Race report by Shutters:
Shepherds Skyline Fell Race – 2nd Nov 2024, 1pm.
This race is a personal favourite of mine having run this at least 11 times over the past 18 years. At 6 mile/10k 1150ft/350m ascent it is a typical short race and consists of an uphill start, a flat bit to Stoodley Pike, a steep descent off Stoodley, a flat bit along London Road before a muddy climb back up to the top and finally retracing the outward steps this time down hill to the finish.
In detail, the start is at the base of the hill opposite The Shepherd Rest Inn which is on Lambutts Road, Todmorden – but essentially in the middle of nowhere. The start is up a narrow path and is congested for at least 1/2 mile as the path skirting the side of the hill is a single track with occasional areas where u can overtake. When u reach the top it gets v muddy and then opens up all the way to Stoodley Pike, this is a very runnable section after the tough uphill start. At Stoodley Pike u go straight off the top following the steep path twisting down to ground zero and is a great descent, lots of chance to overtake as some runners take it easy carefully picking their way down the path, me i see this as a chance to let go and overtake, having good fell shoes does come in handy here. At the bottom we turn left and head along London Road which is a very wet trail/path before we veer left and wind our way back up to the top of the hill on what is a very muddy section. At the top we pick up the path that we used on the outward section and we follow this all the way back to the finish. Special mention to the final descent which is hairy, its the same single track used on the uphill start section and it is littered with trip obstacles, running downhill at speed on a trail on the side of a hill can be a hairy experience.
Mark Checkley, Rob Sharkey and myself turned up on Saturday early enough to get a spot on the Pub car park which is unusual and this year was because there were no junior races. I registered, pinned my number to my vest, put my running shoes on and then found i had no kit! long story but my kit was not in the boot of my car. Having entered the race i set off to tell the RO that i had to withdraw and was going home rather brassed off, eventually i found him and when he heard my story he was having none of it, with 20 mins to go before he was due to set the race off and at a peak of his duties as RO he ran off and found a marshall who had full kit and he promptly leant me his rucksack and kit. No time for a warm-up we lined up with about 200 other runners on what was a mild, almost warm afternoon. Sharkey was off as sharp as ever disappearing in a sea of vests, i started a little slower, i hadn’t had time for a warm-up and at 57 and a half the old legs don’t get going as quickly as they used to. I really struggled going up and stopped several times to have a walk and recover inorder to start running again, eventually we reached the top and i ran and walked the undulations till i got to Stoodley Pike where i opened up and overtook a few runners. I had a good run along London Road and again lost a bit of ground on the 2nd climb as i struggled more than other runners around me. At the top i got some sort of pace going but didn’t really catch many up on the final descent.
It was an unusual race, the weather was good and this is not normal for this race which is normally wet and windy! i sauntered in with a time of 1 hr 9 mins 13 secs, i was hoping for a quicker time but i enjoyed the race even if i was off the pace.
Dude Sharkey had a very good race coming in just infront of Darren Fishwick in 27th position, well done dude.
Checkers finished in 184th position with 202 runners in total, well done Checkers, he keeps plugging away doing as many races as he can get to and always finishes with a smile.
Apologies we did take some selfies before the start but it looks like we dont have 1 where all 3 of us are looking at the camera at the same time, fell runners are different, as Andy would say, like herding cats.
A big thankyou to the RO Gaz Pemberton and his team for a thoroughly well organised race – and special thanks to the marshall who leant me his racksack and kit.
Pos
27 24 55.36 Robert Starkey M 26 M45 4 Lostock AC 4th V45 out of 18
115 55 1.09.13 Mark Shuttleworth M 101 M55 20 Lostock AC
184 64 1.29.55 Mark Checkley M 143 M60 20 Lostock AC
202 runners
https://www.todharriers.co.uk/shepherds_skyline/shepherdsskyline2024.pdf
