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Duddon  31 May

Only 3 Harriers this year- me doing the long, Pete doing it as a slower training run and Bob doing the short(er) version. Bowland were there in numbers as for them it was a championship race, and my MM partners first long fell race.

You missed a lovely day. Hot and sunny, although not quite as hot as two years ago. Fortunately there were some cloudier moments and one of these coincided with the climb up Little Stand. I am still trying to find out which joker called it Little! The race started from the ‘new’ field as last year and it was good to know roughly what to expect having done the race twice before now. I was still amazed how many wet or boggy bits there were and not just in the field before the finish. Many smaller streams had dried up altogether so I carried a camel pack- just a shame I was too out of breath to suck the water out.

The climbs seemed hard as usual but once I got to the road at half way I knew I would finish. (I had taken a week off after the pain and trauma of dragging my reluctant legs around Hutton Roof). The climb up Swirl How never seems as bad as Little Stand and although I die a bit on Caw at least by then you know it is nearly over. There were plenty of supporters out enjoying the sun and their encouragement was very welcome at 3 Shires and on Dow.

Not a bad effort in the end. Four minutes slower than last year but I managed to just sneak in under the 4 hour line. My excuse is there were no points to chase and it was maybe a bit warmer. I was spurred on by Jo from Bowland trying to catch me and also Nicola from Borrowdale and I worked hard together from Swirl How on towards Caw. This race always hurts but I must admit to being a favourite and one year I am actually going to stay for the party.

Pete stuck to his guns and had his training run. That and trying to recondition his toes to Lakeland descents.

Bob enjoyed the shorter race, encouraged by Chris who had gone up to the third checkpoint to cheer people on.

Results and photos on Duddonvalleyfellrace.org.uk

The Start

I think we are grateful to Chris for these good action pictures. Karen at the end must have been from Bob.

Thanks for them all. My apologies for the way the page has gone very wide!

It is beyond me!

Lots of fell runners break away from their original running clubs, mainly because they have no interest in track & field, fell running being their main interest. The fell running section of our club decided to have their own website, probably for the same reason. Now a V70, George Arnold is our oldest active fell runner. There are a few more of us close behind! One of our top female road runners, whilst marshalling recently at Chipping Show Fell Race commented on just how friendly fell runners are.