“We now have a bus stop at the top of the snake” weekly report

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Is anyone else tired? I’ve discovered that toddlers don’t know about the clocks going back, so I have been up since ridiculous’o’clock and now I’m propping open my eyes and I’m almost in tiers (sorry…)

Here’s the weekly report! I didn’t seem to have many photos so I’ve stolen a few from Darren Clarke‘s post earlier! Thanks for the submissions, keep them coming in!

The 2020 Snake Summit Challenge

Taking advantage of the roadworks, Harriers have been busy taking on a tough 10km with a seemingly never-ending gradual slope up the snake followed by a fast paced downhill. I had a go on Saturday but next time I’m just going to catch the bus. I actually found the descent pretty punishing because you have no choice but to run at your fastest pace. With around 2km to go all I was thinking was “I just don’t want to be running anymore”.

Paul Skuse has been banging the drum so enthusiastically about this one I’m sure you could probably hear it from the top of the snake! He’s made multiple trips up to the Royal Oak to give support to people who’ve given it a go. Top supporting (and running) Paul!

Here’s his report:

Apologies for the mix up with dates in the yesterday’s post. I really thought we had an extra day to get a few more names up on the leaderboard. This was a belter of a route. Going up was just fun (well I thought so) whereas the descent was genuinely painful. My heels were burning up to the point I stayed on my tip toes. But I got a PR (and an elusive CR for a few days till Josh smashed it –How fast is he?!!) so it was definitely worth it.

Results for the 2020 Royal Oak to Snake Summit are:

Joshua Edward Southall 23:23
Sean Phillips 25:44
Paul Skuse 26:34
Steve Crossman 26:58
Luke Holme 27:28
William Mather 27:55
Daniel Stinton 27:58
David Chrystie-lowe 30:11

And the 2020 Royal Oak to the Summit and Back results are:

Joshua Edward Southall 41:35
Paul Skuse 45:21
Sean Phillips 45:41
Steve Crossman 45:50
Daniel Stinton 47:47
William Mather 47:53
Luke Holme 48:19
Guy Riddell 48:52
Pete Wallroth 50:09
David Chrystie-lowe 53:25
Jason Hart 56:50
Ian Oates 64:24
Amanda Kale 82:59
Cathy Murray 93:02

I hope these are all the results. I can only get the top 10 off Strava. Thanks to all who took part. And I hope to see you at the next TT 🙂

Langdale Marathon

The organiser bills this as the “toughest UK road marathon” with gradients reaching 1 in 3. Clearly, they haven’t heard of MPM…

Marie Williamson took it on and continues to complete an amazing amount of marathons and ultras. Here’s her report:

Yesterday I completed the Langdale marathon (marathon/ultra #84 & 4th this month). I woke up to the sound of the rain pelting outside my YHA window & half wished I lived in a tier 3 area, so I had an excuse to give it a miss. I’d booked myself into the 8am start (6 people to set off every 5 minutes). As it turned out I was the only 8am starter..the others hadn’t turned up. So off I went on my own. For the first mile or so, I was first runner plodding along behind the race car. I was soon caught up by a few people in the next wave though. It was a very wet day & there were many places where paddling was necessary. The course is 2 laps on roads (1 lap for the half), with lots of up & downs. I probably walked far more than I should have..but why ruin a lovely day out in the lakes? The views were stunning with the autumn colours & flowing water & i shared some miles with some fellow past 10in10 runners. Lap 1 took me 2:45:56 & lap 2 took 3:06:57 giving me a 5:52:53 finish time (20 minutes slower than last year) but I didn’t push myself, didn’t hate any of it & didn’t feel like I wanted it to be over. The worst part of the day was driving home, on the motorway, in that weather!!

Thursday

Ahhhhh remember those Thursday socials? Well they can still happen as long as they’re limited to six! Zoe Barton gives us the details of a Thursday session:

Someone else may have already mentioned it but there was a bit of an epic Thursday night social run last night. The route was proposed by Becky A, up over Lordship Hill and Coldharbour Moor to Old woman, then back down doctors gate. A fine team effort finding the route was spearheaded by Jude. There are a few trods up there, most pretty hard to find in the dark, so there was lots of heather bashing fun and even a surprise grouse for Ali. Quality entertainment and I reckon we all slept well.

Not the Kinder Bastard

Despite some rumblings there was going to be an attempt this weekend, it looked like John Stevenson took on the “Not the Kinder Bastard” which looked like a good route, but definitely didn’t have quite so many groughs and bogs. The official challenge, devised by Ian “Who Needs Paths” Crutchley, is an out and back across kinder and is officially horrible. It would be great to see a few more attempts because I had to suffer it so I think other people should as well.

Coastal Trail Series

There was me thinking there’s no races, Chris Smith seems to have found nine of them, and from the looks of things is right up there at the front of the pack with an 8^th place finish at the Suffolk Coastal Trail series. Ree O’Doherty signed up last minute to the same race and bashed round in a great time. Great running both!

Crowden Horseshoe Route

The official race was cancelled back in August. I don’t know much about it other than it starts in Crowden and presumably follows a kind of horseshoe shape. Rachel Walton, Mark Davenport, Neal Bann and Matt Crompton had a social run on the route earlier in the week. All ready for the potential postponed race in January!

Webby Webbinar Without Webb

Steve Crossman looks like he’s taken on the Bankswood franchise for the XC sessions and did some Lydiard Hills. Legendary running coach Arthur Lydiard knew a thing or two about training and getting athletes to the Olympics, so sounds like a perfect session for muddy Bankswood!

Spice Boys

“All I’m hearing, is that you’re out the band. That’s what everyone’s saying. That’s all I’m hearing, Jez is out the band”.

Looks like there’s been a line-up change to the Spice Boys. Better or worse? You decide!

Mile Munching and Elevation Eating

Here’s the stats from the Strava page this week! Epic running/climbing all!

Pete Wallroth	84.7km
Guy Riddell	82.3km
Paul Peters	78.6km
Jessica Camp	84.2km
Wendy McMahon	75.9km
Ree O’Doherty	54.6km
Robin Hoffman	4,722m
Anthony Walker	2,045m
Jason Hart	2,026m
Marie Williamson	1,300m
Kasia Osipowicz	1,210m
Rachel Walton	1,114m

Anything Else?

Keep your eyes on Facebook for the latest but just a reminder for us all: With the darker nights and winter weather on its way, it’s worth checking to see if you’re taking enough/appropriate kit out in the hills. Check out Tim Budd’s blog on the subject HERE and see Facebook for Lynne Taylor’s video of an example of the strong winds we can be exposed to! It can get brutal up there!

Keep those reports coming in. It doesn’t have to be races! Anything goes, fun challenges, any achievements, any funny stuff, anything you want to say about running and the club! 😊