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Thread: Wrekin Wrecker

  1. #81
    Master Dave_Mole's Avatar
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    The big climb is the Goaty and it never gets easier.....
    Your descending has definately got better too: you seemed really confident on the last descent. My legs had gone. Nearly.

    Glad you had a good race, pics are here:
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/70907794@N00/sets/
    ....it's all downhill from here.

  2. #82
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    Glad you had a good race, Pete (and Dave for that matter.)
    Nice to put a face to a fellow forumite - you were well ahead after the first climb and I lost sight of you soon after.
    Plenty of carnage on those descents today and the last climb threw me - I was sure it went up the main path so I kept expecting to emerge from the trees with a slog still to come. Anyway enjoyed it nonetheless and now contemplating the Cracker even though I think today cemented my opinion that I am now a cyclist who does a bit of fell running rather than the other way round!
    Pete Shakespeare - U/A

    Going downhill fast

  3. #83
    Master Travs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave_Mole View Post
    The big climb is the Goaty and it never gets easier.....
    Your descending has definately got better too: you seemed really confident on the last descent. My legs had gone. Nearly.

    Glad you had a good race, pics are here:
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/70907794@N00/sets/
    Cheers Dave. I still got the jitters a bit on the first (worst) descent, but after that I was ok. If I'm up pushing you then I know I've had a goodun'. I was hanging on to you on that final climb, I knew if I could just stay in touch then it would be a close finish. Hurt though! You must have recovered pretty well on the final run in, as there was only 45 secs in it at the end, and I had ran that section fairly strongly.

    Good to meet you PeteS, I'll be at the Cracker, although got XC league the day before so might be a struggle!

  4. #84
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    Results are here:
    http://merciafellrunners.org.uk/node/2991

    Quite pleased with being comfortably in the top half of the field given my lack of running of late.

  5. #85
    Master Travs's Avatar
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    Anyone else racing on sunday?

    A look back through this thread (and seeing a picture of me in a torrid state at the top of the steep climb last year), reminded me of what a slog this is.

    Spent most of last year's race gamely hanging onto the back of DaveMole. I do think there is room for improvement and hopefully can shift a few minutes off my pb.

    Considering the location and low profile of the Wrekin, this is one of the toughest "short" races (8 miles) I've done.

    Good luck everybody.

  6. #86
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    I should be there though gave family over for the weekend so getting my excuses in early. Not a huge amount of run training this year as concentrating on the bike these days so will be happy just to complete this within a few minutes of last year's time.
    Agree with Travs that this packs a punch for such a short race on what is a relatively small hill.

  7. #87
    Master Dave_Mole's Avatar
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    you'll be in front of me this year, Travs as I'll be over in the Brecon Beacons running Llyn y Fan on Saturday and don't fancy a double.....

    Have a good one!
    ....it's all downhill from here.

  8. #88
    Master Travs's Avatar
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    Great race today. Pleased for the fantastic organisers to get a 200+ turnout. £8 for the race, a buff, water at the end, plus chips... fantastic.

    Was quite a furious pace from the gun, but as the course tilted uphill, I went through a lot of people who had been somewhat ambitious with their sprint-start. All going well until the first (and worst) descent through the trees. Bare, greasy vegetation, with a topping of wet fallen leaves, made tricky going. Lost a few places here, but more importantly time on my rivals.

    Felt a lot stronger than last year on the subsequent undulating section, and clawed my way back to those I finish close to, and measure myself against. It was nip-and-tuck for the remainder of the race, me making time up going up, and losing it quite spectacularly on the descents.

    So we hit the infamous switchbacks, the massively undulating final couple of km. Could see those that I'd been stalking all the way, but couldn't pull back that minute or so. Had a fantastic battle for most of the race with a guy from Meirionnydd, talking about previous races, then getting down to some serious racing.

    Which probably brings me to one of the best things about Fell racing. People happy to talk and encourage during the race. Often I think gets mistaken for non-competitiveness and not as serious as other forms of running. But myself and Mr Meirionnydd flogged each other to death all the way to the finish, neither giving an inch. Seriously thought I had him finished off on the switchbacks when he reduced himself to a walk.... "got you, you bastard" I thought, but he was made of sterner stuff, and held me off by two seconds at the finish line.

    A slight negative of today... this race receives a good turnout from the local clubs, and a higher than normal proportion of clubs you don't always see on the fells. Plenty of unfamiliar vests, and people wearing full tri-suits. No problem with that, hope they get into it, but some people need to take a look at themselves. Don't like to point any fingers, but Wrekin Road Runners, for a club racing on their 'home turf' they showed a fair lack of respect to the host club, Newport AC. Shouting and talking loudly throughout the briefing, despite people telling them to be quiet. And a large proportion of them didn't have any kit whatsoever. It may well be their home ground, and 'only' the Wrekin, buts its the organiser's arse on the line when something goes wrong.

    For myself, 44th, 1hr13, and a pb by 4 and a half minutes. Considering how much stronger I felt compared to last year, was slightly disappointed to look at my watch and see that I hadn't got a bit closer to 1:10. Also got beat by those personal rivals of mine who I see at all the Shropshire races... Mark from Mercia... Paul from Springfield. On a less technical race I can get the jump on these guys, but on a more technical course like today I can't keep pulling back all the ground I lose, which shows me exactly where I need to improve.

    Hello to PeteS of the forum, I hope you had a good race.
    Last edited by Travs; 18-11-2018 at 05:57 PM.

  9. #89
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    Hi Pete,

    Glad you had a good one. I had a good one too but took the second half reasonably easy as I had an excruciating pain in my left knee at the bottom of the Goaty. Eased off after the next descent but thought best to not push my luck. Knocked nearly a minute off last year's time so quite pleased nonetheless given the lack of training.
    The descents are tough in this race - steep, loose, slippy and the covering of leaves means you can't make out tree roots, rocks etc. I always used to be a good descender but since an accident earlier this year Im not quite so gung-ho as I used to be so lost a few places there too. Confidence is everything when it comes to going down hill fast.
    As for your comments on the Wrekin road runners, I agree whole heartedly. An absolute disgrace. I passed two with no kit - one was in the last km so will be interesting to see the results as he was probably just behind me. Whilst I'm not one to encourage marshals/ROs get the red card out so to speak, I do hope on this occasion he was DSQ'd.

  10. #90
    Master Travs's Avatar
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    Well done Pete.

    Fortunately I finished ahead of all the Wrekin Road Runners, or I may have had something to say (that would have been dependent on regaining the power of speech at the finish line).

    Confidence descending... my technique has undoubtedly improved, as I rarely fall now, even when it is very treacherous like today, but still a case of finding that confidence to let myself go.

    I'd spent the past couple of days visualising how I was going to breeze down that first descent, and just get it over with. Unfortunately that plan was in tatters after a very slippy trial run on the Ercall in today's warmup! Although I have learned to shrug off falls and near-misses, and they don't leave me bereft of confidence like they used to...

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