We were set off by a man wielding a drill. Round the back of the outdoor centre and the climb began almost immediately. A relentless drag up, narrow, rocky and technical in places, for the first couple of miles, before reaching a bit of a plateau to have a pootle round the heather, which was shin high and not very kind on my pasty legs, which were having their first shorts outing of the year. I’d heard horror stories of the bog up here, but aside from one small bit where I nearly lost a shoe and had to drag myself out using a helpfully placed sewage pipe, it was remarkably dry – nice and bouncy to run on but pretty horrifying from an environmental perspective. Anyway, doom of the planet aside, it was absolutely bloody glorious up there. Stunning views (when you had a second to take your eye off the floor, maintaining your footing was not straightforward even on the flatter bits) and some lovely chats with my fellow runners. I was very close to the back of the field on this one and there was nobody close enough to follow/chase, so I led a small pack of about 5 people across the plateau (with the added pressure of being in charge of spotting the flags marking the way) before a ludicrously steep descent appeared in front of us and they all plummeted with confidence whilst I tottered my way down sideways.

No sooner were we down than a broad, runnable woodland track took us back up to the top, no real respite in this race at all. I say runnable, I walked most of it anyway as I was enjoying a chat with the organiser of the Kinder Downfall race I’m signed up to next month. Once at the crest of the hill we effectively just had to retrace our steps over a little of the moor before heading back down to the finish. I managed to get back ahead of those who’d got me on the steep drop on the flatter section and put all my beans into it, knowing I wouldn’t be able to hold them all off on the last descent, which was steep and technical. Only two of them passed me again though which I was pretty pleased with. I crossed the line 6 seconds outside my 1 and a half hour guesstimate of how long it’d take me, which I was fuming about, but was given a cup of Vimto, the queen of squash, so cheered up immediately.

The audacity of me logging this as a run when I walked a good half of it hasn’t escaped my notice, and despite my finishing position being very near the back I was still made to feel included, welcome and wanted at the race, and had a very lovely time. Congratulations to Harriet who finished 2nd female despite admitting to a rather late bedtime the night before, and Darrel who was 2nd in category too.

Great race with a fabulous spirit.