Edale Skyline Fell Race

[IanDarkpeak]

Results

http://results.sportident.co.uk/home...1-98567bd31040

[GeoffB]

What a great win for Jack Wood after doing Black Combe (he was one of the many at the sharp end who went badly wrong).

Impressive! Rick Houghton also - 5th V50 at Black Combe and 1st V50 at the Skyline (30 minutes ahead of 2nd!)

[backtothefells]

Sun WAS a pain. Images from yesterday.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mossie...57664348922129

[Tractorboy]

Was very impressed with this race - great organisation, super support from cheery marshalls (guess it helps when it's a lovely sunny day!) and a cracking course.
Personally, I found it much tougher than I thought I would. This probably comes down to lack of training (especially over hills), but looking across the valley from Mam Tor at how much you had left to go was pretty hard to take, Kinder looked miles off (and it was). Confess to having thoughts of jacking it in there, but somehow started to plod on and by the time I got to the next cut off, it seemed silly to walk back.Definitely the hardest bit for me was the section between Mam Tor and Edale Cross, really tough underfoot and a slow gradient.
Some how managed to get sun burnt....in March!!
So I found it tougher than say the Three Peaks. Wonder if that is just because of its unfamiliarity but did seem to me much rougher underfoot, even if not so long. Would be interested in others' views...

[Gaz]

Managed to get a sun burnt head and neck! Not sure it was down to the suns intensity (in march!) or the fact it took me a while to get round!

[anthonykay]

Has the course changed over the years?

I have just been looking back at the results from the one occasion (A Very Long Time Ago) that I did the Edale Skyline Race: I was 55th (out of only 128 finishers), in a time that would have placed me 14th this year. The winner that year (Andy Darby) was about 17 minutes faster than this year's winner, despite the excellent weather this year.

Was it simply that the competition was less strong than usual this year, with an English Championship race the day before? Or has the bog monster (carefully excluded from the viewfinders of Mossienet et al) become more voracious over the years? Or has there been a change of route somewhere?

[Sam W]

Has the course changed over the years?

I have just been looking back at the results from the one occasion (A Very Long Time Ago) that I did the Edale Skyline Race: I was 55th (out of only 128 finishers), in a time that would have placed me 14th this year. The winner that year (Andy Darby) was about 17 minutes faster than this year's winner, despite the excellent weather this year.

Was it simply that the competition was less strong than usual this year, with an English Championship race the day before? Or has the bog monster (carefully excluded from the viewfinders of Mossienet et al) become more voracious over the years? Or has there been a change of route somewhere?

Whilst marshalling at Coffin Rock & Ringing Roger, I was told that the Skyline used to finish in a field below Grindslow Knoll. I'm not sure how long ago this was - IDP is likely to be able to answer this & give a fuller story than I can - but it would have meant the race would be a fair bit shorter (at least a couple of miles I'd have thought) with a fast downhill at the end.

Reports from runners passing the last CP at Ringing Roger suggested that conditions underfoot were pretty poor over Brown Knoll, which will have slowed the field down somewhat.

[gazb]

I can confirm that the underfoot conditions on Sunday were the toughest that I have ever experienced in any fell race. Although this was only partly the reason for my poor performance!

[IanDarkpeak]

Has the course changed over the years?

I have just been looking back at the results from the one occasion (A Very Long Time Ago) that I did the Edale Skyline Race: I was 55th (out of only 128 finishers), in a time that would have placed me 14th this year. The winner that year (Andy Darby) was about 17 minutes faster than this year's winner, despite the excellent weather this year.

Was it simply that the competition was less strong than usual this year, with an English Championship race the day before? Or has the bog monster (carefully excluded from the viewfinders of Mossienet et al) become more voracious over the years? Or has there been a change of route somewhere?

Whilst marshalling at Coffin Rock & Ringing Roger, I was told that the Skyline used to finish in a field below Grindslow Knoll. I'm not sure how long ago this was - IDP is likely to be able to answer this & give a fuller story than I can - but it would have meant the race would be a fair bit shorter (at least a couple of miles I'd have thought) with a fast downhill at the end.

Reports from runners passing the last CP at Ringing Roger suggested that conditions underfoot were pretty poor over Brown Knoll, which will have slowed the field down somewhat.

before my time but yes it did but it also started up Grindslow so the circle was still the same. This year however the shortcuts on the plateau were out of bounds. 10-20 minutes difference possibly?

Also you don't take the superfast descent down passed Twitchill farm any more, you double back to hope Brink, this is definitely further and slower.3-5 minutes??

[RunUpWhere]

Cracking race, thanks to everyone who made this possible. It never seems to get any easier.
Sunburnt, I wasn't expecting that...