Howarth Hobbling in 2022

Climbing up to Top Withens

 I missed the 2020 Hobble due to a cold that could have been (but probably wasn't) covid. 2019 was my first HH and only my 2nd ever ultra distance event, and I was still reeling from some major domestic upheavals. So this year I was interested to see whether the lessons and training of the last 3 years had done any good.

Meanwhile, Claire's only previous ultra distance experience was the HH in 2008, and she was very nervous about the distance. We've done loads of twenty-odd mile stuff together but the extra was a bit daunting.

Being local we had a fairly easy start to the morning. By the time we reached Haworth at 7:15 the main car park was full and we were directed into the village hall car park. We got our kit together and headed up the cobbles to the school.

Registration was well organised but extremely crowded. I was in the group chosen for kit check, then we picked up race numbers & dibbers and got the hell outside as quick as we could. Lots of other Tod Harriers were around, and other Runfurther members so there was plenty of chatting to do before we all trooped up to the High Street for the start. It had started to rain shortly before, and most people had put on waterproofs.

We started a long way back in the pack and I quickly made up position heading up to and onto the road. Claire dropped back a little, although she later said she was fairly close behind me until the stile near Bronte Falls. As we left the road I was surprised to pass Daz Graham & Darren T: Daz is usually quite a bit quicker than me but had opted for a steady day today. By this time it was properly raining, and the ground was wet and slippy. Coming up the embankment before the stile I overtook a few people before realising they were waiting for the stile (sorry about that!). Once the stile was past I carried on pushing up the hill towards Top Withens.

The slabs over the top and down to Walshaw res were slippy under my Altra Superiors. I think the Lone Peaks are better, the Superiors were an experiment last time I was buying shoes.

A few people took the Pennine Way at the corner of the dam, I kept on the tarmac. It sounds like empirically it makes almost no difference. This section along the res and up to Widdop is very quick, and I found myself passing through the Widdop CP really soon.

Climbing up the zigzag I started to catch people with bigger packs who were probably early start walkers. then down the hill towards Hurst Wood at a good pace.

I was passed on the way down by CVFR runner Dominic Camponi, who I recognised from his recent blog posts. I later saw that he'd retired with a sprained ankle which was a real shame for him - he seemed to be going well when I saw him.

On to Cant Clough and up to the Long Causeway, where I dibbed and kept going whilst fishing some cheese & mash out of my pocket. This road section is a bit grim, but quite runnable and I made up some time here.

Down to the right, then back up again to cut off the loop in the Long Causeway, then down the hill to turn onto Bluebell Lane, passing Joolz and Elise at the top of the hill.

By the time I reached Tod golf course my bottle was empty and I was starting to get a bit warm. I filled up and kept on along the lane. A motorist leaving the golf club very kindly rolled very slowly along rather than expecting me to get out of the way, then I turned down the steps past Stone church towards Burnley Road, catching up with Colin W who had left the CP just ahead of me.

Run/walking up Woodhouse Lane, as I reached the lane behind Cherry Tree there were a few people going the wrong way, but the guy in front shouted them back. I like that steep climb up to Mankinholes a lot. I saw Nick as I crossed the next field, then out onto the road and up to the CP where a family were wandering around in the middle of the road causing a bit of confusion.

The long undulating climb up Stoodley that is often used by MTBers these days was another opportunity to enjoy the ascent. Darren T caught me on the climb and passed me by the monument.

The bog on the Pennine Way below Stoodley wasn't too awful, and I got down the track at Callis and onto Horsehold road pausing just to take my waterproof off at the top. The drop down to Hebden on Horsehold/New Road is arsing steep, but I'm well used to it and got a good cadence going.

As I crossed the road in Hebden, a big group of people came out of the wrong alleyway and took the right one, and I caught them on the steps and gradually overtook most on the climb up to Heptonstall. Water at the CP, then down to the Blue Pig and on up the other side towards Cow Shit Farm.

I was getting really warm up here, and starting to tire a bit after keeping my pace up. My blood sugar wobbled a bit near the top and I had a few more bites of cheese and mash.

More water at the CP at Stairs Lane then on up the lane, run-a-bit-walk-a-bit, catching Darren G at the top. I was glad to drop down the other side, although I did remember running this in barefoot shoes last time, which was a bit tender.

As I passed the res two guys with north east accents came past me quite quick then settled pace and I set in behind them, matching their pace up to and round Penistone Hill. I was a bit vague on this section of route (more on that in a moment) but it was all familiar as I reached it. As we dropped into Haworth and down to the school I managed to just sneak past the other two and rushed down the steps to the finish.

My finish time was 5:44, 58 minutes faster than 2019. I was very happy with that.

I went and got a cup of tea and checked the live results to discover that Claire was just behind me, so once I'd changed my shirt and grabbed a brew I went out to cheer her in, bumping into Daz and Doni (Daz had come in just behind me, Doni of course had finished first, over an hour and a half earlier).

Claire came in at 6:02, half an hour faster than her previous time in 2008 and 18 minutes behind me rather than the 2 hours she'd anticipated, which looks good for our next couple of outings. She'd had some nav issues at the end. When she was prepping and printing her map, searching for the HH route on OSMaps doesn't give you the current official route, so she'd ended up going round the road instead of cutting behind the church. It only made a few hundred metres difference though.

Kit:

On:

• Montane Gecko VP12+
• OMM Kamleika smock
• OMM Flash 0.75
• Audis base layer
• club vest
• Altra Superior
• Drymax socks
• Montane cap
• buffs
• Ron Hill lightweight gloves

Carry:

• Evadict waterproof trousers
• Romney mint cake
• UD body bottle 500ml
• Silva compass.
• Map (printed from OS Maps in Ortleib case)
• cheese, melted and mixed with instant mash and formed into cakes.
• lip balm
• SOL survival bag
• Phone

Food:

• Mash & tartex in a baby food bottle
• Mash & cheese (melted and the mash stirred in, then cooled)