Reservoir View Fell Race
Generally speaking, fell races and stunning locations go hand in hand. Recently I’ve been fortunate enough to experience events in Northumberland, the Brecon Beacons, the Lake District and the Peak District. Family and friends will often inquire about my racing escapades and primarily I’ll reminisce about the breathtaking views synonymous with the great outdoors. Although it’s not always easy painting a verbal picture of aesthetically pleasing landscapes. For instance, Reservoir View fell race is located in Accrington…blimey, where do I begin?
Accy, as it’s known locally, is a town sandwiched between Blackburn and Burnley. It’s famed for manufacturing the hardest and densest building bricks in the world, which were used in the construction of the Empire State Building and for the foundations of Blackpool Tower. The Hacienda nightclub in Manchester was also built from Accrington brick - honestly, I’m not twistin’ your melon man. Furthermore, many two-up two-down dwellings were constructed with the iron-hard engineering brick. It was whilst living in this type of modest housing that my parents met for the first time as teenagers, when they became neighbours. It wasn’t long before they became smitten with each other and persisted as a secret item on religious grounds, as the Fishwick’s were Protestants and the Hampson’s were Catholics and never the twain shall meet. Undeterred the love-struck teenagers would communicate by coded signals; whereby they’d knock on the adjacent wall of their terrace dwellings with whatever came to hand. Bob Hampson was forever gluing back together his daughter’s figurines of The Virgin Mary and Jesus, for even consecrated artefacts were evidently no match when up against the hardy building brick. A miracle, or perhaps divine intervention, would keep the fledgling romantics together and they eventually became engaged in secret. Figuratively speaking, they tore down the walls of the impenetrable ‘Accy brick’ and embarked upon a lifetime of togetherness. How fortunate for future me!
Accrington is also famous for the town’s football team Accrington Stanley - who are they? Exactly!
I’ve been working alongside the good people of East Lancashire for over thirty five years. Whenever tediousness takes hold within the workplace, my colleagues from up the M65 will inevitably lighten the mood. For instance; last week I was shown a photograph depicting a stylish modern bathroom. My work colleague (an inhabitant of Burnley) proclaimed that he’d single-handedly carried out all the workmanship. He asked me to give the photograph a closer inspection and following his request I noticed a handwritten message on a sheet of A4 paper attached to the toilet cistern. It read: ‘PLEASE DO NOT FLUSH! I’ve gone to get a tape measure. I’m pretty confident I’ve created a new world record. You can look but don’t touch!’. Understandedly his wife wasn’t best pleased and flushed the toilet in disgust. He admitted to being immensely proud when he found out that it took three flushes to remove his ‘creation’ - even with the additional aid of a brush. However, he knew he’d overstepped the mark when his wife winced at the sheer mention of his porcelain posturing and all apologies were met with a tepid response. Later that evening his wife had finally appeared to forgive and forget, but unbeknownst to him she’d planned her revenge.
The next day he returned home from work and inadvertently set the house alarm off whilst trying to deactivate the system. After countless attempts it became apparent that the usual code wasn’t recognised. Feeling flustered he rang his wife, who calmly announced she’d changed the code to the date of their wedding anniversary. Knowing her husband would be flummoxed, she then momentarily blocked his number to prevent him from pestering her. After what felt like an eternity, his eldest daughter came to his rescue on her return from Pilates and silenced the alarm. He’s since memorised the date and promised to take his wife out for an expensive meal on all future anniversaries following her request. Apparently he’s contemplating taking her to a motorway services - no expense spared. Personally I feel they both take great pleasure in playfully berating each other and therefore I’m grateful for the entertainment.
As for the race in question; the inaugural Reservoir View followed a less frequented path by going ahead on a Friday evening. I’ve competed in 569 different fell races of which only the following have been Friday evening fixtures: Barley Cabin, Castleton, Dash In The Dark, Fun On The Fells, Great Longstone Chase, Hayfield May Queen, Hob Hurst’s, Kirkby Stephen Sports, Mr Sparkle’s Dark Un, Pinhaw, Salt Cellar, Tideswell, Wicken Hill Whizz, Wansfell Uphill....and for a blatantly obvious reason (which I’ll reveal shortly) Reservoir View will be forever special to myself. The course is very similar to Great Hameldon fell race, although the start and finish location is slightly different and the climb through the woods felt less arduous and more interesting. When upon the moor the summit is approached in an anti-clockwise direction, not before glancing at the reservoir view...lovely!
Many thanks to Liam and all helpers. Congratulations to race winners Darren Fishwick and Rebecca Crawshaw. Yes, I actually won the race. Thanks in no small part to the first six going wrong after descending the summit, as they all missed a left hand turn and consequently omitted almost a mile off the route. It was my first outright fell race win since 2017 and it certainly wasn’t expected as my 54th birthday rapidly approaches.
When I arrived home my wife was preparing a meal for the next day. She appeared to be struggling whilst attempting to read the cooking instructions from a packet of ingredients. Using my phone I took a picture of the label and enlarged the print. Alison laughed at my resourcefulness then said, “oh, by the way, how did the race go?”. Once again I enlarged the print and I showed her a screenshot of the results, then regaled her with my fortuitous win. To say she was surprised would be an understatement. To say l enjoyed my Friday evening in ‘Accy’ would also be an understatement.
Reservoir View - I adore you!
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Originally Posted by dnf
