there early for a quick reccie with Andy W and Chris all we found was tracks and tarmac - I didn't remember it being like this ? I remember it being a great race? Maybe I'd got a bit confused over the 5 or so years since I'd last done it ? Once we got under way and we got out of the village it was soon clear that that first section is the only main road section in the race and you're very quickly climbing off road for a long, long way!

That first climb went on for a good while through some lovely woods before popping out on a road then climbing through fields again. It was here that I suddenly noticed I was running on my own with noone in front or behind and I couldn't see any tape in the current field to work out which way I should go. It felt really weird standing still in a race and I was just about to get my phone GPS out when I saw what I thought was some tape down hill and left. Thank god it was! Lost about 30 seconds, so nothing major and didn't lose any places, but lost ground to Mick Stenton (4th place).

The final field is all up hill and I nearly chuckled to myself when there was a huge array of supporters standing at the top - all looking at me as there were no other runners around - so what was the chances of easing off on that final climb - zero! I could tell I'd not done a short sharp fell race for a while as breathing was harder than it should have been throughout the race.

Chris and Andy really really enjoyed it too. It was a great local fell race and one to try and do every year.

Overall, 5th out of 80ish I think in 34 minutes.
Results here

Lake District 3x3000ers Ultra : 50miles, 12,000ft

My build up to this race had been mixed at best. In recent months I'd managed to race in Borrowdale and The Lake District Mountain Trial and more locally the AL Fell Race from Totley - the Exterminator. Sadly though, despite little serious training since the Mountain Trial, both of my achilles were now niggling - aching when I got out of bed and on the first 10 mins of any run. Thankfully though they were not getting substantially worse.

This is why I Fell run

The week before this event I bagged 3 60-70 mile bike rides to get some base strength built up without niggling my achilles. The day of travelling to the Lakes was a little rushed too despite me leaving work at 230pm, we didn't get to registration until 815pm. I say we - Graham had dropped out due to illness 2 days before which left me, Mum and Lewis booked into a nice cosy B&B.

Runner descending Skiddaw, courtesy of Ian Corless

Forecast for race day was bad and it certainly didn't disappoint when - upon waking at 4am for the 5am start - all I could hear was torrential rain.  It's never really a problem though once you get going - it's just getting out of your bed and out the door which is the real problem!! And it seems like the bad weather forecast (wet until midday) put lots of people off as of the 300 entrants, only 200 or so made it to the start line. Nice camararderie at the start and we were notified that the Scafell checkpoint was likely to be omitted with a reroute around Angle Tarn / Styhead Tarn to Esk Hause. I think this saved us 60-90 mins, but more importantly made it far less risky for the organisers and marshalls.

We got started just after 5am and we immediately found ourselves running through streams and rivers which hadn't been there just 6 hours prior! Coupled with headtorches for the first 2 hours this made for a very entertaining section - especially the river run to Watendlath. Great fun!

It was all going swimmingly (excuse the pun) until Seathwaite really where we started the climb to Scafell (well, Styhead Tarn). I noticed that despite a big bowl of porridge I needed food within two hours. Not a good sign I thought but pushed on. The climb was wet and rocky but all good fun with Angle Tarn coming around very quickly. Me and another guy were just behind Steve Birkinshaw, so in around 8th/9th. The next section from Angle Tarn was my favourite of the whole race. Boggy contour to Stake Pass, tough climb to High Raise, fast descent then boggy for several miles down alongside Wyth Burn. Epic stuff!!

I felt good when I got to the side of Thirlmere so pushed on straight through the Wythburn control point up the steep climb to Helvellyn summit. I pulled away from the guy I was running with at this point, but everything still felt comfortable even if I was having to eat more food than usual to stop that empty legs feeling.

The summit of Helvellyn came round quick despite thick mist but no rain. I was in 8th I think at this point. This is when things suddenly took a turn for the worse for me...

The descent started fast and easy as far as little man. Once out the mist however, I noted that the valley seemed closer than it should have done and straight in front of me.

Oh no.
Surely not.
I couldn't have.
{glance round to right}
Bugger, I had.
I'd gone down the wrong ridge.

