Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Mount Famine - Catagory 'A" Fell Race

I have been training quite hard over the last four/five weekends, racing, upping and generally being out on the fells, so i decided to make my way to Hayfield to have crack at the one race i have heard so much about.

Realised i had left the Garmin at home, so nothing to push me on, when i need a push.

Especially the start!



After last min dash from Derby to Hayfield, i arrived at the scout hut, with mu £4 at the ready, seeing some usual faces and friends made the trip worth while.

A little bit of a map review and a 5 min trot to the start, which seemed a little narrow, i soon realised that the race went sideways from the path, form a line facing up the hill and off, up Elle Bank and what a scramble, the chat soon stopped and was replaced with lung busting breath after lung busting breath.

On reaching the top, and undulating trot before a drop into the woods, sharp right and then up onto the ridge and towards Mount Famine, some ups and some downs then a real sharp push up onto South Head.



The first 1.51 miles of the race covers 984ft of climbing...... ouch!



After the drop off South Head, which at this stage i thought i was last, really finding it hard to get the legs going fast enough on the ups, having enough to catch folks on the downs, but the last major climb back onto Mount Famine, taking in bits of Dimpus Clough (picture above) was a real digging in session.

The ridge and drop back to the path for the trot along the road, similar to the finish of the Kinder Downfall, cross the bridge and onto the park.

Felt like i had pushed hard, had a really good session, unsure of time and placing due to no garmin and not having a clue how many runners were in front. But even though it was Solid, enjoyed it, in a strange way!

Results have been published today - Finished 109/116 in 1hr 17min 27 seconds!

That's the MOUNT FAMINE (5m/1850') - Saturday, 14th May 2011 - 11:00am - A/S

It's also pushed me up to 32 in the Dark Peak local league.

5 comments:

sbrt said...

Good stuff Martin

Cant beat a good steep climb to get warmed up.

Martin said...

Warmed up!......To be honest, it knocked me for six, legs were like lead, especially after my Thorpe Cloud trek on the Friday night, managed 5000ft plus in 3.5 hrs, so never expected to much.

Put it in your diary for next year, great route, never seen that part of the world before!

See you soon!

shannon said...

Insane elevation change, but it looks like so much fun!

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Gerard Cahill said...

How many hours a week training would it take to run a race this hard on the body