I set off respectfully near the back, but realised fairly early on this was a mistake as the pace was a little slow, and unlike a road race there's limited opportunities for overtaking. I'd decided that my ambition was to finish ahead of a proper fell runner, and soon spotted Sally Malir from Ilkley, who's won the ladies 3 Peaks race in her time. "She'll do", I thought, and followed her up to the turn left where the course goes across the hillside (Photo below by David Brett).
On this flatter section you can run more easily, and I managed to pass a few folk, including Sally, and picked off some more as the route turns right and climbs again. When we started to head back across the moor to the Stoop the snow became thicker and the going became very hard, especially for a slightly stout gentleman such as myself, and I had a very hard time breaking through the soft snow, losing several places.
After what felt like miles I saw the line of runners filing to the stoop and back, where I saw several Ilkley runners going the other way, including Paul O and Richard Reeve. Once we'd rounded the stoop the route heads downwards, with fast running interspersed with leg eating bogs - a guy I was running alongside had a couple of spectacular falls, one right in front of me where I narrowly avoided standing on his head!
Once we reached the road I could see a couple of Ilkley vests up ahead, including Richard R, so made it my mission to catch them - which I did shortly before the finish. 102nd out of 380-odd in 51:57 - and I beat Sally!
Few beers with some old friends in the Sun afterwards, including Holmesy (beaten into 2nd by world triathlon champ Alistair Brownlee), Colin and Fergy. Great day, and (for a fell race) very enjoyable!
Happy new year - new year's post to follow with lots of dull statistics...
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