juniorfellblog
Winter
Hill 2007
Winter
Hill
Report & Pictures from Nichola Jackson
Winter
Hill Junior Fell Race – Sat 5th 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, 2˝ 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 3rd 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
3rd 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 4th. I held on for 3rd, behind April
Stevenson (Horwich) in 2nd and Melanie Hyder (Dallam) well out in 1st.
Unfortunately, soon after I found out that the junior team managers were only
able to pick the 1st 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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