The annual English Fell Race Championship involves six races, with competitors’ best four results counting towards the outcome. Having turned 60 in February 2019 and hence moving into a new age category, I decided to enter at least four of the six races in the hope of scoring some championship points for the first time. All I had to do was finish in the top 20 over 60s in one or more of the races.
As it turns out, I managed a top 20 place in all four of the races I completed, accumulated 33 points and finished in 15th place in the V60 championship. To a good degree the old adage “you’ve got to be in it to win it” (or in my case feature in the results) applies – but then that’s the case for all the races we enter.
The four races I ran were Stretton Hills (AS, 9.5km 670m), Howgills (AL, 23km, 2070m), Blackfell (AM, 14km, 700m) and Grisedale Horseshoe (AM, 16km, 1525m). The toughest was, by far, the Howgills Race, my best performance was at Blackfell, and the most memorable was Grisedale on a perfect day in the Lake District.
The detailed results are: here