Cautley Spout...the movie

A must for everyone into Yorkshire film-making...



Featuring Andy, Gill DSD, Sally...and erm, me tying my shoelace as Andy sails past...

KWL - OUT WITH THE LUNATICS!

That's it! I set out to do a minimum of 7 racesin the KWL and hit the target on Sunday at Austwick, a gem of a place in Gods own County, although, thanks to Mrs D-S-D's navigation skills we nearly ended up stuck down a farm track nowhere near the race venue!

As usual we were sceptical about Rhiannons description 'one of the nicest of them all this one', but, at last, she got it right!

She'd no control over the weather though, and I thought we were out with the loonies as we huddled, on our haunches, behind a dry stone wall, as the hail lashed across us (not down on us, but definitely across us), in a pose which Sally described as 'the penguin position' ( just what goes on in her life outside of running I can only guess....). You may know that Mrs D-S-D wants a dog, and, as she did a 'warm up' run which seemed to involve dashing 5 metres away from us and five back, over and over and over again, Rhiannon pointed out that this was exactly how a demented collie dog would behave - do I need to look at the four legged option, or simply encourage her doggy behaviour and get a mirror?....

This race across some of Yorkshires finest scenery was unique in so far as it's the first time I've been in any race where the competitors had to QUEUE to get over a stile - disheartening this, as in my usual panic to put distance between myself and Rhiannon I'd opened a useful gap of about 70 metres, only to look round and see her half a metre behind, and next but one in the queue!!

Another first was the dry stone wall we had to climb over, although I didn't see them, the underachieving Virgo twins apparently took an age to negotiate this obstacle, living up to all the qualities their star signs suggest......

This was a good race, we even had fun pushing a blokes car off the verge after he got it stuck in the mud. We were the first to offer help and he insisted that one of the girls drive while he helped to push, so Mrs D-S-D drove while Sal & I helped to push- it was going nowhere, until more and more departing runners arrived to lend a hand and we eventually got it free.....Oh how we laughed as people assumed that it was the lady driver, Mrs D-S-D who'd driven it in there in the first place!

She didn't laugh quite as much as we did, but then again, nor did she repeat the 'foul and abusive' we'd had directed at the Tebay Cyclist some time ago.

A little bit of syncronicity with my last race of my first go at the KWL being in my 'home' county,
and I will be looking forward to my second go at this next season, now I know what to expect - the unexpected! The people have been friendly and encouraging, even though they were competitors, and I've a little store of good, and funny memories, hope you've enjoyed sharing them too!.

By the way, this league started with one ER in it, and ended with four, so good to see the green and blue shirts out, and Rhiannon's in the top ten (seventh I think) in the Ladies championship, so well done to her too!

The Fell FellaAlways polite, the Eden Runner ladies thanked Dennis at the end for providing them with a wind-break on the windier parts of the course...

Haweswater Half Marathon on YouTube!

High Cup Nick Fellrace 28th March 2009

Hi all, good to see the EdenRunners out on the first Championship run of the season despite some murky far from ideal conditions. This looks like a pretty tough event to me with cross-country, Pennine Tussocks, rocks and bridleway to contend with.

I walked the Pennine way with Lauren to spectate, and made it up to the snowline before low cloud and freezing wind thwarted my summit ambitions - so we had our picnic sheltered behind a drystone wall, made a snowman then headed into the amazing High Cup Nick glacial valley to watch the racers slogging up the gradual climb - what a sight that was! We managed to clamber back up to Pennine Way to grab a few photos of the runners heading down the final descent - here they are....

Sean running well and Stu disappearing into the distance (Stu gets 5 extra fell 'hardman' points for racing here and HHM the next day!

No results published yet.

The Haweswater Half Marathon

James Bulman winning the Haweswater Half in a time of 1:14:11.

More later, and thanks to everyone who helped make it an enjoyable race.

KWL- CAUTLEY SPOUT- NEGATIVE VIBES!

Well, here we are again, with another Sunday morning tale to tell. I travelled to this one with Mrs Gill D-S-D and Sally, and what a sad carload of negativity I had to contend with. Just when you want the positive energy flow to enhance your mind state what did I get?

You guessed, the serial underachievers started off with 'I'm not in the right state of mind for a run, so I'll just go and walk up something to watch them do it', followed by ' I've brought my gear, but I don't think I'll be using it', and 'my head hurts just below the lug area where it's swollen', and 'I've been kneading dough all week and I've nothing left for running, and I don't feel 100% anyway, I think I'll just walk with you'

Buoyed by this wave of enthusiasm for the run ahead, I fell out of the car at Cautley Spout and saw the first of the Junior races running up a reasonable slope to the east of the Spout and thinking 'Ah well. not too steep, gentle rise to the top, gentle run back down...not that bad.'

