Race Report by Shutters:
For numerous years I had seen this midweek race in the FRA fell calendar but for various reasons had never been able to fit it in, this year however we put it in the midweek fell championship and even though i had only just come back off holiday there were no excuses – it had to be done. The race is centred around Holcombe moor and Peel Tower, the advertised stats are 3.86 miles / 1300 ft ascent and looking at the race map there are some very steep shortish climbs, the race starts at 7pm as the nights are drawing in. I arrived early, entered and set-off on a warm-up through the woods taking various paths that all went vertical on dusty very dry ground, i met Sharkey on my return down the hillside and had a chat before we were coaxed to the start by the RO.
116 runners set-off on a flat narrow dirt path in Redisher Woods that cloak the side of Holcombe Hill before very quickly turning right and going vertical up thru the woods, this was very steep on very dry dusty terrain before emerging in a field and a short flatish section before we turned right and up the side of the hill to Peel Tower. Legs were complaining but it flattened out from the tower and a chance to recover a bit, the field had spread out – Sharkey was long gone – and i could see all the way to Harcles Hill the highest point of the course with runners all the way up it and descending back from it. I could see 1 particular Rossendale runner ahead about 80 yds who i normally tangle with and therefore thought i should be doing a bit better!
Having come down from Harcles Hill there was a short flat bit then we went down the west side of the hill to a rough track where a marshal then directed us back up the side of the hill with no path just rough clumpy grass, looking back you could see nothing but green with the back end of Winter Hill visible, it would have made a great picture if i had the energy to actually take it. When we reached the top we were directed back down the side of the hill again but this time much further down the hill before climbing back up thru some woods and a rough track to the top of the hill again. I could see the Rossy runner 50 yds ahead, thankfully there was a flat short section before i saw we were heading for Peel Tower (agen) and knew we would be retracing the out section down to the finish and it is literally all downhill from there.
The path down is initially very rough and there’s plenty of chance of tripping, most people were tipey toeing down carefully whereas i was a bit more reckless and overtook a number of runners, all the time gradually reeling my Rossy friend in. As we hit Redisher woods this time running downhill it was time for the brakes as this is the steepest part of the course, very dry and dusty, clinging onto branches to slow down and avoid slipping and tumbling. I was 10 yards behind Rossy when we hit the flat bit and just managed to get past before the finish.
What a race, 1300 ft ascent in 3.86 miles is tougher than Aggies Staircase u are either going up or down with only 2 short flat bits, fully marked with marshalls on every turn – as the RO said at the start, nobody could possibly go wrong – then agen Checkers wasn’t there so we wont know if that is true or not!
Posn Age Cat Posn
29 RobertSharkey M45 LostockAC 00:42:03 5
51 MarkShuttleworth M55 LostockAC 00:47:45 5
