The Spine Challenger Blog 2

Spine blog 2

The original idea for a holiday this year involved France, alpine passes, road bikes and sun. For a number of reasons, this didn't come off, but luckily we had a back up plan. 

As mentioned in the previous Spine Blog, I've never actually set foot on the Pennine way anywhere north of Marsden. Thats quite a lot of territory that, if not recced, might prove a little tricky come the actual race. 

Lynne and I decided to have a few days run/walking up the Pennine way, basically to see what it was like underfoot and around about from Wessenden (isle of skye road) up to Horton-in-Ribblesdale. I wasn't carrying full on spine kit, but was carrying enough for a 4 day running trip, staying in hostels etc. We both ended up with packs weighing between 4 and 6kg depending on which bits of clothing we were wearing, and whether we'd eaten lunch and drank all our water... 

Day 1 from the Isle of Skye road to Mankinholes. As you can tell from the distance, we weren't thrashing away trying to run as fast and as hard as possible, but rather, this was a considered recce of the route, and to get an idea of what was underfoot. The weather on day one was indifferent at best, and wet and misty at worst.

Waterproofs on all day, not really conducive to sitting down for lunch. It was great for checking out the markers, the directional changes, and seeing just how shockingly awful the paving slabs are going to be in January. I try and avoid the slabs on bleaklow over winter because of how icy and unpredictable they can be.... 

We got into Mankinholes after heading up to Stoodley pike, which I recognised from Shepherds Skyline a couple of years ago. Hung all our bits and bobs up to dry in the drying room if the hostel (which doesn't actually turn on until 5pm) and went to find a pub.

(The Top Brink... Good food. Good ale).

Day 2 Mankinholes to Cowling. The main thing about today was that although there isn't a lot in the way of peaks, there is a fair amount of up and down. Its not exactly on entirely runnable terrain either, so keeping up a decent pace out of Hebden Bridge might be challenging. Need to workout exactly where the checkpoint in HB is going to be, to plan a route in and out, and recce that as well. 

Once over the first few lumps, it basically stays lumpy all, and in some places the path becomes much more bog than anywhere else that I've seen thus far on any section (including Bleaklow), and the final drop into Cowling was fun, but quite a long haul. 

Cowling has rather a decent pub with good beer, good food, a good landlord and is a genuinely good place to have a pint. The B&B also has remarkably comfy beds, and very welcoming hosts. 

Day 3 Cowling to Malham. Very much a slightly undulating day, going through lots of fields and farmland. A number of bovine encounters, and a few places where the PW was not altogether well signposted meant that this is really a place that you need to keep your wits about you.

Generally well signposted, though... Much more runnable than yesterday, and a bit less hilliness to worry about. It got a lot flatter toward the end, into Malham. Pub with kittens, and a clean hostel with excellent self catering facilities.

Day 4 Malham to Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Originally this was going to be a day to Hawes, but there was no train station there, so we cut it short.

Steep pull out of Malham, a bit where you really don't want to go wrong, easy running to Fountain Fell, ditto to Pen-y-Ghent, and an easy off into town. 

Apart from day 1 the weather held off, and we had a decent few days of pleasant autumnal sun. I used the Harveys 1:40k, Lynne had a series of 1:25k laminated sheets that we had printed off before going, and we surprised ourselves by going across them at quite a rate. 

I did the entire thing in a pair of Inov8 x-talon 212s, which were slightly battered at the beginning (450k on the clock), and were a little slippy and slidey in some places, but they held up well. I think they might be coming toward the end of their fell running days, and may have to be relegated to trail running soon. 

I got everything in an OMM 20litr adventure light, though think that for the race, the 32 litre might be slightly more appropriate, considering the amount of extra gear that we will be required to carry. If i can get it all down to less than 10kg all told, I'll be pretty happy. 

Lessons

• So yes, I can mapread with a 1:40k. 
• X talons are fine for consecutive 30k days at a relatively leisurely speed.
• You can put on weight over a week even if you're doing the Pennine way. 
• I think I'll be doing some long heavy days out over the next few months, interspersed with a decent squat and single leg weight training regime, and a whole load of step up and step downs. 
• And I'm certainly going to need an OMM 32 litre, a Rotor Smock, a pair of leki microvario poles, and potentially a lighter sleeping bag. 
• Also need to think about lighting, and get used to running in the dark, in rain, for long periods of time. Joy.
• The original Suunto Ambit cannot cope with more than 3 days of 30k per day recording, and on the 4th day, overwrites the 1st day. Not only that, but if you have a GPX of the 4th day, you can't upload it to Movescount. If I could use the Ambit without using Movescount I really would.... the upload thing has been an issue for more that 2 years now and is, without doubt, an easy fix. The lack of memory on the Ambit is a hardware thing, and, I believe less of an issue on the 2 and 3.  

