Eyam Half Marathon

After deciding to enter a series of club champs races back in March. The day of this peak district classic finally dawned. Having already arranged to travel to this race with Malcolm, I discovered that he was suffering with a knee injury and unable to race. So I issued my appeal for car sharers/opponents on the yahoo groups site, unfortunately without any success. So come the day rather than travel alone. I took Malcom up on his kind offer to drive down as his daughter was doing the fun run and the family would happily spend a couple of hours looking round Eyam. We arrived in Eyam in good time to see final preparations being made by the race organiser. We impressively enough included a large digital clock being placed on a scaffold gantry above the finish line. Eyam itself was a lovely little village with the surrounding countryside leaving no doubt as to the challenging nature of the impending race and the smell of freshly barbecued bacon an unwanted distraction to an empty but race ready stomach.

Having a sore left ankle from the blackstone edge fell race i was concerned as to how it would hold up to some undulating bitumen pounding. Well I thought I could jog round for an easy 30 club championship points. Any hopes of a gentle spin round were soon dashed when I saw arguably my most well matched club rival Dez who had the slight edge on me in our last battle at the Buxworth 5. After a spot of light hearted pre race banter it was time to run. I decided to try out my new more mile compression socks and applied liberal amounts of ibruprofen gel to my ankle.

The race started with a steady climb for 400 metres before losing all the height back to the village before the tough climb for the first 2 miles of the race. A very tough start to a race of this distance and felt like I was running "choke out" which made it difficult to settle into a rhythm. Once the ascent was gained and the race started heading towards Great Hucklow and Abney I managed to settle my breathing down and manage to get my speed back towards low 7 minute mile pace. I was ahead of Dez and starting to enjoy the race with my ankle only casusing me limited discomfort.

The race started a steady descent after around 7 miles towards the derwent valley at Leadmill at around the 9 mile point. This I knew meant the real test of the race the steep climb up Eyam Moor heading in the direction of Grindleford  and then on towards the finish. I was starting to flag and found a few people catching me on the very steep climb. Just as I was starting to dig deep into my reserves for the final push to the finish around the 10 mile mark I saw Dez on my left shoulder. My greeting of "Did I not want to see you at this stage" was probably not the friendliest greeting I could have made to club teammate. After trying to hold pace with Dez for the next half mile or so I could feel the invisible elastic between us starting to stretch and given that there was still more climbing I realised I couldn't maintain the pace so I had to steady myself a little and the elastic broke and Dez pulled further and further away. I hadn't yet given up hope but realised it would take Dez hitting a flat spot and me getting a third wind if there was any chance of getting close. As it was I managed to grind it out up the remainder of the climb while holding my position in the race and steeled myself for the steep final descent into Eyam for the final mile. I was definitely keeping myself going with visions of how i was going to relax after the race when I finally crossed the line in just over 1 hours 51 minutes. Happy enough with my time on what must be one of the toughest half marathons out there. Much harder than the old local werneth low half marathon classic.

I spotted Dez and congratulated him on his strong finish and I was even more impressed when I realised he had taken over 2 minutes out of me in the final 3 miles of the race which enabled him to take over 30 runners in the final quarter of the race. Chapeau Dez!
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As usual once the race was over all the aches and pains that my body had suppressed voiced their displeasure I realised i could barely put any weight on my left ankle and had blisters on the sole of my right that make walking a slow and painful process.

A great race, well organised and marshalled by friendly volunteers and plentiful and much needed water stops at regular intervals. A deserving if under represented addition to our club championships. 29 points in the bag its going to take some foam rollering for my legs to return to normal. The compression socks definately helped minimise the usual calf pain that I can feel on steep climbs and longish road races. The might be the emperors new clothes but at under 3 pound a pop they will be used again in races and I will be ordering some more.

Thanks for the lift and company to Malcolm and family (a cracking 7th by his daughter in the fun run) and thanks for the duel as always to Dez. 2-1 Until the next time.....

Kinder Dozen - Tim's write up

Here's a link to Tim's Kinder Dozen blog.... http://testedtodestruction.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/kinder-dozen-variation-on-theme.html.

