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Bingley Ladies at the Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relay (HBMR) – Sun 2nd Oct 2016

Eight Bingley ladies enjoyed a glorious sunny early autumn day in Patterdale running in pairs and successfully completing the 26 miles and 9800’ ascent of the HBMR in 6 hours.   Being able to put a ladies team in this tough Lakeland fell event is a challenge for any club and we were one of only 8 ladies teams out of 70 on the day.  The race is split into 4 legs with each being a tough fell race in own right, climbing up out of Patterdale and going over one or more peaks before  dropping back down to a handover point.  Our target for the day was to have a ladies team out and extend and consolidate our experience of Lakeland fell running.  The team included 3 ladies with limited experience of the Lakes and they were paired up with experienced heads and legs as a priority rather than a perfect speed match, recognising that the Lakes is a significant step up from the N Pennine moors.  Most had managed a recce  to gain experience of the terrain and avoid route finding issues on the day.

Ali Dewhurst and Kate Farley were on L1 (6.7km, 440m) from Patterdale to Hartsop Sheep fold via Angle Tarn.  Driving up to Patterdale in the morning was a chilly 4C with some cloud hanging about on Kirkstone pass and in the valley, but by the 9.15 start the sun was starting to warm things up.  Ali was sporting her new Innov fell shoes;  on her recce in her trail shoes she had slid a good part of the steep grassy descent to Hartsop, so taking note of some great advice from Vic Wilkinson and others, she had spent the last week in her new shoes practising her downhill grass running.   So now, even with the grass dewy and wet, Ali had a great descent enjoying the grip of her new shoes, and additional confidence from the advice and her practice.   Kate, with her ultra-running  background, and Ali as a road marathon runner, asked about pacing, and got the considered answer of ‘It’s 50 minutes – just go for it’.  Kate  and Ali were pleased with their run.  They appeared back at the start field briefly, smiling broadly and buzzing, sorted themselves out and then set off back – Kate had a train to catch for London in the afternoon!  A big thanks to Kate for stepping in at the last minute to keep the team on track.

Polly Green and Denise Wright were just ready to take over for L2 (11km / 890m) from Hartsop to Kirkstone Pass  via High Street, Caudale Tarn and Raven’s Crag.  Polly worked hard on the climb to High Street to keep up with Denise’s strong up hill legs (fresh from Borrowdale and Pendle 3 Peaks).  Past the checkpoint Polly took the lead, and on the steep rocky descents Polly found her confidence boosted  with 2 recces fresh in her mind and new off-road shoes.  Denise noted that Polly started to really push on in the last 2 miles – apparently she had decided they were going to get in before the cut-off to see ‘Mum’ at the handover – as brief as that may be.

Becky Weight and Mary Green were on L3 (7.5km/570m) from Kirkstone Pass to Sykeside via Red Screes Tarn and Dove Crag.  We headed off up Red Screes pleased to get away before the cut-off.  We used the stepped path, climbing as fast as we could, toggling with a couple of other teams .  Past the tarn we headed off across country cutting the zig-zags out of the path route.  With a clear blue sky and sharp visibility route finding wasn’t an issue.   The long descent down Dovedale was a challenge for both of us – steep & rocky in places followed by a long stretch of narrow stony path – with me carrying a distant but painful memory of hobbling the last couple of miles with a twisted ankle on a previous relay.  It was interesting to see the variety of ascent routes being taken by the L4 runners as they climbed back up Dovedale.

Lesley Watson and Shona Stone were on L4 (11km / 900m) from Sykeside to Patterdale via Hart Crag and St Sunday Crag, one of the long extra tough legs.  Lesley chose one of the direct ascent routes straight to the check point, avoiding the long stepped path – ‘It’s a hard climb some wouldn’t like, but I think it’s the route the top runners take. If you’re strong it could save a lot of time.’  Once on top, with good visibility and a fresh recce in mind, she was confident to navigate some great direct lines.

Shona was in at the deep end; a fair amount of fell experience but not in the Lakes.  In deed she felt a little out of her depth with some of the terrain and was surprised  ‘that large parts of it were not runnable!’  However ‘it was as good experience, a stunning location, and there were times when you felt you were on top of the world’.   Afterwards Shona had a good dose of ‘down-hill thighs’ and commented ‘my thighs were stiff for a number of days! Going down stairs was a particular issue!’.  I am sure many fell runners will recognise those symptoms!

A massive thanks to everyone who took part or would have done if injury or other commitments hadn’t cropped up, our emergency reserves MariSol Carrera and Sue Fulton who committed to being available right up to the last minute despite fall damage (MC) and work commitments (SF), and to Simon & Izzy Wright for being our main shuttle driver for the day, dropping off, collecting cast off clothes, picking up and providing great support.

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L-R  Shona on final descent, Lesley on the finishing field, Ali’s new shoes well & truly christened, Mary & Becky finished L3 and happy, Kate & Ali ready to go and last minute checks on the starting line, Izzy, Denise and Polly enjoying the sun at the end, Shona and Lesley still smiling, a strong finish from Shona, the famous slate coasters for all runners ;-).  Thanks to Becky Weight, Mark Westman and Simon Wright for the photos.

Victoria Wilkinson ran L2 with Tom Gomersal in an Open Team.  They took over from Andy Brown & Martin Peace on L1, with Andy Gibbons and John Parkin on L3 and Rob Jebb and Ian Holmes on L4.  The Open team were 13th out of 70 teams in 4hrs 11m in a race won by Dark Peak in 3hrs 35m with Borrowdale, Keswick and Calder Valley coming in within the next 10 minutes.