Claire had the Langdale on her list this year because it was an English Champs race. Tod vet ladies usually do well in the FRA teams so champs races are often on the list. As for me, as an MV50 I'm up against some of fell running's best and fastest, so any race is just a day out. But I'm always up for a day out on the mountains, so we both signed up.
We drove up on the day - Langdale is easy to get to from the south although temporary lights near Ambleside were a potential issue. We set off extra early and as a result were..extra early. We had flasks of tea so just settled in to enjoy the light rain on the windscreen.
As the start time approached we walked across to the farm for the race briefing. ONE PIE EACH. Then we were off.
With 425 people all jostling for position down the narrow track it was a bit chaotic. Claire quickly disappeared ahead, bouncing in and out of the crowd. I lumbered along in the mid pack like a moose, all legs, arms and feet. Bob Halstead crashed to the ground in front of me and narrowly avoided getting trampled. A woman dropped her map and in trying to return it I almost caused a pile up.
Finally we got to the turning and headed uphill. It was a little less chaotic here but I was still hemmed in on all sides and unable to maintain a steady pace. I'd already figured out that the rocks were badly slippy.
Passing to the right of Stickle Tarn I dodged some slippy looking stepping stones by running into the mud to one side... except that it turned out to be a metre deep. I came down hard on my ribs and left ankle (which are still painful 3 weeks later), but just kept going. On up to Thunacar Knott, where I passed Rebecca & Mel.
All was going reasonably well at Esk Hause. I turned onto the return below Esk Pike which turned into a kilometre of complete frustration. One guy kept overtaking me then stopping dead right in front. The path was rammed with people and really hard work (described on the Harvey map as 'horrid' I believe).
Once past and onto Bowfell I climbed hard and made reasonable time. Coming back off Bowfell I was very slow and tentative. I didn't feel safe in the Inov8 x-talons and was starting to wish I'd worn Freet Feldoms after all.
At 3 Tarns (I think) there was a group of Tod Harriers including Phil & Jane L who were just along to cheer us on which gave me a boost.
Then on towards Crinkle Crags. At no time was the navigation a concern - there were people around all the time and clear visibility. The wind was cold and the odd rain squall made it colder, but generally it was pretty good.
Down off Crinkle Crags and I just took the obvious path. To the Bad Step. Arse. This must have lost me 5 minutes as the woman in front bailed out and backtracked onto the other path. Eventually I managed to get down and crack on.
Pike of Blisco came and went, and I still hadn't caught Claire. The further I got without catching her the more pleased I was - she was having a good run. On a good day she's quite a bit quicker than me on this sort of terrain so the fact that she'd never even been in sight was promising.
Finally I lolloped down past the cattle grid, passing Bob (again - he must have had a few good lines to get that far ahead of me without me noticing) and a few others in the last few hundred metres.
I arrived at the finish to find Mandy Goth just in front of me. She'd been timed out by just a couple of minutes. That was a real shame - Mandy isn't particularly quick but she's extremely consistent, she'd have finished way in front of some of the final finishers. But as a very frequent marshal I know the timeout rules are there for all of us - as a marshall I've been out on the hill before now searching for missing runners who were on track, just very slow.
On the finish line we stood and waited for Mel and Rebecca to come in. Claire had finished ten minutes ahead of me, then Dave Collins turned up heavily bandaged, having dropped out after headbutting Bowfell. It looked worse than it was, but it did look pretty grim. Mel and Rebecca showed up a bit later, having lost a bit of time when Dave fell.
So Tod Harriers managed to pick up quite a few bumps and scrapes. A lot of others did too - there was a lot of blood on the finish line, some of it coming from heads. It was a good race though, although I don't think I'd do it as a champs race again, the 400 person start was just too much.
Top pies. Really, really good pies.
No comments:
Post a Comment