There's be a blog from me soon!
Lynne

Nev's Triathlon

Nev’s Triathlon (of sorts)

With apologies to Chrissie and the Brownlee boys.

To shake off my post holiday lethargy, I plunged into the lovely Glossop Pool at 8.30 am on a wonderful sunny morning. The water was an ideal temperature unlike the cold clear waters of the Dalmatian Islands where I had swam briefly the week before. It had been a superb holiday cruising off the Croatian coast but unfortunately ‘too much beer and pasta do not make you faster’ so I was after a ‘bit of pain in order to gain’. This was the easy leg however; my pedestrian breast stroke has never won me any medals in swimming galas or burned up many calories but I still enjoy the relaxation and stretching achieved in such a session.

A kilometre later saw me in transition heading for Glossop Leisure Centre where initially I did a bit of warm up work on the cross-trainers before moving on to the upper body weight stations aka Old Man’s Corner. Years ago, and still in many Mediterranean countries, the elderly would chew the fat in street cafes over coffee/alcohol and ciggies but nowadays, maybe to ward off any possible government cost-cutting move towards decimation, they are to be found glowing and sweating in gyms discussing the major issues of the day e.g. debating the Greek v German positions on the euro or more likely whether Joey Barton provoked a sending off to facilitate the injury time which his former club would exploit to prevail over their neighbours.

Then at 10.30, munching a banana, it was down to the dungeon for a spinning session. For those not in the loop, this involves a very tough interval training session on fixed bikes to a background of loud contemporary rap/garage/house/whatever music, even louder exhortations from the instructors and, as a special treat today, flashing disco lights. Despite the latter, no real tribute to Robin Gibb here I noted despite his considerable contribution to the genre. Today the instructor was Lee (Rugby League) and when either he or Sarah (Triathlon) is leading, the sessions are even tougher yet extremely beneficial in my opinion.

Next on the list was the transition home where most of the afternoon was spent watching the Giro d’Italia the prelude to an exciting summer of spectator sport to be followed by the Euros, Tour De France and the Olympics. Today the stage was over 4 high passes in the beautiful Dolomites in sunny conditions which reminded me of a memorable walking holiday in Val Gardena 10 years ago. Today the final climb was up the beastly Passo Giau before the headlong plunge into Cortina D’Ampezzo.

All too soon it was time to set off for Saddleworth, so after a quick feeding station, it was on my way to enjoy the delights of the Dovestone Diamond Multi Terrain 10K organised by the Kiwi Classics (Sweatshop) team. I have always been of the opinion that New Zealander Jason deserved a much better take-up from the local running community for his series of races and today, on a beautiful evening, he was delighted by the 200+ turn out.

I spotted Dez and Steve there as well as KJ (fastest woman in Glossop according to the Advertiser after her run in the BUPA Great Manchester 10K aka Big Bren’s pension fund) and Rachel, a mate from spinning who had recently clocked a sub 3.45 in the Manchester Monsoon Marathon. The latter two are long distance specialists and with Kirsty on her way back from injury, I thought that we might be near each other during the race. And so it proved with only a handful of seconds between us all the way through and at the end, my background of shorter races just giving me the nod. The three of us had enjoyed the competitive eye balls out race, even more so now it was over.

So it was, at 8.30 pm, just 12 hours after the off, my triathlon was over. Chrissie Wellington had completed Iron Mans in times least 3 hours quicker but had she had as much fun doing them? I was pleased that Steve had picked up the V45 prize to add to his burgeoning list of Sweatshop vouchers, that Dez had run well and that, despite initial disappointment, Martin McGann had beaten me by a clear margin in my age group. Martin was a classy runner as a younger man but has had many injuries and setbacks latterly. Like me though he has stuck at it because running is a sport like no other encompassing a wide range of emotions and experiences. An honest corinthian sport with no hiding places, no loans from the Bank of Running, you only get out what you put in.

     

Dark & White Mini Mountain Marathon - Dovedale

I've written an account of my race down in Dovedale at the last in the Dark & White's mini mountain marathon series - click here to read all about it.

