This race was always going to be an interesting one. Run by Mercia fell runners this was the 25th anniversary of the event and for various reasons i.e locals complaining the Start/Finish area has been moved to just a bit further up from Milford Common and with the Forestry putting their prices up to hold events on the Chase the entry fee had gone up from £5 to £7 on the day. To compensate for this but really for the anniversary occasion all entrants were given a bottle of trig point ale....before the start, and were told it was not mandatory to drink it before hand.
I only visited the Mercia website a couple of weeks before the race and assumed the old course would be used but seeing the revised course kicked me into life and I've been doing a few rushed night recces around the Start - CP1 and CP6 - Finish areas in that time with a little help from memory map. The rest of the route would remain unchanged.
The website also said that maps would be for sale with route choices on them. Expecting a marked up OS photocopy I was pleasantly surprised to see a professionally surveyed and printed '
GGmap'. A proper orienteering map which you were left to choose your own route with.
With a crisp cold but sunny day greeting the 137 runners we set off at 11am and immediately the new course brought out some interesting route choices. The route I took are on the map segments shown here. The people that had took the time to do some sort of recce or look at the map before hand would go left at the end of the German cutting and follow the valley up to stepping stones and cross over then choose one of the 'slades' to go up. I saw people go in all directions here with some even going up to the old start point because they only knew that way. Others would follow the German cutting all the way up and then rejoin the old track. I'm pretty sure my way was the fastest, about 250m longer but 50ft less ascent than going up the cutting and carrying on. I suppose it depends what sort of runner you are. Like hills or not.
For once the Trig race did not clash with the Walton Chasers club champs and there were a few other Chasers out in force. Dan Findley-Robinson and Gareth Little went storming off at the start and I think were in front up the cutting until everyone split up. I went off at what I thought was a steady pace but my heart rate was way too high to sustain for 2+hours. My resting HR has been high for a few days usually in mid to high 40s, it's been in the 70s, not because of overtraining that's for sure so I must be ill! I carried on with it in the high 160s and hoped it would settle down.
I decided this year to run the Marquis drive section on the tarmac instead of my usual more interesting and direct route through the woods that run parallel with it. Hoping that I would just cruise and settle the heart down. It never did. Drinks were at Morse Gorse, I had a swig of water and left. The jelly babies and 300ml of coke I was carrying would do me for later
The map I plotted here is wrong. Before the start we were warned that the forestry had made a deep muddy rut just before the road back from Castle ring. The route shown would have gone straight through it. Instead I turned right at seven springs and took the sweeping dry track up. It is the same distance but 15ft more ascent but not knowing how bad the rutting was I took the dry way.
The track up to Castle ring was surprisingly Icy and at this point you can see the leaders coming back down. Tim Werret was about 30 seconds ahead of Pete Vale then there was a good 2 minute wait before a few others came past. I had a bit of a walk up here and a few jelly babies. I was in around 30th position by my recconing. On the way back down one chap came a right cropper on the ice and went down with a thud, he got up but didn't start running again in a hurry. I saw Walton chaser Jon Howell coming up looking strong but no Jon Robinson, apparently took the long and steady but totally different way around up towards the golf course.
Up over the muddy patch and onto the road for the slog up to Brereton Spurs. There was a couple of route choices coming back from the trig point and last year I took the time to recce a good direct route that went straight over the road and up a short steep track which followed round to the downhill MTB start area on Stile Cop. All the MTB runs are signposted and the one to take is called 'new line', then a direct route through the trees joins the track back down to Morse Gorse. Dan FR took this line apparently by accident and it was a good clear track. For some reason I didn't fancy it today as it would have been a gamble with me not running it since last years race, I didn't know if there had been any tree felling recently. Instead I went back down the road and down the obvious track trying to recover a bit more but I think the monotony made it worse.
Another swig of water at the second visit to Morse Gorse and back over the railway to the grind up kitbag hill. The earlier over-exuberance had taken it's toll and for the first time in ages and I was walking up it.
The run up along to White House along the road and to Glacial boulder the final checkpoint was a struggle but I knew it was all downhill from there and the direct track I'd recced the day before had me gain a a runner in a Mercia vest tagging along. There was not much difference in any of the three obvious tracks back but I took the middle one.
Finish in 2:20 and 39th place. Not as good as last year but that was a shortened course and there was a few of the good runners missing.
Results are
here
Some pictures were taken at
Morse Gorse.
Thanks to all involved in organising. I think the new route is an improvement and I'll certainly be back next year hopefully in a fit state.
*Latest* My theory that I may be ill may be correct as the time is now 23:00 and my 5 year old daughter has just come down stairs and thrown up all over the hall way.
With the Lakeland hundred drawing closer I need to get in some long runs so I have filled my calender with some of the usual suspects such as the Haworth Hobble in March and Fellsman in May but this one will be by far the longest I have ever run/walked and will serve as an experience gaining exercise for time on my feet. I plan on walking a lot.
Just before Christmas all that have entered received a fully marked up 1:50,000 map which is bloody huge. I have since had a chance to have a good look through and found a few familiar tracks that run on the same route as the Longmynd Hike which would be the reason that event filled up so fast as well.
