Tebay 11th June

A short (! Ed) report on my excursion to the Northern Howgills.

Decided I'd have a go at an A medium for a midweek evening race and this fitted the bill. I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't finish before dark but decided that the terrain looked to my liking so gave it a go. 94 starters and a fairly swift gently uphill start. I wanted to keep at the back but also needed to take account of my poor descending so settled into a rhythm with maybe a dozen or so trailing as we headed to the first checkpoint at two and half miles in about 31 minutes before the first sharp descent into Uldale where of course I was overhauled by the majority.

Up the other side where I could work a bit on the climb before hitting a a level path which followed the contour. Alas I found it difficult to run because of the narrowness of the path. Eventually a drop back down to the stream followed by a climb to Uldale Head (checkpoint 2) where I could see myself pulling back toward the runner in front of me. On the relatively gentle descent from Uldale Head, I caught up the runner and checked that he was okay to which he responded in the affirmative, although a bit knackered. We ran together trying to find the best line towards Wessell Gill and were caught by a group of three who all went away on the final steep descent into the gill.

Then a nice hill, 1,000 foot of climb in three quarters of mile to the top of Blease Fell where I pulled two of them back but the other two had held their lead and went away from the top. All down hill for the final 2 and a half miles from the last checkpoint but not steep so I was pulling back on the two ahead who'd caught up with another runner whilst keeping ahead of those I'd passed. Would have got them except for taking a wrong line at one point which probably only lost me a minute, two at most. In the end I was happy with a finishing time of 2:09:39 in 91st place. I'd climbed well, I was moving with decent speed over the last couple of miles and my knees hadn't broken down ~ and I wasn't last!

Pie & Peas and a Pint at the Tebay Club afterwards made for a good, if late, night, with a 70 minute drive home afterwards. Next year I believe the race will be on a Saturday and be an AM counter in the FRA Champs. Well recommended.

T'Yorkshireman