Marathon Mania!

We have to mention the weather don’t we? I was in the Goyt Valley on Friday afternoon and you could have mistaken it for the middle of the summer – I didn’t even pack my emergency trousers!

What’s been happening then? Have the harriers been lured out into the hills? Quite a few were drawn the opposite way because, apparently someone had organised a little race in Manchester City… Here’s the weekly report.

Manchester Marathon

I had actually entered this waaaay back in Spring 2019 as a super-early-bird entry for April 2020. Little did I know how super-early that was going to be and after various date changes it finally happened today. A gaggle of Harriers swapped the undulations of Glossop for the lure of a big city marathon. I’d long withdrawn my entry so got to sit at home instead, and with the ropey tracking system I’m not quite sure what happened, would be great to hear some results! But here are people I’ve seen pictures of:

Nat Hicks, Dave Munday (HM), Joe Travis (HM), Tim Crookes, Nicola Pennington, Jessica Leigh-Camp and Steve Crossman. I’m bound to have missed someone?

Well done all!

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Langdale Fell Race

The organisers describe this as “…a rough, tough course with almost exclusively rocky and slippy ground. The weather in October is rarely ‘pleasant’ and the fells are often clagged in, making navigation difficult on a course with many pathless sections”. Sound tempting? Robin Hoffman and Sarah Andrew thought so and here is the report:

Myself and Sarah Andrew took part in the Langdale fell race. It’s 21km long with 1450m of climbing and has plenty of scope for route choice / getting lost. This was helped even more by the clag which was nice and low for the entire race. The weather was unseasonably warm (vest weather!) with some drizzle, but the ground was waterlogged and slippery needing lots of concentration to stay upright…

Up the first climb Sarah disappeared off into the distance and was 3 minutes up on me by Thunacar Knott at the top of the first climb. This gap stayed fairly consistent despite Sarah’s best efforts to reduce it by going off line across Crinkle Crags and taking in a couple of extra peaks. This charity continued on the descent of Crinkle Crags where Sarah very kindly fell over and bashed her knee on a rock then sat on the floor to wait for me. When I saw her she was looking a bit shocked and wasn’t sure if she could walk so I stopped for a few minutes to make sure she was ok and got her walking again before carrying on. Sarah’s plan had been to retire and while disappointed for her was happy that I’d get the chance to beat her for once! So I had mixed emotions when towards the top of the final climb up Pike O’Blisco I looked back and saw her gaining on me. Still I thought I’d be ok as her injured knee would hold her back on the descent to the finish. It didn’t and she caught me up. At this point I was flat out to keep her behind me and was very relieved / upset when she fell over again on the same knee right at the end of the descent. I didn’t stop this time and carried on to victory – in 118th place (3:16:00) out of 268 starters. Sarah came in a couple of minutes later with a few cuts and bruises, but otherwise ok in 135th place, 9th woman (3:18:36).

Kielder Marathon

Anne William’s report just missed the cut off last week. Looks like a fantastic race and a great results from Anne too. Here’s the report:

I chose to run Kielder marathon this year with my brother in law, Paul, to celebrate our fiftieths. It appealed to me as it was my first trail marathon (& slightly less pressure to chase a PB) and it’s billed as the most beautiful marathon in Britain. I totally recommend it for a trail run – it was undulating from start to finish and lovely trails all the way. Forest paths and tracks around the lake.

Unfortunately heavy rain at the start and drizzle throughout meant the views weren’t as clear – but it certainly was a scenic run. And there’s something very satisfying about running completely round a lake – no repetition and always a good view. As always, great organisation and wonderful marshalls patiently cheering us on.

I had no idea what to expect so set off steady and pretty much kept it up. My brother in law found the uphills tough (all his training was along canals) so he urged me to push on at 10 whilst he carried on. It was harder than I’d thought but I did really enjoy it and was really pleased to finish FV50 and 4th lady (think everyone else was in London!).

All in all I had a fab weekend away with my family with a great run too.

Other Stuff?

Rob Sheldon had a gallop in Grindleford, Nick Ham ran a long way somewhere over by Sheffield, Mike Raynor did the Coniston 14 (miles or km? Who knows!?) and loads of Harriers did parkrun.

Club Champs – New Glossop Fell Race

Looks like loads of NGFR attempts going on at the moment. With just a few more races/challenges left this year, those extra few points make all the difference! Pack your sandwiches and get out there!

That’s ya lot. Get any reports in to gdhweeklyreports@gmail.com