The Spine Challenger blog 1

The story so far.

As a number of you may or may not know, along with doing a fair amount of fellrunning and a job in physiotherapy, I'm also a member of Glossop Mountain Rescue Team. A group of volunteers who are a part of the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation, and Mountain Rescue England and Wales as a national organisation. 

In January last year, one of the guys from one of the local teams did the Spine Challenger race, that's the Pennine way from Edale to Hawes, nonstop in January. That's about 108 miles, and is the smaller brother of the Spine race, which is a nonstop continuous race along the entire Pennine way, from Edale to Kirk Yetholm.

This guy apparently had a great idea of potentially running a Mountain Rescue Spine Challenger type race, alongside the actual race, while the teams helped provide safety cover for everyone. He approached the organisers, they loved the idea, and so an invitation was sent out to teams, saying would you like to run one of the longest, coldest and gnarliest races in Britain, and in the meantime, if you can get sponsored for it, that'll go to Mountain rescue as well. 

(thats the version of events that I think I heard, it might not be 100% correct, but its what I remember... apologies if its wrong, let me know and I'll amend it).

So being me, I thought, its not everyday you get an invitation like that, I'll put my name in the hat and see if it gets drawn out, there are only limited places. 

Its the kind of thing I might get around to, but generally I prefer fell races where the entry fee is little more than a fiver, and you get tea and cake at the end. The Spine Challenger is a slightly different prospect, and harkens back to the days when I used to enter 24hour adventure races with a mate just because it got us out of London. 

So today I have found out that my entry has been processed and I am in, along with a couple of other guys from Glossop MRT. No idea about others teams, but I'm sure I'll find out in due course. 

At the moment I have a fair amount of experience of slightly longer distance than average, but I'm certainly not what you would call an out and out Ultra distance guy. I also have a few races in the calendar between now and January that need to not only be run, but raced... (fell relays, snowdonia marathon, need to get a decent park run for the club champs etc)  So although I'm going to be concentrating a fair amount on training for the Spine, I need to keep the speed up, hill pace good, and generally, not just long plodding fit... 

Added to that, I might know the Pennine way from Edale to Marsden pretty well, having run the Trigger a few times, and generally bashed about hereabouts for 4years, but thats the bit I'm going to be running in the daylight. I don't think I've ever walked any of the Pennine way north of Marsden. This might be an issue I need to rectify. 

Other than that, looking at the rather comprehensive kitlist, I think I have most of it, but am still going to see if I can beg or borrow (or, worst case, buy) some specific, and maybe lighter kit for the actual race. 

I have no idea if there is anyone interested in this, but I thought I might do a short series of blogs leading up to the race, it is, after all, only 4months away, detailing a bit on training, kit and such like. Even if others don't want to read it, it will serve as an interesting diary to look back on. 

Moel Famau Fell Race 2015

Second last counter in the NWFRA series. A short hard blast that takes in a few paths, a steep bit, the observatory at the top, and then a decent downhill bit. And a really horrid uphill finish.

The weather dawned pretty horribly and it looked like we were in for the first wet race of the year within these champs. Despite the drive down through the clag and rain, by the time we were going through Mold and Loggerheads, the roads were drying and there was little enough precipitation to be considered a nice day in Wales.

Moel Famau has a reputation for getting a lot of entries - and some pretty decent runners as well (Morgan Donnelly crushed the record last year, and Lloyd was there the year before), and with a field of somewhere over 200 runners - on a course that is little more than 8km long, and its a recipe for a fast one.
My suspicions were confirmed when I chatted with Jez Brown from Buckley - hard, fast and horribly runnable. He was of the opinion that it might well end up being a roadie that won, considering that there were a few very fast guys lining up at the start.

After perusing the fayre, and having a bit of a look at the first and last few km of the race route, we warmed up, got our race numbers (laminated, AND with ready attached pins) and spent some time chatting with the various characters that were racing today.
There was no kit requirement for the race, so there was pretty much no-one with any gear at all. I had a pair of gloves on, and that was pretty much the extent of safety gear.

