Race 15: Bleasedale Circle

This is a tough race and it was never going to be easy less than 24 hours after the previous night's effort. I knew from my warm up that I was too stiff to do well over the fields early on but I didn't panic and was quite happy to get to the top of Fair Snape Fell just behind Jonathan in 36th place. The run down to Parlick from here and the steep drop towards the finish from Parlick would normally be enough to let me pick up the few places I needed to get in to the top half. Unfortunately It didn't turn out that way this time - Jonathan stayed in front off Fair Snape then opened up a gap on the small climb up Parlick, which can be seen in the background on the photo. I caught him back on the steep drop, just as he was closing in on a the small group ahead but that is where the wheels came off for me. As he pushed on to the finish he made up a few places but my legs simply refused to go faster and I struggled to hold on to the position I had.

Kath walked virtually the whole route in reverse, starting from Fell Foot and dressed in fairly heavy duty waterproofs and thermals. Although the conditions were fine for running the poor lass was almost frozen solid by the time she reached the car. Just goes to show that the kit requirements for runners make sense as an absolute minimum.

Chasing Jonathan Stubbs towards the top of Fair Snape Fell

Results: 36th/63  51:06
Distance: 8km/5 miles  Climb: 381m/1250ft

Race 14: Mr Sparkle's Dark Un

After a break of nearly three weeks since my last race I expected to be feeling fresh for this, my first ever night time fell race. I have plenty of experience of training in the dark and I know the route over Darwen Moors very well but I still had to work hard to get round in a respectable position. The downhill start is hard and fast but I settled in after that and kept up a steady effort all the way round, making up just one position on the downhill section approaching the finish. Satisfied with the result but feeling more tired than I had hoped.

The start in Roddlesworth Woods.
Kath put the camera away after that because it was just
too cold to expect fingers to work the shutter button.

Results: 30th/62  43:31
Distance: 8.1km/5 miles Climb: 214m/702ft

Race 13: Long Mynd Valleys

This is the toughest race I have done for a few years so I was a little apprehensive before the start. I had been over the route mentally, using the map and a drive up on to the Long Mynd on Saturday afternoon, so I knew that there were three major climbs towards the end of the race. I set my stall out from the word go to just complete the race at a controlled pace, in the hope that I would still be feeling strong at the finish. I started slowly, held back on the runs down the valleys and didn't push too hard on the early climbs so as I arrived at the turning point at checkpoint six the feeling of tiredness was just setting in.

Most runners took a line straight up a steep valley on the third last climb but I went for the alternative route off up to the side and I think that I must have made up a number of places with that decision. Two more climbs followed and I was beginning to flag on the last big climb up Yearlet but so, it seemed, were most of the runners around me. I was pleasantly surprised by my result and it goes to prove that on a long race at least, a measured approach can pay dividends.

The weather was perfect for running - cold but clear, dry and not too windy. For walking though, it was perhaps little too cold so Kath stayed well wrapped up as she made her way up from the valley to checkpoint two, over to Yearlet and then back down. The views must have been stunning but I'm sorry to say that for much of the race I was concentrating purely on putting one foot in front of the other.

Jogging through the second checkpoint

Kath's view on the way from the second
checkpoint directly to the ninth on Yearlet

The control punch at the cairn on Yearlet

Results: 111th/231  2:34:35
Distance: 18.5km/11.5 miles  Climb: 1372m/4501ft

Race 12: Titterstone Clee

The weather was gentler this week but only a little - there was a strong wind and a flurry of snow as we climbed Titterstone Clee but on such a short run the conditions didn't seem to cause much of a problem for the competitors. It must have been tougher for the marshals on the top and at the start/finish area. I was able to count the runners ahead of me as they descended from the trig point, this being an out and back course, so I knew that I had to make up two or three places on the downhill to make the top half. I took one almost immediately after the turn and set my sights on a group of four, two or three hundred metres away but unfortunately, try as I might, I could make no impression on them.