Awards Presentation with Billy Bland (left), Ian Corless (Orange), Ian Mulvey (Blue)

Thoughts immediately turned to me wasting 10 mins and probably losing 5 places or so. Nevertheless, I headed back up. Well - I started to. Everything suddenly seemed very, VERY hard. My quads were aching, well really aching. They never ache on races. I felt really light headed despite me having eaten food on the climb.  There was just nothing left in my legs. Where did this come from? What was causing this? How would I get over it with 20+miles to go?

Once I regained the main ridge running seemed laboured. Not the usual kind of slowing you get in an Ultra but different. Way worse than that. I really felt like I'd done 2 Bob Grahams! All kinds of bad thoughts entered my head. Pack it in ? Pack in long races ? Stop running for the winter ? Pretty soon I dropped out of the cloud - just before Clough Head from memory and the views all over Lakeland were there in front of me. After about 20 mins of stumbling / running I'd pretty much accepted that the race was over, but what would I do ? Looking at those views the decision was easy - I was (kinda) running. I was in the high fells. I was in the Lakes. The weather was looking glorious for the rest of the afternoon. Easy - hobble to the finish it was then!

Descending off Clough Head was painful for my legs. Getting to Newsham I just had to keep stuffing food down me to stop me feeling dizzy and it wasn't working. A mile or so on there was a pleasant surprise in an additional food stop. What a relief !! Coke and flapjack bites went down a treat and put a massive smile on my face but running along the disused railway then uphill to Latrigg after I knew they'd not done an ounce of good for my legs. Still - by that point I was resigned to just getting round. Chatting, walking the climbs and running the flats and downhills (albeit painfully slowly!).

During my Bob Graham I made it up Skiddaw in about an hour. It took me just under an hour to get down from Skiddaw on Saturday - embarrasingly slowly! Still - with views like those in the top 2 photo's mixed with hailshowers it was a pleasure running the tracks round the back'o'skiddaw.

I crossed the line in 10h58 and 28th place. What a relief and what a lovely surprise to see Mum and Lewis there at the finish too. Absolute relief in finishing - something that seemed very much in doubt after that wrong turn on Helvellyn!

Postscript : I've since come down with a really bad cold. I had no symptoms on the day. Phew - that explains a lot !

Results here
Ian Corless Photo's here
Strava link here

Lake District Mountain Trial, 2014 : Patterdale

I've had a bit more of a normal year this year for Fell Running - lots of local races and even some runs and races in the Lakes including Borrowdale last month. To complete the set, I thought it was about time I entered another Mountain Trial.  I've previously entered in 2005 (Tilberthwaite), 2006 (Seathwaite & Borrowdale) and last year with Krish but it was cancelled due to the torrential rain and winds when marshalls couldn't even make it to the checkpoints themselves. 

These really are classic events and are badged up as a "severe test of fellrunners’ mountaineering ability and stamina" and that "competitors are required to traverse difficult and often dangerous terrain, rapidly but safely. Navigational skills and route choice have a direct bearing on each competitor’s safety".  There's 3 courses on offer (S/M/L) with pretty keen cutoff times on each. As an added bonus is it's mid September every year which is one of my favourite times of the year to race and visit the lakes too.

Again, minor niggles leading up the race (right hamstring, left achilles and right quad now) were quickly forgotten when I'd got my number on and it got to my start time (9:40). I'd opted to run with vest top and bumbag this time, so yes - I looked like a proper fell runner! We were sent off for 500m up the road and then into a field where we were given the map at the bottom of St Sunday Crag. I'll break down route choices for each with thoughts at the time and hindsight now I've seen where others went...

ROUTEGADGET NOTE : Before reading the details of each control below, I'd recommend you familiarise yourself with Routegadget (link here) as I refer to it a lot. This is a fantastic tool that allows runners on orienteering events to manually or via GPS to plot their routes on the course map to show which way they went. It then applies some clever stuff to allow you to 'replay' runners against each other showing where time was gained / lost. You can also select "Mass Start" or "Real Time" and choose one leg, the whole route or replay 'by each control'. You will waste hours!!

The Map without routes marked.

