Ovenden Fell Race Sat 16th Feb 13km/366m

I'd toyed with the idea of heading Parbold way again on Saturday, but the thought of those long stretches of tarmac and the small matter of the race being full, meant I had to take my chances on the wrong side of the county boundary.

I have headed this way before but it was for a night navigating event. Heading into Yorkshire under the cover of darkness was a lot easier prospect for a Lancashire Lass than the bright sunshine we got on Saturday. My course then consisted of one lap of the path round Ogden reservoir. On announcing to the start team that I was a bit of a novice and had they got any advice/tips, the reply I got was 'if you get your feet wet you've gone wrong'.

Saturday's pre-race advice to us all was 'do your racing on the fells, not the finish funnel'. Then on the word 'go', off we went.




Saturday's route as you can see took us out onto the moor. There was a couple of short steep climbs allowing me to gain 4/5 places on each, only to lose a few later on the flatter bits. A little disappointed with not making it back in 1hr30, probably nearer 1hr40. Results not published yet.

Dark & White Mini Mountain Marathon Sun 17th - Chinley

So for my encore this weekend I headed across another county border, this time south east to Derbyshire. With the location of the start/finish area in the village of Chinley, it was reasonable to expect we'd be heading out onto Cracken Edge and probably Mt Famine and South Head. So not that surprised to receive this map (see below) to race with. I went for an anti-clockwise route heading for the 30pt control on the right hand side of the map. Returning via the 25pt one (centre map). Results here http://www.darkandwhite.co.uk/results-cross-country-fell-races.asp

Clashes with Edale/3 Peaks has meant that this was the only one of the spring series of races I could do. But due to my runner's up position in the winter series, I learnt on Sunday that I've earned a free entry into the 2-day Mountain Marathon in September, which more than makes up for it!

 

I'm joining EtU on Saturday for a trip to re-visit High Cup Nick. It really is a spectacular example of a 'U' shape valley. The race route from the village of Dufton takes you along the valley floor to the climb up the rock face at the far end to the top, and then runs back along the top edge. For the aficionados, this definitely is a 'must-do' fell race.

TF