New race 22nd sept 10am
Lost shepherd fell race
15 mile 2700ft
Start is same has coiners fell race,but goes opposite direction
It takes in some of coiners fell race,good shepherd and shepherds skyline.
It's based around hebden bridge area.
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New race 22nd sept 10am
Lost shepherd fell race
15 mile 2700ft
Start is same has coiners fell race,but goes opposite direction
It takes in some of coiners fell race,good shepherd and shepherds skyline.
It's based around hebden bridge area.
http://www.fellrunner.org.uk/races.php?id=5996 More details
Any chance of a route map please??Quote:
Originally Posted by Gas bottle
Did a write up but the forum was down. It's on Facebook....just my usual ramblings.
Great race by the way.
Can I do a Bob and copy and post it on here? I’ve not read it but someone told me it up your your usual great standard
Not a problem Andrew, hope you like it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Derby Tup
From Tindersticks:
Lost Shepherd fell race
When Simon Fisher the organiser of this new race isn’t out running on the moors he’s out and about earning his crust in the building trade as a plasterer. With this in mind I’d a few questions for Simon before making the trip over to West Yorkshire.
Can we expect a prompt 10am start as advertised or will the race be running on ‘builders time’? Which could mean the race starting anytime between 9 and 5...if we’re lucky. Failing that, the race will definitely start sometime during the week unless something else crops up.
Will the race entry fee remain at the cost stated or is this fee a ‘builders estimate’ that’s likely to rise during the course of the event due to unforeseen circumstances?
And finally, due to the length and nature of the race what time would you be expecting the front runners to finish? Just to be on the safe side would it be advisable for us to carry a head torch and a packed lunch just in case your ‘estimated times’ of having the ‘job done’ are slightly optimistic?
Oh, one more thing....when I’ve been grafting on the fells I have sugar and milk in my brew....see you on Saturday.
On Friday evening Simon was out in the wind and rain flagging the majority of the new 15 mile fell race he’s devised. Simon isn’t required to do this, it’s a fell race after all and fell runners are competent navigators....(written with just a smidgen of sarcasm). But to his credit Simon flags the route to ensure his ‘flock’ are safe and don’t go a wandering onto pastures new. Rumours that Simon the burly builder flagged the route whilst dressed up as Little Bo Peep cannot be proved...but I wouldn’t put it past him.
Back in 2015 Calder Valley fell runners retired the Good Shepherd fell race. Almost 3 years to the day this new race is born which Simon has ingeniously called Lost Shepherd. It bares similarities to the old Shepherd race, especially in distance and elevation, but it has plenty of new ground to explore making it an original race route. Registration is in the same venue of Mytholmroyd church from where I had a slight mishap after the Good Shepherd swan song back in 2015.
A tale from yesteryear....
Even now 3 years later I can visualise myself leaving my race bumbag on the roof of my car whilst I changed at the back of the vehicle. Somewhere between Mytholmroyd and Chorley my bumbag containing fell running kit was displaced from the roof of my motor and I’d have been too occupied listening to Hawkwind, Atomic Rooster, UFO or whoever to have known otherwise. I only realised my misfortune when I’d arrived home and couldn’t locate my kit. I told Alison and I distinctly remember her less than sympathetic reply of “well who’s a knobhead”. I also told Alison that if she’d have sown little name tags inside my running gear like my mum did back in the day with my school clothes, then maybe my lost kit would’ve been returned. This belated request riled Alison and she said something along the lines of, “well you now what you can do? go back to your bloody mothers”. She wasn’t finished and went off on a rant where she mentioned that it wasn’t normal that my mum used to iron my socks and underpants. I confessed to Alison that I thought it strange that she didn’t also iron socks and underpants.....suffice to say, my running kit remains name tag free with socks and undies never feeling the hot underbelly of an iron.
Back to now.....
I’m usually asked by work colleagues where I’m racing at the weekend. When I said “Mytholmroyd” I was met with a sea of blank faces. To be fair I’d not heard of Mytholmroyd until I’d started fell running and when I first saw the name in the race calendar I thought this West Yorkshire village was in Wales.
I asked one of the true gents of fell running and Mytholmroyd resident Bill Johnson how he approaches phone conversations when asked for his address, as I’ve often been asked to spell out the far less complicated spelling of Chorley over the phone. Bill said he keeps it simple and tells people he resides in Hebden Bridge. This gave me the idea of telling would be callers I’m from Preston, after all we have a Preston postcode, but I’ll renege on this as I don’t have a Sir Tom Finney obsession.
On the start line and it’s clear that race favourite is Andrew Worster. From the off it’s a steady pace that allows myself and Andrew to have a chat whilst we’re gently jogging out of the start field. My company must’ve bored Andrew, for once we’re on the open moors he’s off like a shot....how rude. He went on to be a comfortable winner covering much of the ground he regularly trains on....great running pal.
There’s a pack of four of us trailing Andrew by some distance and we all comment on how well the course is flagged. I could’ve sworn I spotted some fabric that resembles a Petticoat, the rumour regarding Simon’s Little Bo Peep escapades are starting to bare fruition. The only section of the course not flagged is where we typically made a slight error. We’d become complacent following the flags but quickly correct ourselves when navigation is required. Acting marshal John Minta notices our unorthodox route choice and is ready with words of ridicule as we approach him over our rough detour. I’ll keep it clean...John informs us we’re a bunch of ‘masturbaters’ and our navigational skills rhyme with ‘Eartha Kitt’. John’s mockery has me laughing so much I’ve no riposte to fire back at my friend.
There’s plenty of marshals throughout the race. The lovely Dave and Michelle are marshalling near Shepherds Rest Inn and spoil us with sweets, flapjack and water. Me and Dave congratulate each other on our recent BG successes, it would’ve been nice to stay and chat but I’m obviously in race mode...I wish my legs would join in as I start to lose ground from here on.
At Stoodley Pike fell running maestro Karl Gray tells me I could get 2nd place if I pushed on....I finished 5th, I guess I looked better than I felt when I saw Karl.
Many thanks to Simon and all his helpers for a great new addition to the calendar....I think the race went smoothly, just like Simon’s plastering.
Thanks milli and Darren
Great news about the new race - I did what was the first Good Shepherd iirc