Otley Chevin Fell Race

[Seymour Hills]

Otley Chevin video, sorry Adam Osborne missed you too quick for me! https://www.youtube.com/user/ChannelRun

[Tindersticks]

On Sunday night I received a text message off my teammate Bill Beckett and he's not happy. A reccy of Ennerdale has left him struggling to walk and he's asking for tips regarding recovery. I suggest getting the foam roller out and doing plenty of stretching.

I've never done Otley Chevin so it needed ticking off and given the lovely evening I thought there's no time like the present. On the off chance I give Bill a text, I'm straight to the point with my texting....."Otley Chevin tonight?".

Remembering Bill could hardly walk as recently as a few days ago I was pretty confident I'd be making the trip over to Yorkshire alone. Bill's reply surprised me..."cool, hopefully my legs will work". What can I say other than Mr B loves his fellrunning and he's not going to let something as trivial as a pair of battered legs stop him....good man.

Otley here we come!

On arrival it becomes obvious to me why some of the lads from work favour Otley for one of their regular days 'ont piss' even though it's not exactly nearby. This West Yorkshire market town seems to be rammed with pubs and my work colleagues CAMRA days out are never a disappointment, from what they remember of them.

First job tonight is locating race registration and considering that our sport involves running it's actually a rare occasion to be registering in a running shop....pubs, village halls and the back of people's cars being the more popular venues associated with fell races.

It's always nice bumping into P&B runners Graham and Rachel Pilling.....before the English championship at Weets last Saturday I said to Graham that we'd both achieve open champ points by finishing 49/50th. Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly we didn't worry the top 50 given the typically high standards at the champs but Graham's time was 49:50...how weird is that?

I should've known that after years of listening to the psychedelic rock of Hawkwind, Gong and early Floyd it would eventually have a knock on effect...l must have psychic powers to come up with 49:50 no matter what the circumstances. I will predict that most of you reading this are thinking, "what complete b*llocks"....see I told you, I know what you're thinking...psychic or what?

The race is pretty straightforward: basically run to the top of the Chevin and back. The Chevin being the woodland covered ridge that overlooks Otley.

It's a fast start up a cobbled street lined with big Victorian terraced houses. Even though the street is on an incline it's easy compared to the next road section of Johnny Lane...blimey this is steep but we're rewarded at the top by leaving the tarmac for the woods. The incline continues and we soon arrived at The White House Cafe: this looks a nice spot for a brew and apparently can only be accessed by foot.

Next up we're climbing steps of varying sizes and I'm finding it hard to get any type of rhythm going. At the top of the steps a right turn offers flat running for a few hundred yards and we climb again and pop out from the woods into the evening sunshine. A short run along the ridge leads us to a rock formation which we trudge up the side of and I'm reliably informed this is known as the 'Surprise view'. Apparently it's a great view looking over Otley and beyond but when you're racing it really can't be appreciated as trip obstacles are one 'surprise' I don't need.

The return is a mad dash down the route we'd just earlier climbed and I'm regretting my choice of road shoes whilst in the woods as I'm slip sliding more than I'd like. The road section is steep but it's only short and if I do the race again I'll be wearing fell shoes. After the race I'm pleased to say my mate Bill is still feeling battered but certainly not bruised....his legs have done him proud.

Many thanks to Skyrac and a special mention for the excellent buffet at the Whitakers pub....beltin.

[DinoF]

Great to see you on my home territory, Darren. It's a pretty short race to make the trip over the Pennines, but hopefully we'll see you again?

[Tindersticks]

Great to see you on my home territory, Darren. It's a pretty short race to make the trip over the Pennines, but hopefully we'll see you again?

Cheers Simon

Always a pleasure bumping into Carol and yourself.

Take care, see you soon.