Kinder Trog Recce - Nice and Early, 19 May 2012

The recce went well though at the start we were all a bit surprised how cold it was when we climbed out of heated cars at 7am. (The grand outing included Alison, Becky, Sue, Adele, Lins, Beryl, Andy B, Sikobe and I).

After the sharp early climb of Lantern Pike we wound our way along the farm tracks towards The Grouse quite happily. Although I started with a thick OMM top under a waterproof it quickly got removed, and in general we were all warming up as we continued the climb up to Burnt Hill. The slog up the slabs to Mill Hill was where some of us secretly started thinking of maybe dropping back towards warm and comfy beds, but of course no one did.  The clouds were still enveloping Kinder so as we ascended the ‘knee’ we entered that grey world of low viz and cooler air. I think Ali was getting cold feet up there, (literally, not the scaredy cat kind). All the way along Kinder to Edale Cross I think we only saw one walker – mind you it was still only 9 o clock.

As we dropped to Edale Cross we came out of the cloud and could see all the way to South Head and beyond. The light was brighter and it just felt warmer too as we bombed down the long descent into the River Sett on a bearing of about 211. (I just looked that up, we didn’t take a bearing on the day). Quick halt for some nosh to fuel the climb back up to meet the path from Brown Knoll to South Head. This path is usually a bit soft in May, and possibly come June it could be firm underfoot and fast running territory. On Saturday it was in full winter mode – bogs separated by short stretches of less squishy morass, but still gently downhill so not too hard. Round the foot of South Head (the old route meant going up and down this!), then onto firm tracks all the way to Peep o day where there will be a water station in the race.

The little climb up towards Hills farm is no problem to jog up normally, but after 12 miles it seems almost impossible so we walk until reaching a more level section. The path curves south west for Cracken Edge, still climbing gently but cruelly. Then comes the last bit of hard work, the climb up to big rock where we head west to the New Allotments and back towards Hayfield. If you’ve paced your race well then you could really make up places in the race here as many will have begun to pay for too fast a start. A long descent to Phoside Farm then the horrible traverse/dash across the fields lead to the track that takes us back into Hayfield.

 By the end we knew we’d been out for a decent run, some legs were promising their owners retribution come Sunday and Monday. If the weather on race day is more June like then we’ll be several kilos lighter and hopefully the wiser for having renewed/learned the route. A very enjoyable morning run, I think I’ll make more effort to make early starts this summer.  Great company as always made the miles much easier to run, thank you all.

 John S

Cumbrian Traverse - 5 May 2012

·         It was about -2º when we woke at 5:45 with a dusting of frost on the tents but the sky was clear and blue. At 6.30 we drove from Turner Hall Farm campsite over to the start at Broughton Mills. Adele, Alison, Charlie, Lindsay and I (with Milo) set off at 7.00 in lovely sunshine warming the beautiful Dunnerdale fells of South Lakeland. We followed an old walled path for 10 minutes but then found our own way up the first two summits in this fairly un-trodden area. I used the schedule that I ran last year and we were bang on time. We were keeping quite a pace and there was no time for stopping at the tops. But this first hour was lovely and peaceful, noone else around and we could see the day was going to be a real cracker. We didn't take the best line up Caw so lost a few minutes. I then checked out with everyone whether our goal was to do this in 12 hours or just to do it. Pow-wow over we left the nobbly Dunnerdale landscape to get onto the more severe Walna Scar edge leading from White Maiden, Brown Pike to Dow Crag. We made up time here as we swung round to Coniston Old Man. Maybe that was because we started seeing runners coming the other way on the Great Lakes 3 day MM, and with the Coniston race starting a few hours later we too got into race mode! Quick chat and photo on the top and then a lovely trot along the ridge to Swirl How, Great Carrs and a lovely descent off Wet Side down to the Three Shires stone on Wrynose Pass. There seemed to be lots of people waiting and shouting us down which was great. All our food, drinks and clothes were laid out ready so it was easy to do a quick stop. Lindsay changed her shoes and socks and I needed thicker socks. We were 1 minute behind which I took off our rest stop. I grabbed some fruit cake and water and food from the others (as I hadn't come prepared for the 12 hour run) and Simon joined us for the rest of the day.