Start to CP1 : My route wasn't too bad although at the time I felt like I went too high as several runners were zooming along under me closer to the valley bottom, whilst I was tottering on scree high up on the slopes! Looking at route gadget (here) most runners DID go lower, with Steve Birkinshaw heading round to the East of Birks
.

CP1 to CP2 : Straightforward as there was a large wall marked extra clearly on our maps as handed out which is not shown on the map below. CP2 was at the "Hole in the Wall", right on the wall funnily enough! It felt a good route as it was mostly runnable on the down section before the long and very steep climb to the control. Looking at other routes on routegadget (here) again shows that a low of runners took a more direct climb up from CP1 to Deepdale Hause. No reason why I didn't - apart from there was someone in front so it was easier to follow them!

CP2 to CP3 : I felt like I'd run this reasonably well, but I'd overcooked the detour round Hartside going too far east and meeting the wall before I knew it! I think the optimal route was heading north after Wintergrove Gill (which I remember crossing). Truth be told - it was the first good running on a path I'd had for hours so I just got carries away and hey - there was people in front again to follow! I think had I been on my own and not seen other runners around me, I've had gone over Hartside then followed the stream down from the summit to the control at the waterfall via Coegill Beck. See my route on the bottom map to see just how carried away I got with my running!

CP3 to CP4 : Big cock up it seems. At the time as I was in thick clag for most of it and it seemed ok apart from a stupid detour just before the summit of Stybarrow. What I didn't spot was the more direct route most others followed heading WNW over Randerside via Lurge Gill.  As it turns out my leg was 5 miles. Pretty hard going too as the climb was not runnable, the contouring to Watsons Dodd was runnable but only just and I was getting too tired. 5 mile though - I've done many fell races longer than that this year !

3 to 4 : I went over Hart Side and Stybarrow Dodd. Most went west up Lurge Gill / Great Dodd. Bugger

CP4 to CP5 : Straightforward. Hard running up tussocks, but I overtook about 5 runners here.

CP5 to CP6 : Straightforward. I headed further south than others here as I could see the good path down the valley marked on the map and it had my name firmly marked on it!!

CP6 to CP7 : Again, slight cock up but I must get the "longest route round Great Dodd" award! At the time it didn't feel too bad a route choice (apart from Gt Dodd) but I was tired and my feet were tired and my legs didn't really want to descend over more tussocks path the Ski Tow from Sticks Pass but I made slow work of it and got the eventually. I think I made the marshalls at CP7 laff when I said "guys, I really hope that you're as glad to see me as I am to see you lot". Yes, proper tired and achy now.

CP7 to CP8 : Felt weird at the time as I saw no other runners until just before the tarn. Lots of paths too just before the tarn so quite a bit of map checking to a control which looked so easy on the map but just dragged on and on.

Overall, I think I was 34th out of 75 starters and was only 30 mins or so from the cutoff at many controls. It was great to say hello to Joss out on the route and gobsmacking to see Rhys and Hector zoom past me on the way up to the hole in the wall. Much gratitude to all marshalls - especially the old guy at CP4 who just had his sheepdog for company - oh, and "one of the best views you could ever wish for" as I told him.

Had my right quad not been niggling (from last week's exterminator) I'd have been running very well at the end, but as it happened climbs and lifting my right leg was painful. Ran out of food, but the fine post race food soon sorted that out - including cakes with a dollop of whipped cream on top !

Where the 9,000ft of Climb came from!

Route gadget here

Results here

Totley Exterminator, 16.6mile, 3,100ft

This has been on my radar ever since I first heard of it earlier in the summer - a longish race over familiar terrain and it's classed as an "AL" Fell race too. What's not to like ! Oh, and it's not the Edale Skyline...

I don't know how, but I managed to convince Marcus to turn up to this one. Although he's not raced for years, he's often pretty fit and he's in training for HP40 and Karl is away - so an ideal time for him to sneak in additional race miles while he's not around.

Along with Chris and Andy, the four of us headed up in Chris's car on what looked like a scorcher of a day.  Andy Parkin was along too and seeing as he beat me at the rover, I'd have a good pacemaker at least. After the pain of the Rugby Rover before my holidays, I was keen to right those wrongs and have a decent race before the Lake District Mountain Trial next weekend.

