British Fell Relay Race 2013

I had the delightful task of leading out the Glossopdale Harriers Ladies team in the 2013 British Fell Relay Race held in Llanberis last Sunday. To be fair, I'd asked for that leg, it being a) the shortest, b) the leg with least ascent, and c) meant I didn't have to hang about getting nervous for 3-4hrs. The idea in my head was to get the leg with the least chance of me losing the most time. Did it work? Who knows. But our team placed 15th/35 and I didn't come last in my leg. To me that's great. Was it fun. Errrm. It was hard, it was damn windy, it rained...a lot. It was very muddy and slippy. Paths were more like rivers. All attributes a good fell race should have. Afterwards I felt like I could have run again...though my lungs at the time would not have been able to push any faster. My lungs really don't like being worked hard in windy conditions.

Final preparations for me in the Glossopdale tent

The first sign that the race would be a tough one was on my recce the day before. The route was basically uphill (mostly steep with a few undulations) for 3km.

The grassy bank topping out of the quarries on recce day - looking up

and looking down

A bit of traversing then a short shallow descent, a short ascent to the trig on Cefn-du (441m). Then a descending boggy path, descent down a rocky track, a very steep descent through bracken on a muddy trod, across fields for 600m on mud/rock/grass and a final stretch of about 600m on tarmac.

What I didn't know is that the actual start line was a further 600m down the tarmac road. Deflated I started right at the back of the pack. An unforgiving gradient and fast start pace left me seriously breathless before I got off-road. I was however determined not to be last as we ran past all the spectators so I pushed on and made my way up the field a little.

Leg 1 start...spot me in blue

Climbing through the bracken and quarries was slow. Not only because of the gradient but the shear sogginess of the path, the headwind and narrowness of the path meant that it was difficult to overtake, even if I could have. I grabbed a few places back on the slate steps, which I promptly lost again on the grass bank that climbed out of the top of the quarries. I noted that me and a Carnethy lass were leap-frogging places so figured I couldn't be doing too badly. Turned out I came in a minute or so ahead of her, though I've no idea where I left her.

Nearing the high point of leg 1 on recce day

Most of the race was a blur with me just battling to keep going. Knowing that my other team mates were in the event centre waiting to run their legs kept me moving as best I could. I was disappointed not to be able to run more of the ascent. Even in places I knew I should have been able to run the wind was so fierce it just stopped me from pushing on faster.

The trig point on recce day

Then there was the boggy conditions. In places the grass was disguised as bog which didn't help, leaving my feet sinking 6+inches underground then energy-sapping-shoe-sucking-off leg lifts to take the next step. As I passed through CP1 I knew there wasn't much more ascent. I would hopefully regain some form of regulated breathing on the descent. CP2 was at the summit and some windswept marshalls cheering me on - thanks, I appreciate the encouragement.

The stony track descending - on recce day

My heart rate was almost maxing out even on the descent...maybe that was due to fear on the steep bracken trod section. Then the final traverse across some horrible ground - boggy, rocky, bracken and nettles, a gate or two, a stile, then the final uphill on tarmac. It was quite difficult to keep going on that bit, but with a lot of leg 3 runners already on their way out I had to push on. To be honest I felt quite deflated seeing so many runners going the other way. If it had been a solo race I would have walked up that bit. Think of the team. That's all that kept me going. I know I was never going to compete with the front ladies, but I did my best. I pushed as much as I could and got close to throwing up a couple of times...surely that means I was trying?!

The final descent into the finish area hurt. Tarmac, heavy legs, lungs complaining. The pain of having a u-turn to do at the bottom put me off my stride, then the final metres to hand over to Sue and Zoe.

Me on the final few meters...

And the final dib. My time was 55:07 and 28th/38 ladies on my leg. The rest of the GDH ladies all made up places on their respective legs: leg 2 (Sue and Zoe) in 19th place, leg 3 (Jude and Lins) in 16th, and leg 4 (Caity Rice) giving us a stonking finish coming 3rd in her leg. In total we bagged 15th place. Good running ladies. The Glossopdale men had good races too, the A-Team coming 26th and B-Team in 47th.

Leg 2 coming in...Zoe and Sue running well

Leg 3 heading out...Lins and Jude going so fast they're just a blur

Leg 4 being brought home superbly by Caity

Leg 1 was advertised as 7.4km with 350m ascent. I clocked 8km with 440m ascent. Not much different in length, but a whole lot different for the ascent. Looking at the map the start/finish isn't where we started or finished!!

Will I do a relay again? We'll see. I guess there's too many variables to speculate right now. Either way it's a good day out. The socialising and spectating are brilliant, even in torrential rain. I saw some amazing efforts and team work throughout the day...hats off to the jelly-legs man helped over the line by his partner, and to the chap who's shoe must have disintegrated at some point - top marks for running in your sock (for how long I'm not sure), good on your partner for the piggy-back along the final slate run in. To everyone who took part well done, and a massive thanks to the organisers, marshalls and cooks - it was brilliant.