The
Inter-Counties Fell Running Championships at Witton Park, Blackburn
– Fell-running, but not as we know it!!
It hardly seems possible that it was only a week ago, on Sun
18 May, that we were baking in the heat and desperate for water and shade after
a short fell race in Blackburn! Resplendent in the fetching yellow vests of the
NE Counties, the ‘finest’ fell runners that the county could offer cast a wary
eye around the park that resembled a fairground on a summer’s day, with the
competitors looking mostly about the correct age to enjoy the merry-go-round
and ice creams!
As we waited for our Team Manager, Dave Moir from Tyne Bridge
Harriers, acting in Will’s absence, to register us all, even though we were
already registered (!?!), it became evident that there were some considerably
younger competitors than us! How I’d forgotten that it was, of course, a Senior
Championship I do not know! I had thought about them being fast but had
forgotten that they’d be twenty-something and wearing cropped tops! Fantastic!
Never mind, Karen and I plaited our hair with our yellow bobbles, Emma said we
looked great, but her vest didn’t fit and could she cut the sides and Sarah
(Lister from Blackhill Bounders) didn’t fancy running at all!
We had time for a quick look at the course which started on a
grassed area in the middle of the park, headed round a tree and into the woods.
Immediately the path climbed slowly and steadily to some stairs which we would
return to and start the second lap from. It was a clockwise loop and as we
jogged through the woods, we couldn’t believe how dry the ground was. There
wasn’t time to go all the way round but we knew the route got steeper as it got
further into the woods and that there was a complete loop of the woods at the
top which re-joined the main loop and came back to the top of the stairs, ready
for lap two, without an extra loop of the woods.
The ladies’ race was before the men’s, so a small, quality
field gathered at the starting pen and our numbers were ticked off. We took our
place on the start line, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Emma Clayton and
Victoria Wilkinson – that was close as we’d get to them for a while!! I wasn’t
looking forward to the start as the grass was long and my legs aren’t, but it
wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated!
We went into the woods as a group, but as the gradient kicked
in so did the ‘young legs’ and the majority of the field seemed to move with
ease up, up and away! The first 2.5 km was up hill and the gradient gradually
took its toll with the steepest sections seeming to coincide with the unshaded
areas of the woods! However the raced played out at the front, I have no idea,
but I spent most of the time running on my own, occasionally catching a lady
who was struggling slightly more than me on the surprisingly testing twists and
climbs. The thought of going back round the loop and completing the first long
lap was not particularly attractive, but like many of these things, the pain was
temporary! The marshals were very encouraging and the course was well marked
throughout.
Due to the arrival of the fairground, the return route had
been altered rather unpleasantly to go through some cow fields which were
rutted, had a cruel hill and still had the cows in them! I felt that I was
running strongly even though I was nowhere in the race and moved onto the
second lap still moving at a reasonable pace and able to run up most of the
climb, apart from those sunny bits. There were a few awkward stairs, twists,
gates and tree roots to contend with, but having been around once already,
there were no surprises on the second lap. I even managed to catch some more
runners and get the occasional glimpse of Sarah! We returned across the long
grass to the finish, passing by most of Blackburn who had come out to play
frisbee, football, walk their dogs etc on such an unusually sunny day.
The ladies in yellow ran well with Karen first home for the
NE team, followed by Emma, Sarah and then me, one place behind. In such a high
quality field, we were only 10th team out of 11, but age group-wise
Karen was 2nd v45 with Emma 3rd and I was 3rd
v40. So that proved that the young speedy people in cropped tops were faster
than the old lasses in yellow! Fancy that!
We passed on our ‘tips for the top’ to the men, particularly
the effect of the heat which was intense and as they had an extra lap to do,
would be more prolonged for them. David Beech set off quickest for the NE men’s
team and managed to hold on to 50th place and 2nd
counter. John Butters paced his race more evenly and moved through the field,
finishing 1st for the NE in 40th position overall, which
was excellent in such a good quality event. Dave Moir, our Team Manager, was
the third counter for the NE.
It was a good day - lovely weather, not much like a fell
race, but still fun and a privilege to run for the NE Counties. And an added
bonus was that Karen and I were crowned as unofficial NE Speed Talking
Champions by Dave who had the pleasure (I think that’s what he said!) of
sitting between us on the journey!! Happy days!!
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