So, my day... Great Hucklow fell race, supposed to be 6M but with a course change this year, so people reckoned it was close to 7M today, with 1000ft of climbing, in 30degrees!
I was the only man/one from our club and area, except from one lady from Penistone, the partner of a fell racer I know (he wasn't racing). Took me an hour to get there and it was hot then. £3.50 to enter (bargain). We set off at 11am with the sun at its hottest.
Across a rutted field, within half a mile, I rolled my ankle over, but continued and it was fine. Lots of people and up a huge hill so everyone was walking. Got to the top in 18mins then steady trot down the other side. The sun was baking us and as there was minimal tree cover, some of us started to feel the race here.
I was keeping going and as many of the trails were narrow, we had to follow each other so the pace was good. The two water stations were good but a bit close together, although there was a very welcome unoffical one after the last huge hill. I was so kanckered on this one, I had to sit down for a while!!! (if only there had been a bench...).
A marshal told us that it was 1200yds to the end so I managed to trot the whole way back from here to the village, and stagger through the tape in 1:05:50 in 81st place. Not that brilliant, but today was about getting out for the day and seeing a different part of the world! The heat was awful but I'd probably do the race again!
Apparently, some runners dropped out or turned back in the first few miles of the race, so there were 120 finishers. The winner did it in 47:30ish!!! A nice prize ceremony took place afterwards with some spot prizes, in which I got a lovely compass (useful for future fell races)!
3 fell races in 8 days!