Simon picked a line up to Cold Pike and onto Crinkle Crags with Lindsay close behind him (and staying strong at the front for most of the day). We strung out a bit, digesting the food we'd just eaten whilst making the ascent onto what I see as the big hills of the middle section. We decided to go round the Big Step - a slab of rock to climb (although I happened to mention a GDH runner who fell off it during the Langdale horseshoe!). Charlie wasn't feeling too good but we pushed on to Bow Fell. There were now lots of people around and we had fantastic views of all the peaks in the Lakes. Unfortunately Charlie was still no better and he decided to descend, down through the Langstrath Valley to pick up a lift to the next support stop at Honister. We pushed on up Esk Pike and I ran out of water (having only brought one bottle thinking I'd now be in a cafe, and I hadn't passed a stream). There's always a good supply at the bottom of Great End so I sent Simon to fill up whilst we went up the scree path on the South East side. This was our highest peak but certainly wasn't our toughest climb. We were going really strong and everyone seemed to be really enjoying it. It was here that I started to say "we've cracked it now!" (repeated on each of the remaining 7 summits).

A wrong line was taken off Great End, for some reason into the severe chutes of the 'great end'. A few quick scrambles back up and a decision to get on the easy path to Styhead Tarn. I think we should have taken a NW route off directly toward Great Gable - I will check next time! God forbid we couldn't have got a compass out in broad sunshine with hundreds of people around! Looking over at ScaFell it looked crowded - like a birthday cake with lots of candles. As we ran to the shelter at the bottom of Great Gable I could make out an old man sitting leaning on his wooden stick and I knew exactly who it was. The annoyance of Great End and losing time went and I had a big grin and was more than happy to stop and spend time chatting to Joss Naylor. He was supporting some guys doing his challenge at 50. He thought it was great us doing the Cumbrian Traverse and wished us well. He thought we'd be up GG in 40 minutes - we took 34 - yes! He must have spurred us on. We knew this was going to be a real slog, its such a huge majestic fell. I felt a bit dizzy and nauseous going up but once on the top felt better. The dog was not fine and lagging. We ran on, Ali doing her ace descending as usual down the rocky path to Windy Gap and up Green Gable. It was great we were still running well as we took Brandreth, Grey Knotts and managed to make up 9 minutes. Adele doing amazing after her sub-4 London marathon 2 weeks before. Then the descent to Honister, again Ali dancing down ahead.

Great to see everyone again and fuel up. Adele ate an enormous bagel which I couldn't have stomached, opting for Alison's home made savoury cake. Ten minutes and up we got, we were now only 15 minutes behind schedule . The dog keeled over and got in the back of Rod's car.

The ascent and traverse to the bottom of High Spy was enjoyable but climbing up was a killer. It seemed to go on and on and I felt dizzy again. I realised I'd not had much to eat all day. Once that was over (and 'we'd cracked it now') it was a lovely trot over to Maiden Moor and the final summit of Cat Bells. All the crowds had gone so it was nice to have it all to ourselves, still with the amazing views and lovely sunshine we'd had all day. It was in some way sad to leave the fells behind. We ran the home straight strong, Adele setting a pace that we had to rein in. Through Portinscale, over the bridge and up the high street of Keswick, holding hands in a line so stumbling to Moot Hall. Where were our clapping crowds? It was actually nice to have the final moment together, a huddle of joy, tears, relief, pride, of Glossopdale Ladies having another great day on the hills. And we were 5 minutes up!

Three minutes later and a female BGer runs up in a great 20/21 hours. Right. Thats us next then.

Driving back in the dark over Dunmail and we see three runners just descending Steel Fell and a huddle of BG supporters for their 4th leg up. (The next day I learn it was probably Dave Sleith, the oldest man to complete.) And so it goes on. This amazing fell running thing. These amazing fell running people. This amazing fell running feeling. Pure magic.

By Jude