Race report by Andy K:
Puddleducks Trail Race
This Sunday, six Lostockers had an early start to make their way through the windy roads of The Forest of Bowland to tackle the Puddleducks Trail 15k and 10k Races. In its fifth year, these races start in the scenic little Village of Dunsop Bridge, which seemed to be dominated by the Puddleducks Tea Room and a few dozen ducks that were very keen to let you know they had the right of way on the village roads. The race promised “a fun and scenic off-road adventure” with stunning views however the damp misty weather this weekend did hamper that somewhat
After a busy race week for the club Janet, Greg and I were looking to go round at an decent pace without pushing too hard, Rachel and Bev were all set for a catch up and setting the world to rights, and Stephen just seemed glad Rachel had only signed him up to do 10k
Both course starts with a loop of the field that Race HQ was based in. From there the runners make their way up the road, into the farmland. After a climb up past a farm, the 15k route forks off from the 10k route and follows the paths uphill alongside Langdon Brook. After a welcome water station near the top of the brook, runners have to turn back up a very steep climb and then navigate down an even steeper descent before following the trails back towards the finish
Unfortunately, due to a marshalling cock up, this event quickly became a shambles so you can probably ignore that last paragraph.
The first 0.8k saw us complete a loop of the starting field, exited up a small hill and through an Alpaca farm with a couple of marshalls helpfully stopping oncoming traffic.
We carried on along an undulating country road through small hamlets. Janet and myself were going at a steady pace and feeling strong despite recent excursions and found ourselves near the front of the pack with Greg not too far behind. The light drizzle was a welcome countermeasure to the humidity.
My watch beeped for 5k as we reached the village of Newton-in-Bowland and slowly came to a stop with fellow runners as we all started to wonder when the trails would start. We all decided we must have missed a turning so headed back. A short while later one of the organisers appeared in their truck hastily pointing and saying that we’d gone the wrong way
Keeping a vigilant eye out for any turning or sign that we may have missed, after picking up Greg on the way, we ended up back at the Alpaca Farm where the sheepish marshalls pointed to a gate leading through the farm. After running almost 9k we were ready to complete the first kilometre of the course…
As we made our way up the farm trails I was slowly losing all motivation and dropped back a bit. When I made it to the turning for either the 10k or 15k route, I found Janet and Greg just in the distance down the 10k path checking to see if I was mad enough to guilt them into an unexpected half marathon or if I’d join them. To everyone’s relief, along with the majority of runners, I carried straight on for the shorter course.
Having foolishly not brought and water with me, I found the uphill climb through fields and along dirt tracks draining and walked a fair portion of it. When I finally made it to the water station at 14.5k into a now 10k race route I stopped for a chat and to recharge
Further ahead in a poorly marked field, a few dozen runners were all huddled as they tried to figure out where the course went next. Bev wisely advised them not to follow “the man in orange” who ran to the far end of the field, but it sounded like Greg enjoyed looking at the wrong gate anyway. By the time I caught up with them all I was running at a decent pace again and Rachel thankfully spotted me and pointed me towards the correct downwards decent towards the finish
Janet was the first down the hill and must have encouraged a herd of cows to run alongside her. As the rest of us got to the bottom they were blocking the gate, but with only a minor shock from the electric fence, Greg expertly moved them aside.
The final descent back through the farm felt relatively dreamy and me and Greg crossed the finish line together. After the extra distance we had all run, a final lap of the field did feel unnecessary, a point which Bev and Rachel made clear to the marshal ushering us round.
Despite the chaos, we did get a nice reddy/orange t-shirt and a pretty medal with the unexpectedly prescient motto “enjoy the journey to your destination” on the ribbon. Thankfully our final destination was The Inn at Whitewell for a well earned pub lunch (I’d definitely recommend the venison pie) and a wander over the Whitewell Stepping Stones as we made sense of our morning
For more details, here is an alphabetical list of people and the times they ran various distances:
https://www.lancashiretrails.com/_files/ugd/0b7f4d_5da9608b4bfa405e9f11112c5e795b72.pdf
I’m sure our race leaders will spare a thought for their counterparts at Radcliffe AC that had this on their race calendar