Kath set off from the village hall with the camera before the start with the intention of short-cutting on to the course but we had both misplaced the hall on the map and by the time she had corrected the error, the race was well under way. She took a couple of snaps of the hill and, realising that she must have missed the race, made her way back towards the car park. A better result for Kath than for me today - recognising a navigational error and calmly relocating in very poor conditions is a satisfying skill to have.

Titterstone Clee Hill

Results: 31st/59  27:35
Distance: 4.1km/2.5 miles  Climb: 229m/751ft

Race 11: Blake's Heaven

A pattern seems to have emerged as I get in to this challenge which presents me with something of a paradox. The tougher the races I do, the harder it becomes to get in to the top half of the results; so if I get fitter and choose harder races, I will be less likely to achieve my target finish position. I say that here because today, I missed out.

Blake's Heaven follows a fantastic route over Blake Fell in West Cumbria which I imagine on a nice summer's day could be truly heavenly. Today wasn't a nice day and that is what made this a tough race. Nobody would turn out today if they were anything but a committed Fell Runner and on the lunatic fringe of the sport at that. The wind was incredible near the summit and to make things worse we were hit by a shower of hail which when driven into the skin produced a genuine burning sensation, real heat - hellish.

I was weak from the start and I struggled to keep running even across the fields early on but I dug in and managed to keep going until we arrived on the open fell where the path steepens. From there on it felt more a battle for survival than a race and I regretted my decision to wear shorts rather than the old pair of Ron Hills I had in the car. I had the option to stop and put on the waterproofs that the organisers had quite rightly insisted we carry but on a short race, it never seems like there is enough time. On the way down Blake Fell I was blown off my feet and did a Klinsmann, taking the legs of another runner from under her. If she ever reads this, and I don't know who she was, I really do apologise. It is a mercifully fast downhill run even in the strong wind and I was just grateful to reach the finish, totally drained. I have warmed through now but my neck still feels sunburned six hours later and one side of my face feels like a slapped buttock.

Up

Over

And away

Results: 73rd/120 (finishers)  47:43
Distance: 8km/5 miles  Climb: 503m/1650ft

Race 10: Stanbury Splash

This was the Sunday of my first two race weekend for years and it went better than expected. Like Saturday's race it has a lot of fast trail running and a hard uphill finish but the top end of the Stanbury Splash course runs round the head of quite a remote valley on small paths of grass and mud - this time the good kind of mud - peaty, black and smelling of earth rather than horses. Fantastic to run on.

I started right at the back, still feeling Saturday in my legs but I soon began to pick my way through the field. By the time we splashed through the river on the return I thought that I had done enough to get into the top half and it felt good after overtaking so many on the peaty paths. Kath was at the river with the camera and she followed us up the steep field back to the track. I hardly had enough energy to get up there quicker than she did in her boots but I held on to my position from there to the finish.

The crazy mass start in the quarry

Approaching the river and looking like a runner for the first time this year.

The "Stanbury Splash"

Results: 210th/437  1:06:36
Distance: 12km/7.5 miles  Climb: 400m/1312ft

Race 9: Ashurst Beacon

This is a tough race not because it crosses any really steep or mountainous terrain but because the course follows fast, hard but invariably muddy paths and tracks. It is also a little unusual in that it starts at the top of a hill and sets off downhill but finishes with a draining climb to Ashurst Beacon. The hill topped by the Beacon is notable for being just about the westernmost viewpoint before the landscape falls away to the West Lancashire Plain, with views on a clear day from Snowdonia to the Lake District and all the flat land in between. I didn't see any of that of course but I've looked at the map and it must be true.

I hate uphill finishes. It is very dispiriting to see the group ahead ease away when in most fell races I am picking off runners at that stage. Note to self: lose some weight and gravity will be less of a hindrance. At the time of writing I don't know whether or not I made the top half of the field but with a time of around 50 minutes I will be there or thereabouts. I must also mention clubmate Jamie Dowdall, who thrashed me comprehensively today. Good run Jamie.

The final muddy climb before the Beacon

Still breathing - just about

Results: 63rd/152  50:50

Distance: 9.5km/5.9 miles  Climb: 290m/951ft