Race Reports
October 14, 2019,
by Pete
I’ve often wondered what happens if it’s race day and your body just doesn’t turn up; today, I found out. I left work on Tuesday morning ice cold and aching all over. Having spent two days in bed and one on the sofa, I decided I should return on Friday – not least to prove that I was well enough to run on Saturday. Several people told me this was a silly idea. “You’re not well,” they said, “have a rest day and recover.” I listened and understood that what they were saying was wise. So, needless to say I woke up on Saturday morning and drove to the Lakes for Ambleside AC’s brilliant Langdale Horseshoe. It’s an AL fell race, which means it’s pretty much the best kind, if by best you mean hilliest and longest. It’s known for being brutal underfoot and attracts a good crowd of fell runners. It’s... View Article
September 23, 2019,
by Pete
Flower of Scotland. It’s unlikely I’ll ever hear it again without emotion welling up inside. It’s Saturday and we’re strung out along the northern slope of Stob Coire a’ Chàirn. Only moments before I’d lost my footing on what should be an easy scramble around An Garbhanach. For a second I’m suspended between this life and the next, or at least it felt that way. I stare down at a 1500ft drop and my tired and cramping legs grapple to find their hold. A minute later and I’m back to normal but my nerves have frayed. That felt too close. It’s then, starting to attack the summit climb, that the silent concentration of runners meets with the stirring sound of the pipes. We push on, intensely focussed on the next step. Power hiking up, grabbing onto rocks to support or propel. As I summit I thrust a fist into the... View Article
September 9, 2019,
by Pete
There are many things that I find frustrating about the Great North Run. It’s expensive, over commercialised and mainly ran on dual carriageways. There are too many people and the t-shirts are cheap. But the moment I hear the gun, and the opening bars of Local Hero come from the speakers, all frustrations are forgotten. The run up to this years event has been a little different for me. I’d been having a golden spell in early summer. In eight days I ran personal bests for 5k, 10k and the Chevy Chase. Everything seemed to be falling into place right until the moment I took a tumble at the Turner Landscape. As my ankle turned over on itself, I saw my hopes of a quick summer disappear. It’s been a tough five weeks since. I spent two weeks flailing around attempting to swim before a gradual return to running. I squeezed into my start pen... View Article
There was a moment of joy, in amongst it all. One of those moments where your lungs seem to find an unlimited capacity and your legs float along, leaping over rocks like a mountain goat. There was a moment of joy, but there’s far more to my experiences at the weekend than that. The Turner Landscape is a fiesty little race on paper. It’s a shade over ten miles and a thousand metres of ascent – not to mention giving the opportunity to bag a few Wainwrights en route. The drive down through Wrynose Pass to Turner Hall Farm in the Duddon Valley, where it all starts, is enough to leave you breathless at the beauty. I’m not sure if J M W Turner influenced the naming of the farm, but he certainly spent a fair amount of time in Coniston and the surrounding area. He painted and sketched The Old Man... View Article
There’s a little section on the club website that says to try to limit yourself to one important race or PB attempt in any four week period. I couldn’t help but think of it while I flagrantly ignored it on my drive to Silksworth for the Sunderland 5k. It was Pablo Picasso who said, “learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist”. I’m not sure that’s exactly what I was doing, but chalking it down to artistry rather than stubbornness works for me. I’d ran Tynedale 10k last Wednesday and ran a PB by over 40 seconds. On Saturday it was the Chevy and the elation of crushing past performances there too. This week my legs are feeling tired but my mind is raring to go still, I’m just enjoying it at the moment. So, remembering it was the Sunderland 5k, I headed south after work.... View Article
There are a few basic elements of a good narrative — you have a character, some conflict or adversity, and then a resolution. The thing that keeps us reading, watching or listening is the tension between those things. The writers of the medieval Ballad of the Chevy Chase understood this. They recounted a tale of Harry Hotspur, Earl of Northumberland, going on a hunt in the Cheviot Hills. The Scottish Earl Douglas saw this as an invasion and set off in pursuit, losing his life in the following battle. It had all those elements of a good story. Seven centuries later, competing in the 63rd Chevy Chase fell race, I expected a similarly epic story — though hopefully without a death at the end. What more would you want from a race steeped in such heritage? I was already penning a race report in my head, usually ending with me... View Article
I don’t think there’s a race start quite like the Tynedale 10k anywhere in the north. A steep downhill that eases off and sweeps you from Ovington into Ovingham. The challenge isn’t to start fast, but rather not to start too fast. I set my 10k PB two summers ago in Morpeth at 40:43. It was a hazy, dreamy, summer night and I’d set out for a 42:30 and found myself faster than I’d believed possible. I hoped I’d go on from that to get a sub-40 but it just wouldn’t come. My times started to slacken off and I settled in to 41-42 minute territory. Preparing for this race I couldn’t help but think that this might be my day. It’s a little over a mile up from the race headquarters up to the start line in Ovingham, but it’s a pretty walk and helps prepare you. My strategy was to... View Article
On Sunday the elites of world mountain running raced at Zegama. It’s a race so legendary that they say, “Zegama is Zegama,” as though nothing could convey the essence of the race except the name itself. Basque crowds line the path of the Sancti Spiritu climb, only inches from the runners, to cheer them on. It’s a definite on my bucket-list, but also almost impossible to get into. There’s little I can do except keep entering the ballot and live in hope. Last night was the annual Ernie Johnson Memorial Penshaw Hill Race. It’s not Zegama but, for the briefest of moments, hurtling through the woods around the back of the monument, you could imagine. Penshaw Hill is a low lying hill that sits to the west of the city of Sunderland. It’s visible across the area thanks to the half size replica of the Temple of Hephaestus, in Athens, that... View Article
There was a moment, twenty five miles into the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday, when I passed a group of spectators and one of them shouted, “come on Peter, you’re looking good”. It’s one of the most blatant lies I’ve ever heard. Not even close to the truth. I was a mess, staggering along the road, desperately trying to ring the last drop of energy from my body. It had all started so promisingly. With wind and rain forecast for the whole race, the start was a dense sea of people dressed in home made bin bag ponchos. The first few hundred metres were slow until we hit the top of the mound and things picked up rapidly. You run down the mound, along through Princes Street Gardens and past the Scott Memorial, before heading up and onto the Royal Mile. It’s a breathtaking start to a run and I found... View Article
It seems strange to think that just three years ago I’d never taken part in a race. I was in training for the London Marathon, in a distinctly inadequate manner, and a friend asked me if I’d be interested in running in a trail race in the Lake District a couple of weeks afterwards. That first trail race was the Lakeland Trails event at Staveley and I’ve not looked back since in my love for trail running or the Lake District. These runs have a special place in my heart – there’s a great atmosphere, a variety of events and fantastic scenery. Saturday was my first time at the Hawkshead event and I’d entered the 16km challenge. I started strongly enough and tagged onto the two front runners for a quick first kilometre or so. The route leads around the edge of Hawkshead, starting to climb steeply in the second... View Article
