Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round, Saturday 7th March.
Billed as a bit over 10 miles and 1500ft of climb taking in Pendle moor, Mike Hill and I set off in the blazing sunshine for the big climb which starts the race. Mike was looking strong, whilst my legs were feeling a bit weak and so I resorted to a lot of walking, but luckily didn't lose too many places by the time we crested the main climb of the day.
The sun was still strong, but there was a stiff breeze to keep us cool for the sprint across the top to the moor. I managed to overtake Mike by vaulting a gate as he traversed a stile and then let rip over the tussocks to see if I could keep up with 'proper' fell runners. The middle section of the race is nice as it's mostly a gradual downhill, so you can focus on where you're putting your feet to keep your momentum up. Only one miscalculation which left me up to my knees in a bog, but soon extracted without injury.
The final run in has a couple of sharp hills which again had me resorting to walking, but then the finish came to soon at just over 9 miles when I thought I had a chance of take a few guys in front. Cracking race and would do it again as long as the weather is the same 😉 it was then off to Maccy D's for a celebration feast.
1 405 Paul Crabtree M40 (001/046) Wharfedale Harriers 01:11:20
24 369 Robert Wilson M40 (009/046) Wilmslow RC 01:20:34
33 264 Mike Hill M40 (012/046) Wilmslow RC 01:23:25
Rob
With only 50 mins travel time to Barley, this must be a contender for a Summer Series race. The race HQ is in the local village hall, which sells large quantities of cake for those who are addicted, such as Gail and Geoff.
The going is similar to Shelf Moor with the largest hill being tackled at the start. However, there are a couple more shorter hills to test the legs in the second half of the race. My Garmin had over 1,800ft of climb rather than the billed 1,500ft. At least the final leg is downhill over fields to the finish line.