Paid the very reasonable £2.50 entry fee, and met Rhiannon and Stu, at which point Stu gave me the most realistic pre-race description yet - first off, the seniors went west of the Spout, crossed a river twice, then straight uphill ( horrrendous), across the crest then straight down (horrendous again), back across the river and home. ( Rhiannon would probably have said ' It's just a run out, up a bit, down a bit and then back home'). Then Stu set off on his bike to Sedburgh for a cake and coffee, and a gentle peddle back................

Meanwhile, off we went, after a false start, up another even longer than last week uphill trudge, at one point I suffered a snowball onslaught from Rhiannon (she's meant to be a team mate!), and had to struggle not to laugh at a guy from Keighley who on a really steep bit, was crawling, like a baby, on arms and knees (sorrry mate if you happen to read this!).

At last the summit turn for home - within 50 metres I'd gone over on my ankle and started to be over cautious on the descent!

Next thing I knew Rhiannon had gone past me ( I have a deep seated dread of being beaten by certain Eden Runners over distances of less than 10 miles (You all know who you are!), so I was very very anxious at this point, given my general pride about the speed with which I can usually go down.

Eventually the slope eased, and, across some easier, wetter ground, I was almost upon Rhiannon when she suddenly stopped......... to tie her shoelace! Oh Joy! Do I shove her over as I go past? Remove her shoe and scop it across the fell? NO! I just shoot past, thinking 'thats the get out of jail card played again!'

Finished, and, for the first time in a race I had nothing, absolutely NOTHING in the locker for a fast finish should it be needed. It was the hardest race I've been in, the tank was on empty.....but, at the end, the bloke who finished behind me shook hands, Rhiannon shook hands and Duncan, a fella we've got to know over this series of races also shook hands, a mate of Duncans shook hands and, somehow, although I was disappointed with my performance ( I guess I always will be!), those hand shakes made it all worth while.

We went to a pub in Ravenstonedale after, and, althought there were no chips, we had some marvellous crisps and bits of cake, and a good crack! Oh and one of the fell runners had offered to make us a cup of coffee after the race, after I'd asked him if he could knock us up a veggie burger on the stove in his camper van!

The Fell Fella

USING THE LAVATORY OUTSIDE

Hows that for an attention grabbing headline - the blog's really about the Kendal Winter League Race at Barbondale just at the southern end of the Howgills, but.......................................................
on the way there we had to stop for a toilet break at the beginning of Barbondale, a lovely unspoilt valley.
We rushed into a wood by the roadside to use the facilities, myself having finished quicker than the girls (for obvious reasons), I couldn't help but notice the different 'styles' - Rhiannon had adopted a 'bear in the wood' approach, she went so far into the woods she was invisible; Sally went behind the nearest tree ( here's a tip for next time: Just because your heads behind the tree don't necessarily mean your backside is too!) whilst Mrs D-S-D adopted her usual approach of 'Sod it, I'll just drop my keks and crouch wherever I happen to be standing'! ( Note: this is acceptable in the great outdoors, but not when shopping in the Trafford Centre)...

On to the race - Rhiannon has at last realised that her generally inaccurate course summaries prior to the start were having a bad effect on my morale, and restricted herself to 'Up, along a bit & back the way you came'. The hill we had to run up was covered in cloud so we could only see the first 100 metres up, but at the start it looked like we were facing a vertical wall of grass.

GO! and we were immediately on the wall! No run in to this climb, half a stride from the start and we were on a seriously steep hill, which got steeper, and steeper, and steeper, even the fell running greats (Wendy Dodds and myself) were reduced to going up this one on hands and feet!

I took a fall as Rhiannon drew level and tried to put me off my stride by mumbling to me in words I couldn't really understand (oxygen deprivation), but I'm sure I heard her laughing!

Lungbursting and relentless, we climbed up into mist and low cloud, until an eventual respite and short run out on the level to a cairn and back again to the descent.

Any steeper and I would have wanted a rope and ladders to get back down, but, here's the joy of this race: just as my legs were screaming for mercy, I slipped at the top of the steepest part of the descent, and, with junior spectators shouting 'SLIDE! SLIDE!', I lifted my feet off the ground and slid down 200 metres on my backside - Brilliant! (the only downside to this was the decision of what to do with the marker flag racing up towards my spreadeagled legs - answer: reach out and grab it before it hit me in the particulars!).

After we'd finished the cloud lifted to reveal a 'hog of a hill', I can honestly say that if I'd seen it all before the race, I would have developed a hamstring twinge, athletes foot, achilles tightness, or an urgent need to get home for a meal which woul dhave saved me from the hill!

Another great race, and on the way back we stopped for a drink. Stu had told Rhiannon there were two pubs on the road back to the M6, one a real old fashioned front room pub with great beer and atmosphere, the other nowhere near as good.

We picked the wrong one!

The Fell Fella
PS On the drive back we realised the outdoor toilet wasn't a wood, but the 'Tradesmans entrance' to the grounds of a large country house, so apologies for that..........

The Haweswater Half Marathon...

The Haweswater race is about as full as it can get, so apologies if you didn't get in.

The long-range weather forecast suggests it could be pretty cold over the race weekend, so we'll have to assess the route conditions nearer the time.