Sedbergh Hills Race 14m/6000

I'd intended on using this as recce for other years when it when it didn't have a 'championship' entry quota. A bit of bimbling along at the back with map & compass (if required) and camera.

Imagine my horror when arriving at registration to find a full set of cut-off times for each check - point. There'd been mention of a 1hr40 time allowance to the 3rd one in the letter sent out confriming entry, but discussion regarding previous years seemed to suggest that this wasn't rigidly enforced. Results from previous years seem to confirm this, one of which was a championship year.

For info, the time being allowed was as follows

1 - 35mins Arrant Haw Summit GR662947
2 - 1hr5mins Castley Knotts Summit GR642963
3 - 1hr40mins Stream Junction GR647997
4 - 2hr35mins Stream Junction GR679996
5 - 3hr15mins The Calf Summit GR668970
6 - 4hr Winder Summit GR654933

I had thought I'd make it back to the finish in 4hrs, so thought the 6th one was doable, but the others? Time to lighten the load, the camera had to go. With this now being more of an 'eye-balls' out effort than I expected, there'd be no time to stop to take pictures anyway.

A full 12hrs of overnight rain made some descents challenging, the first three cp's being cleared with only minutes to spare. I gained a bit of time on the three climbs between the 3rd and 4th, giving myself a 10 min cushion for the long drag up to number 5. Claggy conditions on the approach to 5 meant slowing to check bearings. The cushion dropped to 8 mins.

Dropping out of the clag, meant a pick-up of pace, well it was downhill. But then it went up hill again, kept thinking how bad it would be to get timed out at the last check point, head hung with the shame of it? Gritted teeth and the last one cleared with 25mins spare, what a relief. Now all I had to do was run down the last hill. The backside bore the brunt of most of it, with a very heavy landing a one point, but the 4hr finish target saw me back on my feet.

On my watch, 3hrs 47mins, give or take a few seconds. The results print-out hadn't got as far as me by the time I headed off home, so will confirm when available.

Sorry no pictures, but here's one I took on Friday whilst out recceing part of Langdale/Three Shires routes



TF