This race was my first delve into the world of fell racing in 2009 so for 2010 I was keen to see how much, if any, improvement I had made.
Feeling a little tight in the hamstring area, I opted not to enter the Gloucester League XC on the Saturday, and coupled with a fairly light week of training I was fairly well tapered, at least by my normal standards.
Warm up felt slow and heavy and I was surprised how hard the ground was. This, I thought, was a good thing as last year it was very muddy and slippy. Ok so I had better shoes this time in the form of my Inov-8 Mudclaws but still it was going to be less energy taxing.
We lined up on the start line and were set off by some chap shouting “Go!”
The route crosses a couple of fields, over a road, and then into the forest. Climbing gently all the way caused the field to soon thin out so nothing overly eventful occurred. A turn right onto a fire track led onto the first downhill. Looking around, it soon became apparent who was a road runner and who was a “felly” type. The road runners seemed to be doing big long jumpy strides, whereas the people with more fell experience seemed to be opting for shorter strides but a much higher cadence. I feel that this became a key feature on some of the steeper descents later in the race.
The course meanders through the woodlands for about a further mile before crossing a stream and the first proper climb begins. In 2009 this climb nearly broke me, however having now done worse in other races I felt it could have been run-able if it wasn’t for the steady stream of walkers ahead of me.
Lots of steady tracks and fire roads followed and allowed a few quicker people to pass me, however knowing the pipes were approaching, I wasn’t worried as I knew I could make up the ground and more.
The first pipe arrived and it was a lot longer than I recalled, bonus!
Down
Up
Down
Up
Down
Up
…and about 10 places made up.
More tracks meant a few places were again lost to quicker people, but I was still further up the field and heading towards the water point
A brief walk at the water point to save choking and onto the last big climb. A frustrating climb that’s not quite steep enough to justify walking, but equally steep enough to feel frustrated at how slow I was able to run. The people around me seem to be suffering a little more so I managed to pick off a place or two.
The final decent should have been a lot, lot quicker than it ended up being. I was still able to pass people, however the ground was incredibly icy which meant every few steps I’d ski down on my heels.
In 2009 I found I was making up time on the flat, and then loosing it on the down hills and climbs, however being further up the field I felt that it had reversed mainly down to confidence and experience in descents
Final results 1:22:05 for 32nd. Around 14 minutes quicker than last year so happy with that.
Splits and details can be viewed here.
Photos from Fell Running Pictures