June, June, the midsummer month, the more you see of it the more you think what the hell is happening?!

Allegedly this is June. The month of midsummer. We appear to now have a monsoon season and I’m not entirely sure where it came from. Although there has been a lot of general running around this week, there isn’t a massive amount to talk about in terms of racing. (I think). What I have found, you probably already know, but I’m taking it as read that there is something missing, somewhere, and I’ll be told about it in due course.

Castleton Fell race

Over the hill. no, not that one, the other hill. The one to the south – Castleton fell race took

place. There is photographic evidence to say that 3 of our number, the serial racers of this year, Pete Walroth, Heather Jansevska and Becky Smith were indeed there and racing. The tough little race proved to be as popular as ever, but there are no results on the FRA site yet, so any attempt at commentary would be pure speculation on my part. Not that that has ever happened before…. but it’s nice to have stats to mess with.

Roman Wall Show Fell race

Now, all I know about this is that it is at a Show, presumably by a Wall, which is Roman. The fact that Joe Travis did it means that there may well have been collaboration with Emma Peters, but I can’t find mention of it on Strava – so she doesn’t get a mention. Dammit, I just mentioned her. Nevermind. Joe ran an excellently tactical race and came in 6th overall. Excellent work from the Northern Section of the Club.

Update – ah yes, indeed, she was. Emma had the dubious honour of being the only lady not to win a prize. I’m sure that mention in the weekly dispatches is more than adequate as a replacement prize though!

Bolton Hill Marathon

Was indeed put on in Bolton. Apparently there were also hills involved. Who’da thunk it?! Certainly not a race to run if you want a PB, but certainly a race if you want to put some effort in, get your brain in gear, and really get your suffer on. Els Swan gave it a go, enjoying the pace, the distance and the uppy-downy-ness of the course a lot more than many other competitors and came in a rather fabulous 49th of 129 in 4:27.

Ennerdale fell race

I know that Kasia Osipoowicz was angling after people to join here at the Ennerdale Fell race, and but for a pre-arranged load of work I would have joined her. The results are not out yet, so I had a sneaky look on her Strava profile – and then realised I can’t see what she did yesterday. However, I could see that she got her 3rd fastest 30k effort less than 24hours ago, so I’m figuring that she ran the race and enjoyed the rather spectacular views from Green Gable and Kirk Fell on the way around. More news as and when I find out/make it up.

Update – Kasia did run the Ennerdale race. The weather was best described as “minging”. Horizontal rain. Zero Visibility. Just finishing a race like that in good conditions is pretty hardcore, so completing in what you might charitably call “sub-optimal” conditions is something else entirely. Well done Kasia!

Surrey Hills- Long

Our London Correspondent, Martin Schmidt was out in the Surrey Hills this weekend just gone, on the 30k Course. In his own words… “my time was going great until I pulled 1 Hamstring, 1 calf and gave myself a dead thigh at 14 km in when I fell over. So I can say it was more a Fell limping run than your Fell hopping society. I still enjoyed it, even the bit at the start where I got lost and ended up in someone’s garden so I was 33 of 34 at half way, and finished 23 of 32 (1 retired, one disqualified).” So all in all, a successful venture on to the hills then!

Derwent Water 10k

The lovely Alabama Breeze was up in the breezy Keswick Mountain Festival at the weekend. (I wonder if the marquee blew away this year?), and enjoyed herself on the 10k race, being distracted by all the “fit young men” around Keswick. Her words, not mine. In fact it could well have been a PB if she had only chased them towards the finish line instead of down one of the alleyways….

Race the Train

Tony Hillier was off in the far off lands of Wales in order to race the train. (No, not a train, THE train). It was apparently a very tough 11ml undulating river/Roads/steps/uphill on cobble/bloody everything except a HILL Race. Still, he came back with a rather impressive 1st V65, and the fact that he came back at all should be an indication that he was not run over by the train. Does that mean he beat it? I’m pretty sure that if they made you run on the tracks and anyone who didn’t make it was squished the race probably wouldn’t get past risk assessment….

The Nick Ham Corner

Mainly because he’s been out and about doing more races than I can be bothered to individually title up – Last week was the Northants Ultra 35, where Nick came in 103rd overall in a time of 7:08. Not content with that, he went off to do Passing Clouds this weekend as well, which is a lovely little 10miler around Hen Cloud (a fabulous climbing spot if that’s your thing – also incidentally, I believe the only gritstone crag in Britain where someone has been benighted). Apparently its the Baslow Boot Bash this weekend coming as well…. so if I don’t mention that next weekend, remind me and I’ll have a look for the results. Nick is bound to feature on them somewhere…

Parkrun

Liam Amos pulled out a stonker at Glossop Parkrun this week, running another PB, so too did Mel Riddell, with not only a Glossop PB, but also a fastest mile effort (which will please the Strava-ites and their Best Mile June. Well done! Consolidated club report for the week is here.