Middle Pack

The view from the middle of the pack

It was a cold Monday evening with a promise of night time temps hitting -5. First day back at work after the Christmas break and my foot hurt from Ovenden Fell race from the weekend, but that wasn’t going to stop me racing.

This being the only Owl event that I actually knew the route I wasn’t going to miss that. Also the only event with a bit of route choice in it.

I took the tactical decision to wear trail shoes as the ground was like concrete and I thought the additional traction and cushioning would make the race more enjoyable. As I was injured I was really only going for a good run and not to be competitive. The route being just shy of 4 miles with 500 feet of ascent and taking in some of the Ilkley Moor Landmarks. Starting at Millenium Gardens and going via the Calf, Badger Stone and White Wells before descending back to Millenium Gardens.

Even at the start people ran off in different directions across all the little paths across the moor. Finding Badger stone in the dark was a challenge for some as a leading pack took a slight diversion leaving me leading the way directly to the Badger Stone. A slippery descent to a road which was covered by black ice and then a direct line across the moor on little paths to White Wells split people up again as people tried to find the way. Getting to White Wells it turns out I was in 2nd place mainly due to good route choice keeping me in the race. The final descent dropped me into 3rd. Nice to see the Petzl wearers being 2 of the top 3 as opposed to the beams of light from Hope gaining their “running in daylight” advantage (only headtorch envy really).

Full results at the Wharfedale Harriers website

A great evening out and a good result despite not pushing it with my foot. These are great little events with a great atmosphere and a solid core of people coming every time for a gentle run in the dark. Thanks go out to Brett for this event and a massive thanks for the marshals and timekeepers on a cold night to be hanging around.

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On Wednesday I went and did my first night event of the year over near Skipton. This is not a training session but it is also not a race as there is no prizes for being fastest. Prizes go to the people who are closest to their predicted time.

As I am still reasonably new to running, it is the only race event I have actually done more than once so I actually knew the route and knew what to expect. It was also a good chance to see if I had improved in the last year.

Around 30 runners and a bloke on a crosser turned up with varying degrees of lighting. From the top class Hope vision lights to your usual petzls etc. I have to say this is the place for a bit of headtorch envy as there is such a clear advantage to have a bit extra power strapped to your head but it could be claimed to take some of the fun out of running in the dark.

At 7.30pm the event started with a bit of jostling up the road and onto the moors. This is where the fun started as you realise that much of the path was like sheet ice and you knew there was going to be a few falls that night. A sharp run up to the top of Sharp Haw followed by a great descent down towards rough haw before ascending that, round the trig and back down a steep rocky section and back up the slog towards Sharp Haw. As there was still snow on the ground it was often a bit easy to go off the paths and find yourself in some rough stuff which really drained the legs.

Then the final desent back to the road. Last year this was great fun, a slight gradient on pretty flat soft ground. This year just a mix between visible ice and black ice or the option to go slightly off the paths and risk the ankles on the tussocks and slightly longer grass in the dark.

Overall I finished 5th in 38 minutes 21 seconds so I was nearly 2 minutes out of my guesstimate of 40 mins 10 seconds. The spooky thing is that the race time was exactly the same as last year to the second. So why I was so wrong on my guess I do not know? I think I have improved as most peoples times were between 2 and 5 minutes slower than last year due to conditions and I didn’t feel I had pushed as hard this year as finishing in one piece was more important than getting a good time in slippy conditions.

A fair few bloody knees, and tales of slides and falls as we retired to the warmth of a bar to give out the prize for closest to the time.

All in all a great way to spend a cold Wednesday night in December.

Picture courtesy of Bob Wightman

Full results