Preston
Harriers Fell Section
:- fellblog
Montrail
Ultra Running Championship 2006
Report
by Pete Carter
The
Montrail Ultra Running Championship
The first UK Ultra Running championship
series consisting of 12 off-road races (trail and fell). The series is divided
into short (26 – 31 miles), medium (32 – 40 miles) and Long (41 miles plus)
categories. You need to complete one race from each distance plus one other to
count to the championship. The ratio of your time against the winning time is
multiplied by 1000 to determine your personal point score for each event. I
decided to give it a go as my main challenge for this year.
Events completed so far:
Wuthering
Hike 31 miles (Short counter) 11 March
1st Donald Naylor
(Hunters Bogtrotters) 3:46:01 New record
83rd
Me (Peter Carter) 5:42:20 660
points
191 finishers
This was my 6th completion of
this race, so I had no route finding difficulties. A tour of the moors above
Haworth, Burnley, Todmorden and
Hebden
Bridge
.The weather on the day was clear, cold, dry and breezy. I was about 20 mins
outside by PB this time. After my storming run on the Anglezark Amble, I thought
I try and crack the 5hr mark. However with about 8 miles and two climbs to go I
started to suffer extreme pains in the inside of both thighs and could run no
further, but just manage a steady walk to the finish.
Calderdale
Hike 37 miles (Medium counter) 8 April
1st Jez Bragg 06:09
34th Me 09:04 677
points
45 finishers 8 retired
New for this year, the route was an anticlockwise loop
initially heading west via Stoodley Pike to Todmorden, crossing the A646 at
Cornholme, then heading south over Trough Edge End to Littleborough and over
Blackstone Edge to the M62. The route then continued north-east over Rishworth
Moor, skirting the east side of Ripponden and then back north to Sowerby -
sections of the
Pennine Way
, Pennine Bridleway and
Calderdale Way
. This turned out to be real slog over the pennines in some heavy showers of
sleet and snow. Initially I was not happy with my time, I
was happier once I found out it took the winner over 6hrs to complete and
I ended up with more points then I achieved on the Wurthering Hike.
Fellsman Hike 61
miles (Long Counter – Longest in the series) 13 May
1st Mark Hartell 11:37 (10:15 last year)
5th Sarah Rowell 14:27
42nd
Me 19:14 604 points
57th Roy Parkinson 19:57
60th
Jim Doherty 20:03 169
finishers 55 retired
A very tough tour of the Yorkshire Dales starting at
Ingleton and finishing at Threshfield nr Grassington and over 11 peaks, which
are Ingleborough, Whernside, Gragareth, Great Coum, Blea Moor, Snaizeholme,
Great Knoutberry, Dodd Fell, Middle tongue, Buckden Pike and Great Whernside.
I completed the Fellsman previously in 2004, in time of
just over 22 hrs because of the very thick fog at night and very wet underfoot
condition, I was hoping to easily better that this time. For safety reasons at
18:00 to 19:30 varies with location of road checkpoint, you get grouped into a
minimum of 4. Due to this fact, my main aim was to get to the Fleetmoss road
checkpoint before 19:30 and get across most of the Fleetmoss-Middle Tongue-Cray
leg before it got dark.
The heatwave of the previous few days had disappeared, the
weather was now drizzly and definitely on the cool side. After the thorough kit
check and last minute preparations including plenty of Vaseline! Jim, Roy and I
lined up with another 200 or so nutters ready for the off from Ingleton at 9:00
am. The route to Dent was
straightforward apart from the steep descent of Ingleborough down the very
slippery stone steps was taken very carefully. The only time I saw Jim and Roy
was as I was coming of Whernside they were making their way to the summit. My
first rough patch was on the long gradual climb to Blea Moor which was only
after about 23-24 miles, I seemed to be going at a snails pace. I sat down for a
minute or two with a drink, which revived me for a while. On the road into
Stonehouses, I started to feel soreness in my left ankle. After a quick tea and
bowl of rice pudding it was now a long slog up to Great Knoutberry, at least
this year the track was nice and dry. The last 150 metres of climb was murder, I
seemed to be having a second bad patch with a double “stitch”. At least when
I reached the top I knew it would be a long time before the next big climb at
Buckden Pike. Coming out the Redshaw Tent no hanging around, the march was on to
get to Fleetmoss checkpoint before being grouped. I was yomping with Phil
Bellamy trying to close the gap to a small group in the distance. It was a
fairly gradual climb to the next two tops of Snaizeholme and Dodd Fell. This
high section into the wind was freezing I was starting to feel my hands go numb
and I was already wearing the only pair of thin gloves I had. Somewhere in the
mistiness of Dodd Fell we had gone past the group I was trying to catch, the
recce of this a few weeks ago had paid off. 18:45 we reached Fleetmoss check
point, Phil and I decided to stay together for the next long leg across
Fleetmoss its’ self and Middle Tongue.
The light was fading only as we reached the good track to
the next road crossing checkpoint. As we got to the check point I was wondering
how long we would need to wait to be grouped because now I could see no head
torches behind us. By chance there were three lads already waiting, Jeremy,
Joshua and Richard. They had gone past me at least twice before! With a quick
refuelling we were off, only the two peaks of Buckden Pike and Great Whernside
to go, which were achieved with ease , now in the clear darkness. The last fell
section to Yarnbury had no problems at all with me pushing the pace at a fast
plod. At Yarnbury we were de-grouped, only 2 miles to go on the road mainly
downhill with the pain in my ankles I could not managed a run but just a fast
walk. Through the School gates at Threshfield looked at my watch nearly 04:15 I
have been on my legs for over nineteen hours and awake for 24hrs. After a very
long hot shower met Roy who with a sprint finish down the road had just manage
to crack the 20 hr with Jim just a
few minutes over. In the end all three of us took about three hours of our
previous. Also it was nice to know that even the cold had slowed down the Super
Human Mark Hartell (Holds the record
for the extended Bob Graham Round at 77 peaks in 24hrs!!!!). After a full
breakfast, power nap and a can of red rooster managed the drive home safely.
I am already mentally pencilled in next year’s Fellsman
– I realised it will take a few more attempts to get a really good time. It is
a good extreme challenge to do because of the good back up services.
Currently I plan to do the Chatsworth Challenge on the 9th
September as my last counter. This is only 26 miles around the
White
Peak
, if anybody else wants a crack at this one let me know.
back
to fellblog
Preston
Harriers Fell Section
:- fellblog