A short trip down the road for this evening fell race. One which I ran last year and course that I am very much familiar with. Starting out in Red Acre Woods, we climb up and over fields and gravel tracks before a short run on the flat. A sharp right takes us up a private field and onto the road above Hebden Bridge / Mytholmroyd. We then pass through the golf course before a fast mile or so run over the moors to Crow Hill. Our steps are then retraced to the flat track we ran on earlier before an alternative decent through the woods takes us to the finish. I ran this race last year and managed to set a new record after a close battle with Alex Whittem.
After warming up I felt ok. I wasn’t sure how I would fair over a 5 mile race as all my training has been geared toward the Vertikal 2000 I would be running the week after, hence this meant a lot of steep hill reps. Alex was back again this year and I knew it would be a good battle. We set off and Alex took the lead up the first climb, I was happy to tuck in and see how I felt. Upon cresting the first climb I decide to increase the pace as I didn’t want to leave it until the downhill due to the fact that Alex is a better descender than me. I pushed on along the flat track and really worked the climb up to the road. I felt like I could have carried on going forever. I began to open the gap so just focused on maintaining a good rhythm and form. By the time we had reached Crow Hill I had opened a gap of around circa 30 seconds. Upon reaching the summit, the first placed runner receives a crown with they have to wear till the finish. We then began to head back the same way, which poses some problems as runners are still heading out. There was also confusion because at the top you’re supposed to run a small loop anti clockwise around the summit, but unfortunately only Alex and I did this, with other runners going straight up and down. Nevertheless we headed back and I just put my head down and strode out. Alex was catching me slightly, but I ran reasonably well and managed to hold on until the finish. I was very pleased with how the race went, I broke my record from last year by about 30 seconds and managed to close in 29:14. I was very happy with how I climbed as I felt comfortable all the way.
After warming up I felt ok. I wasn’t sure how I would fair over a 5 mile race as all my training has been geared toward the Vertikal 2000 I would be running the week after, hence this meant a lot of steep hill reps. Alex was back again this year and I knew it would be a good battle. We set off and Alex took the lead up the first climb, I was happy to tuck in and see how I felt. Upon cresting the first climb I decide to increase the pace as I didn’t want to leave it until the downhill due to the fact that Alex is a better descender than me. I pushed on along the flat track and really worked the climb up to the road. I felt like I could have carried on going forever. I began to open the gap so just focused on maintaining a good rhythm and form. By the time we had reached Crow Hill I had opened a gap of around circa 30 seconds. Upon reaching the summit, the first placed runner receives a crown with they have to wear till the finish. We then began to head back the same way, which poses some problems as runners are still heading out. There was also confusion because at the top you’re supposed to run a small loop anti clockwise around the summit, but unfortunately only Alex and I did this, with other runners going straight up and down. Nevertheless we headed back and I just put my head down and strode out. Alex was catching me slightly, but I ran reasonably well and managed to hold on until the finish. I was very pleased with how the race went, I broke my record from last year by about 30 seconds and managed to close in 29:14. I was very happy with how I climbed as I felt comfortable all the way.
Photo courtesy of Woodentops - Dave & Eileen Woodhead