British Fell Relays 2014

British Fell Relays 19/10/14

That time of year has come around once again. The biggest social event in the Fell running calendar. This is the British Fell Relays, this year it was held in the Lakes at Middleton Fells on the 19th October.  

I helped Gareth Briggs organise the Fell Relay teams this year. We decided to opted for three teams, maybe in retrospect we should of stuck to two. However we wanted to encourage the growth of fell running in the club. And to an extent that did work. We opted for one vets team, and two open teams. 

We all decided to travel up on the day, which was fine apart from Alison got a puncture on the way up in her car. Which delayed there arrival a little. 

After setting up the tent, getting numbers and tags etc we went for a warm up. It's hard to do this,  as it's relays, some people would be running off straight away others would have to wait until the afternoon.

Shelf Moor Fell Race 14

Shelf Moor Fell Race 07/09/14

This is the second time I ve done this race, the first time I did it with Gareth Briggs. This year he decided to do another race, so I arrived with the Craig and Martin.

After registration in the old scout hut and a half mile warm up to the start we were on the start line. I saw Roger Taylor and his friend who was doing her first fell race. I can't think of a better fell race to do as your first. Good choice Roger. Roger is a good friend and he runs for Mercia and lives in Stone.  Mark Platt who also runs for Staffordshire Moorlands also made his way up to the race. Hes nice bloke and has been running for a while.

Longshaw Sheep Dog Trails.

Longshaw Sheep Dog Trails Fell Race 30/08/14

Myself, Craig, and Martin decided to carry on racing.

We enjoy running, we enjoy the banter, we enjoy the sport and we enjoy the land.  So the next chapter in the adventure took us towards Sheffield and close to the burbage edge.

Here is the link to the website:

http://www.longshawsheepdog.co.uk/fell_race

We arrived to a muddy field in a cold and wet miserable day. O the joys of running in the rain. None of us knew what to expect and how difficult the race was. We had just turned up to take part in the race.

Weasdale Horseshoe

Weasdale Horseshoe Fell Race 23/08/14

A rare trip up to the lakes to race, this was my first lakes fell race. You start to fear the worst when you see the mountain grow as your driving on the motorway. And for those that know me, my nervous started to step it up a notch, so there were a couple of stops on the motorway!

I travelled up with a Craig Jeffery, Gareth Briggs, and Martin Dearden all from Staffs Moorlands running club. This made for an enjoyable journey because of the banter. Laughing definitely helps settle nervous.

We arrived at the Wasdale and it was no surprise that the race was attached to a village fete. A gently warm up and a quick look at the map and a technical tongue wag with Gaz about the the route as he has done it before. And I was set for me race plan.

Half tour of Bradwell

Half Tour Bradwell

This year I opted to do the half tour of Bradwell, rather then the full tour that usually cripples me. The half is 15/16 miles long and takes the first part of the route from the full tour until you get to the Hollin's Cross and then it goes across the ridge until you join the route on the full tour.  Then the Half goes back to start/finish line on its own route once you hit the car park checkpoint near Lady-bower reservoir. And this is the bit I didn't know, as I didn't do a recce.

I arrived just in time to get myself sorted and also meet up with Janson Heath who was running the full tour along with Frank Murphy. Lisa, Janson's wife was also there. Myself and Janson were running for Team Raidlight, though in separate races.

Summer Series 14

Summer Series

The summer series is a great social event for anyone living in staffordshire and beyond. There are nine races in total and they happen every thursday evening from the the end of May, I think. The races are organised by Staffordshire Moorlands Athletics Club.

Its a great chance to do a short sharp run in the middle of the week and to catch up with follow runners.

As well as competing in the series for a second time, I also organised a race.  In order to be included in the league standings at the end of the series you have to complete 7 out of the 9 races. This is harder than you think. As its demanding to race every week. So my advice is to plan which seven or eight races to do, as I always feel you need a rest in the middle somewhere.

Kentmere Horseshoe English Champs.

Kentmere Horseshoe 20/07/14

Borrow car. Drive for 3hrs. Forget Club top! Panic. Meet club captain. Buy random top. Warm up. Think to myself why the hell am I here. 

At this point I’d only ran once in June for training as I got injured MTB in Wales. And since then I have had a bad back, which is now starting to get better. Now am just stuck with my bad glute that I’ve had since October 2013…

Meet Will Neill, Gareth Briggs,  Jo and Emma Gould. And its time for the start of the race. I position myself near the back. Confidence is low and there is little racing legs in me apart from the summer series.