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)

Ambling around Anglezarke

Anglezarke is a rural parish in Bolton, Lancashire. The name apparently derives from something or other Norse.

The Anglezarke Amble is a rather nice winter LDWA event. The full distance covers 24 miles of hill and moorland around the west pennines, looking down on some former industrial landscape.

We got there in reasonable time from home, and parked on the far side of the causeway across the reservoir from Rivington. The race starts at the primary school in Rivington. Covid regs still in force, we covered our faces while we popped into registration, picked up our tallies then went back outside. A quick trip back to the van to pick up some forgotten item, and back to the start.

We bumped into Karen at the start and had a quick chat. We saw other Runfurther regulars later in the day too.

Our plan for the day was largely walking - Claire is just getting back into longer distances and wanted a longish day out at a gentle pace. I was happy to spend the time on my feet so I'd loaded my pack with kit for a brisk walk.

Setting out in a very low key way ("it's 9 o'clock now, so you'd all best get going") we headed up Rivington Pike past the historic Rivington barn, that we completely failed to notice. Bimbling around in the woods with the pack we eventually made it to the folly on top of the hill, and headed back down again (retrieving and returning a lost hat on the way).

A track section led to a cafe and CP1, but we kept on going and started heading up the also-historic Winter Hill. This was an interesting spot for me, as I'd been reading about the access protest in the 19th C. Now home to an enormous transmitter and lots of warnings about falling ice. Daz Graham caught us up here and stopped for a chat, then trotted off into the distance in spite of his aching achilles.

Dropping down the other side of Winter Hill, Claire was reminiscing about the winter fell race 'Mister Sparkles', and the whole track being ice bound. Today there was no sign of ice and we were able to make good time down the hill.

The cut off for the long route is 90 minutes at CP3(?) which turned out to be unmanned. We were just about inside the cut off after a spell of walking and kept on at it through some very boggy fields.

That really set the theme for the day. Boggy fields, hill tops, spectacular views of the surrounding areas. As we dropped quickly towards the road CP in the woods Claire suddenly disappeared from beside me - her foot had caught on a stone and she'd fallen flat on the spot. She picked herself up, considerably shaken and we made our way slowly to the CP for a cup of tea.

Tea did the trick nicely, and we got going again after a few minutes. By now the day was wearing on and getting cold and we kept the pace up towards the end, over the last swampy climb and down towards Rivington again. The last stretch along the side of the reservoirs we were trotting fairly steadily with occasionally bouts of walking. We came in around 5.5 hours, quite quick considering how much we'd walked.

We handed in our tallies, purchased the rather lovely sew on badges from the finish and got changed, then took our tokens up to the village tea room for delicious soup and tea.

Definitely the most attractive cloth badge I've had from a race

Kit review: Ultimate Direction FastPack 20

As I've done more and longer ultras the distinction between running and hiking has got a bit blurred**. Last summer I spent 2 weeks in Snowdonia and the Lakes walking & running every day, and although I had my 12l race vest with me, I tended to find that I just picked up my 15 litre running pack and threw some clothes and food in it. 

Race vests are intended to be worn rather than carried. You don't really intend to be fishing in the back section during use, that's mostly for mandatory kit that you have to carry for emergencies. Taking off a race vest and digging around in the back section is a bit of a pain - the lack of structure makes them flop about and things fall out of the dump pockets.

So I end up using a rucksack for a lot of more relaxed and solo use, where I'm looking for extra layers and food etc. from inside the body of a pack fairly routinely.

Fast forward to the Lady Ann Way 100 in Jan, and I couldn't get everything I wanted to carry in the 15l pack. The 32l running pack I ended up using was much too big for the purpose. As well, for races especially I like to have food and water easily accessible. I've tried pockets that attach to the shoulder straps, but found them not to be very secure. 

Once I decided something between the 15 and 32 size would be useful I decided to look first at Ultimate Direction, mainly because they are sponsors of Runfurther so I feel like I owe them first look.

Looking on the website, the FastPack 20 looked like exactly what I was after. I ordered one from Ultramarathon Running Store in time to use it on the Anglezarke Amble a few weeks ago.