Lining up at the start I was (for a change) pretty close to the front, next to Rob Grantham - who beat both me and Jez at Tal-y-fan. There was no small talk before the race. No "watch out for this or that", nothing at all - just a countdown and go. Proper welsh race style. Beeps of watches, and a fast, fast start. I managed to stay with the top 5 as we head out past the church and down the hill, a couple of people fell behind, and I managed to stretch into the lead for about 400m as we reached the steep downhill. Then as the track flattened, Clive Fitzpatrick (darling of the FRA - or maybe not) wearing roadshoes on his feet and fell shoes on his hands came past, along with
a fast bloke in red. They stretched ahead a little way, and then as the hill kicked up, Jez came past me. We juggled positions for a while, 3rd and 4th, and the hill steepened, and his home knowledge really began to show. I was running this for the first time - and it should be no excuse, but he was very much on local turf,
knowing when to push and when to hold off a little.

I tried to keep with Jez for the whole of the climb, and it was about half way up that we closed in on and passed the guy in red. Clive was way out in front, and going ridiculously fast. Jez never once broke his stride, and although in hill reps - the idea is never to walk so that in a race you never walk, I ended up with legs so heavy that I ended up walking.
At times like this I end up wondering what the hell I'm doing. The raffle has more prizes than the fell race, costs less to enter, and you get pretty much as good a chance of winning some pretty decent prizes, and here I am, hammering up a hill in the red zone with my lungs in tatters, legs pumping battery acid, wishing I could stop. But no.

If I stopped, I'd be like everyone else.

Keep moving.
For the short sections that I walked, to begin with I was keeping up with Jez who was running, however, inbetween the run/walk/run/walk sections that I was doing, time was still being lost, and by the time we hit the top of the climb (which seemed a looooong time in coming) there was a 15 second gap between us.
Clive had managed to get to the top, change his shoes and start running down before we got there. Tapped? Showing off? Who knows.
Apparently there was a quadcopter buzzing around at the top, but I had no idea that was there, all I could see was the ground in front of me. Round the top and down - Jez was a good distance in front of me- thats what 15 seconds affords you, and there was only so much I was going to be able to do to catch him.
On the top section where it was a little rougher I sensed that I was closing him down a little. Whether there was someone doing the same to me - no clue. Although it was downhill now, there was still that little matter of the 500m flat section followed by about 800m of road climb at the end. Go too hard now, and maybe you'll get overtaken at the end. Don't go hard enough, and maybe give someone the opportunity to catch you up, and then overtake you at the end... time it just right, and stay in 3rd.

Down across the moors, legs really getting pounded by the descent, especially after emptying them on the uphill section. Jez and Clive were a way in front of me, and seemingly uncatchable. Past the marshals and continuing down, through a field, where I was momentarily thinking about stumbling and cracking my knee, because that would probably be marginally less painful that what I was feeling as my lungs burnt trying to get
enough oxygen in.
a hard left and onto the same track as we had come up - Jez was pretty much out of sight now, its just a case of consolidating 3rd. Not going so slow that I get caught, but not going so fast that I blow up. Down the horrible tracky path thing, and a hard right. Flat for 400 metres or so. Stride out, and hope that the guys behind aren't road specialists. Never looking behind, because if I have enough energy to look behind, I'm not going hard enough, and now we have the final ascent -

Me, Caity, Chris and Al. Pre race.

40 paces up the steep part, breathing like a steam train, try to gauge if there is anyone close behind by the amount of clapping that is going on, the road flattens, and go hard, knowing that the final section is yet to come. Legs on fire, lungs on fire, final 300metres, and then the kicker at 200 to go.
Is there someone coming for a sprint finish? I have no idea, and give it all I've got. Even if this isn't a sprint contest, its good practice for the day that it happens.

People line the sides of the route as I empty the rest of my energy into my legs and hammer for the line - which is literally a table right across the road, so no running through it, just a sudden stop at the end, and sweet, sweet relief that I've stopped running.
Bottle of water, and then a wait for the next guy, a good 20 seconds behind me.... so no need for a heroic last dash, but good practice anyway. Walking around at the end, its like I'm already getting DOMS and every muscle in my legs begins to hurt and mildly cramp.
Short. Hard. Horribly runnable.
3rd.

Thanks to the guys who organised it - I did hear a couple of people wondering about the prizes only for 1st male and 1st female, no age group prizes, nothing. Thats pretty rare for a fell race, and when you have 160+ people paying a fiver for a race, you'd think there might be a few more bottles of beer being dished out. Still, each to their own.
Thanks also to the MR team that marshaled, and to the people out shouting at us all along the course.