Major climbs are ; Up to Totley Trig, Up Blacka all the way past Burbage to Higgar, over Stanage, out of Hathersage chuch and up out of Padley through Longshaw to Totley Trig again.

Last Tuesday's club run (pub special through Sweetcorn fields) didn't go well - my left achilles was hurting (not niggling) and my right hamstring was also niggling as much as it's ever done. So again, this would be a good yardstick to see whether I should even head up to the Lakes next weekend.

Chris, Me, Andy and Marcus enjoying the fantastic post race spread. I'd have paid £7 for just that !

I thought I'd try and set off slower than I did on the rover and the plan seemed to work well. On this race, the first two climbs and up to Higgar is when the majority of the climbing is done - after that it's pretty much plain sailing. So, by Higgar I was running comfortably but ahead of Andy P still. From then on I seemed to slowly pick off runners in front which is always a good thing, well all the way until the final descent where I was overtaken by the 3 guys I was with - my left big toe was telling me to slow up on that final toe bashing, so I took it steady. Finishing in 2h36 and 22nd place felt about right (200ish running)
3 cock ups on route to remember for next year ;
* Millstone Edge - don't follow other's guidance - stick to the old railway track
* Padley - up from the pumphouse, then on and down looking out for path on right over river.
* Totley Moor - follow track, don't go through heather again !!!

Reckon I lost 5 mins on those, so 2h30 target next year then?
A great race with an even better spread laid on post race.

Results here
Strava here

Belper Rugby Rover

The Rugby Rover is a classic local race. It's offroad and it's hilly which is why it has often been on my shortlist. Despite me regularly training on this route, I've only raced it once before back in 2010 where I'd run it in a reasonable time of 2:17. Having a previous time on a race can be a good thing and a bad thing - good in that you've got a benchmark and bad in that you've got a benchmark !

Rugby Rover Route Map, clockwise

Prep wasn't ideal this year - in fact far from it. My drinking game induced hamstring injury of Jan 14 is getting worse and my left heel has been just niggling for a month or so now but not enough to stop me entering. Plus, I was on holiday for a week or so after this so it would be good to go off with a hardish race in my legs.

Race day was perfect conditions and Chris and Andy were down too along with many other regulars from the club - inc Shaun and Jack.

Rugby Rover Route Profile

Now although this race is "hilly and offroad" it's not until you've got to the highest point of the race that you suddenly realise "it's not that hilly after all and is really runnable". Can you see where this write ups going ???

Yes, the pace seems to get faster every year and in reality it is really a trail race, not a fell race so it was no surprise to see the fast guys leaving me for dead on any flat sections. I really didn't feel able to push off with my heel either so I just thought it best to settle into the "fast but enjoyable" pace which later turned into "trying to be fast but is probably quite slow" pace. The latter half of the race saw my niggles get worse and so on the run in down Wyver Lane people were bombing past me who I'd overtook several miles before!

Overall, it was an enjoyable blast with generally great weather (although more headwind than seemed reasonable!) and fine views but I really died after the high point of the race at Alport Heights. My time was 5 mins slower than 4 years ago (2h22 vs 2h17) so can't be that bad.

Nice to see Saul, Ian and Tom out taking photo's and mum came to cheer me on at the finish line too.

Full Results here
Strava link here

Borrowdale Fell Race

I've not done a Lake District AL for a few years now - Duddon Long back in 2008 I think was the last time where I came 52nd in 3h44. Diary clashes / shift work for Teresa and injuries have put paid to me getting to one last year or so far this year, but made me more determined to fit one in as these Classic Long Lakes fell races really are what fell shoes were invented for. Running across high fells & windswept ridges at speed really is an invigorating feeling. And one that I'd really missed.

Descending the Corridor Route, Wasdale over to the left

Chris was also keen to enter and I knew how serious these AL's can get so warned him away from entering and emphasising why the FRA require previous similar race experience.  To compensate, I promised him a great run on the fells, probably pushing him further than he'd been before and suggesting a route to him that would ensure he bit off a fair old chunk of lake district experience.