Initially I wasn't sure about the roll-top closure. This is something used by a lot of manufacturers recently, but UD have added a zip that opens the pack right out or enables access without unrolling. I like this a lot. The roll top means I can load up quickly, while the side zip gives me quick access out on the hill. The long term durability of it remains to be seen but so far it's really practical. Inside the main compartment there's a sleeve for a bladder, and a small zip pocket for keys/wallet etc. There are large side pockets suitable for extra water bottles, or gloves/hat etc. I carried a life venture vacuum mug comfortably in one so you'll get a standard size 5-600ml bottle in neatly.

Reflective logo is very visible

There are straps all over the place to help tighten the pack down when it's not full (and I've not managed to fill it yet - it's a very generous twenty litres), with elastic loops on the end to pull in the loose bits.

Neat strap tidying loops

I don't tend to find anything flaps when I'm out running, the elastic loops seem to do a neat job. It took a bit of tinkering to get the tensioning right with less stuff in the pack, but unhooking the side straps from the D loops locked things down nicely.

Notched D-loop to allow shifting of straps

Anyone who has ever run with me will know that I have quite bad OCD, and in particular I struggle with compulsive checking of zipless pockets. I really didn't expect to be able to use the large open pocket on the outside of the FP20 at all, but so far I've found it pretty useful. Even with the back lightly packed and tensioned, it's secure enough for carrying maps. It's also a useful place to stuff a wet waterproof in race HQ after a race.

Run/walking for about 7 hours the pack was really comfortable. The back panel is quite rigid, which probably helps with breathability since it has vertical air channels. In contrast to some reviewers I found the back quite long, and I was conscious of the bottom edge/bottom corners of the pack. It didn't rub though, and was never uncomfortable. On me the fit is slightly more 'tabard' than 'vest' - it feels like it's sitting on my shoulders rather than wrapped around my torso, but the straps keep it in place and reduce bounce to a minimum. 

poles & bottle (red bite valve) visible

The harness pockets are designed to fit UD Body Bottles. The FastPack doesn't come with bottles, but I had a couple of half litre UD bottles already - we hand them out as spot prizes regularly and I really like them. They sit comfortably in the pockets and are easy to drink from, although a short straw would probably be useful. The other harness pockets are fairly large - my Sony Xperia 10 won't fit all the way into the pocket and doesn't feel that secure, but it does kind of fit. If I'm only carrying 500ml of water the other water pocket is a good phone pocket. I dropped lip balm, hand gel etc in other pockets, stuffed lightweight gloves and a buff in another The zip pocket is fairly small, I'd have liked to have my phone in there but it's nowhere near big enough. 

Pole carrying points on the front: these are really secure with my Harrier aluminium poles, with no bounce at all. That's an important one, as I'm starting to consider using poles on longer races (borrowed poles got me through the last few miles of the LAW100). My current race vest has terrible, bouncy pole carrying cords.

Key things I really like about the FastPack20:

• rigid back - this makes it a pack instead of a vest, and I find that a much more flexible and useful piece of kit
• water bottle pockets - I like to have soft bottles high up on my shoulder straps, this system works well for me
• big side pockets on the main body that will take rigid water bottles
• chest straps are well designed, with a conventional slide mechanism to adjust the height
• carry points for poles on the front - this is the best system for front pole carrying I've used, although I like the idea of the horizontal carry that Raidlight do.
• zip key pocket inside
  

Things I like less:

• lack of a zipped phone pocket on the front - this is by far the biggest drawback for me. I'm currently using a neoprene phone case in the front pocket, but it doesn't feel very secure.
• the point where the waist strap meets the pack is just a little bit squared off and not ever so comfortable, at least on me. This might vary according to your body shape.

I'd kind of like to see a smaller version of the FastPack20. It comes in 30 & 40 too, but I'd use a 12-15l version as an all purpose running pack all year round. I'm currently considering an Ultra Vest 5, but my ideal would be a little bigger and slightly more structured. I'm going to try putting a piece of foam sit-mat in the bladder pocket of my existing race vest to see how that works.

Overall I'd say for fastpacking or if like me you have a preference for rucksacks over race vests but like the shoulder strap pockets of a vest, the FP20 is very much worth a look. I now pick it up for walking, and running any distance beyond about 15 miles.

** I now do a lot of 'time on my feet' walking & run/walk training. I'd love Strava to reflect this with a combined 'on foot' activity type/summary.