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Winter Hill 2007

Winter Hill                                         Report & Pictures from Nichola Jackson 

Winter Hill Junior Fell Race – Sat 5^th May 2007

For this race, we travelled to the little village of Belmont , tucked in under the flanks of Winter Hill. It was a nice sunny day. From the main road after travelling past Great Hill, we could see smoke rising from the moors. There was an enormous area of burnt ground and firemen were damping down. We found out later that the moor had been on fire from 3pm the previous day and that the road had been closed, as the fire had reached right down to the road edge

Belmont was busy as there was a senior fell race on too. The pub was used for registration and on the way we passed the village notice board…my race was down for 12 noon, but this was in 20 minutes! Panic! The Fell Runners Handbook had listed the race as a 12.30 pm start!

Number obtained, I jogged down to the start and as I was in a rush I pricked myself getting my number on. The start was across the road from a playing field and it was quite an important race as a top three finish if born in 1992 1993 meant selection for the England Development Team for Susa , Italy later this year.

There were a number of good runners and it was going to be tough, 2½ miles and 600` of ascent. We assembled for the off, the starter shouted out the route although I knew most of it, having run it last year. I was in a good position to start, first along the road, then over some boards, a drop then onto the open fell. Going up I was in 3^rd girl spot, but it was confusing as there was another race, Junior 1, on at the same time and they were not climbing as high.

Going up

I ran, jogged and walked up the really steep bits then there was some easier ground near where the Junior Race 1 runners turned back, before another steep incline. I was still 3^rd with a girl from Stockport behind me, but starting to drop off. Then the descent, pushing hard with brakes off although I stumbled once but recovered. I remember looking at the open moor in the distance wondering why it was all black, before I remembered the fire! 

Flying down

Flying down the last descent, the ground levelled as the boards were reached and I missed one and sank into the mud! I lost a few seconds, but was still well clear of the girl in 4^th. I held on for 3^rd, behind April Stevenson (Horwich) in 2^nd and Melanie Hyder (Dallam) well out in 1^st.

Unfortunately, soon after I found out that the junior team managers were only able to pick the 1^st girl and boy from junior races 1 & 2, as it was too expensive for them to take 6 runners instead of 4! I was disappointed but next year I`ll have another chance in the older race. There was though some wonderful ice cream and cakes to eat. We watched the older junior race then the senior race and I cheered on the senior Preston Harrier runners.

Nichola Jackson

Well run & well written Nichola & good pictures from dad too!

You may like to see last year

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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.