We both headed up Friday and kipped in the car ready for the off at 11am from Rosthwaite the next morning. After a couple of strong coffees in Costa, Keswick we headed down Borrowdale in the partial gloom parking in the fields with around 1 hour to go. Just enough time to sign on, see some of the big names hanging around and get just a little bit nervous !! The rain was only just about keeping off but after a reccie of the line up Bessy Boot - it soon started coming down again just in time for the start by Andy Schofield.

Yes, we all ran around in a circle without
having a bloody clue!

I'd forgotten that the first offroad lane narrows really quickly, and hadn't got near the front enough so was caught up in a queue after no more than 100m of running ! Only lost about a minute which on a 4-5 hour race is no big deal whatsoever. Lots of big boys around - I was especially surprised to see Steve Birkinshaw racing again so quickly after him rewriting the record books on his Wainwright round. Stephen Pyke also glided past me as soon as it went uphill. Past Chris on the way up the first fell and that was it - proper steep stuff all the way to the summit of Bessy Boot which by now was fairly full on claggy & windy. I was really looking forward to the next section to Esk Hause which involved following fairly indistinct trods along the side of the Glaramara ridge. I soon found myself running behind Darren Fishwick (founder of the term Fishwicking!) and Steve Birkinshaw, but mysteriously heading up and right, then further up and right then more up and right. Of course, at race pace when there's almost a dozen of you running together why should I question which way we were going ?? Especially when one of you is called Steve Birkinshaw ?  The map extract above shows us doing what every aspiring fell racer should aim to do a few times in their career - run completely round in a circle without having a bloody clue ! Now lets get this right - it was horizontal rain from the SE and proper clag so stopping to look at the map wouldn't have been the most intuitive thing to do.  From the gps trace, I estimate we lost around 8-10 mins here.

Blue Race Route, with my Black gps trace showing a wobble around Combe Head!

When I eventually rejoined the race train further south, there was noticeably more runners around so it was clearly time to try and start making up ground. I lost around 100 places between Bessy Boot and Esk Hause - luckily I wasn't aiming for a time or place on this race - good job !

The route from Esk Hause to Scafell was thick in mist all the way and littered with the boulders I remembered - proving to slow everyone down substantially. I soon recognised the big col before Scafell pike summit from our recent Bob Graham exploits, so as soon as I got there I kept a look out for runners descending to my right - picking out the scree descent top. And sure enough after 50-100m, I saw the first runners heading down. A quick dib at the summit and head back down to where I saw them go and sure enough - peering over the lip looking NW I could see the infamous scree descent taking us down to the Corridor Route below.

The Scafell scree run descent (on another, far more pleasant day!)

The descent was way more pleasant than I'd expected, so in no time I was at the corridor route where my progress slowed quite a bit on the wet rock and bog. There are some tricky sections on this and it's easy to see why Wasdale Mountain Rescue really do discourage people from attempting the 3 peaks in 24h challenge - especially when novices often tackle this section in the dark.  As it happens, it seems that one runner seriously came a cropper and 'wharfeego' was first to the scene and had to make some very very tricky decision (moving an apparently paralysed runner) which fingers crossed have saved his life.

From Styhead I cruised past 22 runners to move from 136th to 114th by the summit (full splits here) - but then again 8 of those had overtook me on the descent it seems ! I was apprehensive of the section from Wasdale summit to Windy gap as I remember some very tricky terrain from both mine and Saul's BGR's. Thankfully, I followed a brilliant line which I think was almost E from the summit, then NE, then N to the gap. The section to Honister was again fantastic. Clag, rain and trods - virtually all runnable. It seems I took 9 runners here, only stopping to top up water at the stream just before the slate mine. Legs felt great, so straight through and up Dale Head. After taking another 7 runners and stopping for a quick pee it was onto another section I'd not been looking forward too (ok, that's EVERY descent I'd probably not looked forward too!). From Dale Head summit it was a descent first to the tarn and then through some rocky mine workings to the finish.

