Unfortunately I can't furnish my report with lovely photos like NLN, but the weather on the east side of the country (North York Moors) was equally as glorious as it was in the Lakes on the Saturday. You'll just have to take my word for it.
In any other walk of life there could be something distinctly dodgy about going to meet a bloke sat in a car, parked in a remote car park, and handing over some cash through the open window. But in the life of a fell runner this is what you can come to expect. But I must say that this was a first for me, I didn't even have to put pen to paper. The RO must be a very trusting soul as it meant none of us had signed the usual disclaimer! The race route is in 'Heartbeat' country. It's not a programme that I've watched a lot but apparently the point where the race starts features in the introductory shots.
With only 975ft of climb in 8.5m there wasn't going to be much opportunity to practice my Lakeland skills, but the good tracks made for a bit of practice for faster running. They also allowed a chance to take in the views. The route crosses the North York Moors railway line twice, it makes a change being 'tooted' at by a Steam Engine than the usual cars!
In lieu of any results my race went like this. Next to last at first check point, one male behind. Passed male and female runner on a downhill section just before CP2. Passed another female runner on the way to CP3. Got passed by 2 male runners in club vests but no numbers (obviously late arrivals!) on way to CP4. Managed to gain sight of a male and female North York Moors runners soon after CP4. Now I should point out that this is their club's race and you can probably guess what's coming next!
I worked really hard to catch up with them, but when I did they stopped and the female runner said " Oh, you've got a map, we've not got one. We think we have to cross the railway line but we're not sure where that is, the two other runners crossed over it back there"
What made things worse was not only did I have a map but also a copy of the written route description as well, but I wasn't telling them that. A bad workman blames his tools, so here goes - my map was only a B&W copy of the above and a lot of features were fairly faint (well nearly non-existent) but I thought it'd be enough to get me round, clearly not! I back-tracked to the crossing point just before the last placed runner. So depending on whether the NYM runners made it back to the finish I make it a net gain of 2 places from the start. If they include the ones without numbers, no net gain or loss
Although I hadn't felt I deserved it, I finished my day with a trip to Whitby for Fish&Chips for my lunch. Lovely they were too.
TF
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