From Peter Roll…
Photo credit Abbie Rothery
You may be wondering why there’s been a radio silence from those who ran the 3 Peaks last weekend. It’s because we found the experience so brutal we all wanted to forget it, the idea of re-living it through writing a race report filled us with dread. Now with a bit of time to reflect and the aching limbs starting to recover it’s possibly less of a burden.
For such a seemingly benign day weather wise, the relative warmth & humidity took its toll. In most races you’re thankful for the collective heat from your fellow runners at the start but, last Saturday week it was not welcome. Sacha Jones, Ann-Kristin Marsham and I all starting in line with the 5 hour pace marker but soon lost each other though I could see Ann in the far distance. It wasn’t long before many runners were stripping off layers, though as we ascended and the pack started to spread out the air became cooler and more comfortable. The first surprise we had was seeing Ben & Abbie Rothery cheering us on the approach to Pen-y-gent. Ben was down on the entry list so worries about Ben being injured crossed the mind. Shouldn’t have worried though as the following day, in typical Ben fashion, he won the Great Hameldon Hill Race.
A highlight for us back markers in the race is that as you near the final kick up P-y-G the front runners start descending in the opposite direction. I spent too much time checking out who was where in the lead pack instead of concentrating on my own run but, it was fascinating and great to see Ruaridh Mon-Williams and Tom Adams in the mix. After the first summit there’s the long slog to Ribblehead & the first cut-off point. Usually this is the most tedious section of the race, especially as it’s been lengthened by an extra kilometre now. Fortunately for us Harriers, Jonathan & Dawn Turner et al, were on hand to spur us onwards, then a few miles on were Jacqui & Steve Weston as official race Marshalls in their hi-vis to do the same.
Getting to Ribblehead a kind Marshall had spotted my number and seeing my drained gaunt and haggard look, no doubt (i.e. usual expression) found my drink & food. I had made a major school boy error though. Instead of dropping my 2 packs of water & food in the 2 separate batches for Ribblehead & Old Hill Inn put it all together for Ribblehead, so I wouldn’t have anything at Old Hill doh! I took all the food & water as best I could, drinking & gobbling down the remainder, spurred on by Jane McCarthy & Jean Sullivan I started the run up Whernside.
Well when I say run I mean mostly walk, those who’ve done the race before will tell you, the ascent up Whernside is a gruelling walk through steep bog, at the end of which you are doing a full on scramble on all fours. The visibility was reasonably clear so you could see a ribbon of hundreds of runners plodding up the hill in single file. There was little if any overtaking on this section, you top out directly at the summit, near the trig point, then the legs have to be woken up to the idea of running again. This is the trickiest descent as it follows the official 3 Peaks Path on stone slabs that are treacherous when wet. Luckily they were dry on the day but, I still found this section tough and wasn’t my usual bouncy self, it was all very laboured. Lovely to see Jane & Jean again on the approach to Old Hill. I dibbed my dibber then, saw a 20+ queue for the water bowser and decided I’ll march on with the water I was carrying.
Not only was it warm and humid but, very still as well. When you’ve finally crossed the beautiful limestone escarpments and top out on the final climb up the Ingleborough path you are usually greeted with a full on gale force wind but, on the day hardly a whisper. The final dib at the most inhospitable Marshall checkpoint on the summit, then the long steady drop into Horton, which never seems to end. It was on this stretch that I made a mental note that after running the race 3 years consecutively I’ll to give the race a rest next year, total respect to Alison Weston!
I’m sure we all found it a hard day and for those that didn’t quite make the cut-offs you’ve got this.
Many thanks to Ben, Abbie, Dawn, Jonathan, Jacqui, Steve, Jane, Jean and all for making the 2 hour ‘round trip, then the walking, then the hours of waiting. Your cheering and encouragement made all the difference.
Respect to: Ruaridh, Tom, Simon, James, Ann, Alison, Sacha, Becky & Jacqui.
1st Thomas Roach (Lewes AC) 02:53:28
9th Ruaridh Mon-Williams 03:11:08
10th Tom Adams (Inov8) 03:12:10
53rd Simon Bell 03:43:42
213th James Batterley 04:28:38
371st Ann-Kristin Marsham 04:57:27
399th Peter Roll 05:03:48
415th Alison Weston 05:07:13
426th Sacha Jones 05:08:30