As it happens, the descent to the tarn was fantastically runnable if steep, followed by a small rise over the lip of the tarn before the plunge down through the disused mine workings which again wasn't half as bad as I'd been lead to believe. In fact, despite there being about 20 people shortly behind me at the top of Dale Head - only 1 overtook me on the descent. Now that hardly ever happens !!!

Crossing the finish line in 4h16 I had had a fantastic outing in the Lake District Fells. Whats more - so had Chris - he'd loved the challenging conditions on the ridge and the long solitary descent out via Langstrath so it was win, win for us both. Wish we could have hung around but we had to get back really.

Target for next year - Sub 4 hours, Top 75 !!!

OFFICIAL RACE REPORT HERE
GREAT RACE PHOTOS HERE and HERE 
FORUM DISCUSSION (PLUS RESCUE PHOTOS) HERE
RESULTS HERE

BDL Race 4, Carsington, 6:26/mile

Got soaked on the cycle home from work, so it was a pleasant surprise to see the sun come out almost as soon as I got home (!).  Hadn't run since Winster last Thursday, so I was keen to get as long warming up as possible - eventually running basically the whole course.

Good to see familiar faces on the start line including Trev, Krish and Sean Bott who'd not been around for a great deal of the year. Lloydy was also down so I'd have a pacer at least !

Pace was fast but this is always a harder fixture on the BDL league due to the continual climbs and descents all the way through the race. Out to half way and I wasn't making or losing places - generally feeling pretty relaxed and looking forward to the return leg.

Sadly, this is where the wheels fell off ! 2 people came straight past me and I could hear more behind. I tried to push harder, but the legs weren't having any of it. After a few more miles of struggling to find pace I started to gett pain from my left achilles but not enough to stop me having a sprint finish to keep Sean Martin at bay !

Very tired and achy and stiff hanging around at the finish line. 

With hindsight, I'd not taken enough fuel on board. I'd barely eaten during the day and had a few small nibbles when I'd got home  but not enough to get me through a) the warm up reccie let alone b) The Race !!

Note to Self : Watch what you eat during the day next time  (small portion of Quinoa and 2 apples don't cut it!)

17th out of 247, Top 6.9%
Strava link here
Full Results here
Full Ilkeston RC Database here

Winster Fell Race

Another local race I'd not done, so this was the preferred option this week. The list of races done in just over two months is quite impressive for me ;

Masson Hill (29th Apr)

Burbage Skyline

BDL Ilkeston

Totley Moor

Calver

Edale Country Day

BDL Denby

Grindleford

Blacka Moor

Winster (3 July)

There's been some great races in there too, so I'd kinda been spoilt over the last few weeks, but at least going into tonight's race, I was expecting it to be 'not strictly fell'. I was still a little surprised to see the race start on the flat / downhill road for the first 1/2 to 3/4 mile. Pretty fast from the off and struggling to keep on Craig's heels. I'd not seen him for months, with the reason being he'd done the Edinburgh Marathon 6wks ago in 3:08 which I think he was pleased with (never done a marathon, so can't comment!).

Craig was clearly running well tonight though with him showing no sign of slowing up until the second main climb of the race - on the tarmac before it turned into a track. He started to walk, so I told him not to walk and - after realising it was me behind him - sped up again and carried on running - again at a really, really good pace. He'd not raced for at least 6 weeks, so I was amazed at how well he was running. Towards the top of the track before the final drop into Winster he slowed slightly and for the first time in the race I was able to pass him. Thank god I managed to hold him off until the finish too.

One other point of note which I was chuffed with of in hindsight - the guy I was chasing down into the village started to turn left one road too early, so I quickly shouted him back. He had lost 5 metres and I passed him, but with no one behind, I slowed to let him take his rightful place ahead of me - with him finishing 12th and me 13th. 

Ed set off too fast and finished in 6th despite running last night at Hope Wakes. Stephen Pyke was also along - only getting into his own when it turned up hill ! Great race, but felt too much like a road race, and I didn't enjoy thinking I was going to be beaten by a man who'd not raced for 6 weeks either !!!! Also good to see Rob Pearce do his first ever fell race - and promising to come along to another one too !

13th out of 116 finishers
Results here