High Peak 40

Glad to hear you’re going to make it to the start line Daz, especially after your recce efforts.

I’ll be there, along with Mrs C. We did it together for the first time last year. Lovely route, but some tough road sections, especially the latter bit to Chelmorton. Weather forecast on the day currently looks good, although guess may be some damp/muddy patches as a result of the weather leading up to Sat. Almost thought about wearing road shoes this year, but will probably go with Speedcross, just to be on the safe side.

This may be well known to some, but I only discovered this small trod a few months ago (doing the Severn Trent Mountain Challenge)… shortly after CP5 the footpath climbs up a very rocky track (almost a gully) towards Rushup Edge. It’s quite slow, even to walk, but there is a faint trod above a few yards to the left of that, after the footpath/track diverges from the edge of the road – it’s so much easier under foot and far more runnable.

I know about that "break out" trod on the LHS of Chapel Gate thanks :)

I will going with what are effectively road shoes ("trail" versions of the now sadly discontinued New Balance 749's) - wanting the extra cushioning to cope with all the hard surface stuff

I will be wearing purple Fell Ponies vest and aiming for about 9 hours...

Conditions underfoot shouldn't be that bad. We haven't had any of the deluge that the south has suffered and it's going to be dry through to the end of the weekend. I wish I was doing it this year and I'd check out that 'secret' trod after CP5. It sounds a good one.

This will be the first time I'm not doing this since 1998 (with the odd gap here and there). I decided to do Lantern Pike fell race better justice for once (i.e. not stand on the start line with the first 26 miles of the HP40 already in the legs).

Have a good run Daz, Mark and all others doing it. I'm still envious.

Well, that was another interesting day out. The weather was good……. too good – great for marshals and supporters, but made an already challenging run that bit tougher with the sun/heat.

Daz – I saw you near the start line, was hoping to say hi, but then got caught up in conversations with some other Totley runners….. then fairly quickly it was start time. I hope your first run of this race went OK?

Mrs C and I managed a new PB – 8.25, 30 mins quicker than last year. Reasonably pleased with that.

Nick – you were right, the course was incredibly dry. Hope your race went well. The "secret" trod worked well :-).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkClayton

Well, that was another interesting day out. The weather was good……. too good – great for marshals and supporters, but made an already challenging run that bit tougher with the sun/heat.

Nick – you were right, the course was incredibly dry. Hope your race went well. The "secret" trod worked well :-).

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Well done with the PB, Mark. It was a warm and humid one for running. The intense effort required for the fell race resulted in salty sweat-in-eyes syndrome. It's good going to have that problem so late in the year.

Lantern Pike felt just as tough as it did two years ago, which worried me. I'd forgotten how tough it is. I was relieved to find out afterwards that I was nearly 8 minutes quicker for identical heart rate stats (174bpm ave, 183bpm max).

Mark - Well Done to you and MrsC on your time - you must be well chuffed to go sub-8:30
shame we didn't get to chat more - catch you next time!

re my race - agree with Mark basically too hot for my liking in the middle of the day - went well until Beet Farm then started to flag a bit - at Castleton decided to walk gently up Cave Dale then see if I could pick back up after that... aaaand I couldn't - so binned my 9:30 schedule and just power-walked the rest - bit of a slog though - perked up mentally after High Low as the sun got lower and the temperature dropped - didn't even mind the long road stretch, and started to at least enjoy the scenery, although my feet were KILLING me by this point - 10:40 in the end, just glad to have finished at all!

Well done Daz. Your experiences are probably like many others'. I always recall Beet Farm as the area of first flagging, after which it's maintain forward motion as best we can with various highs and lows along the way.

Sorry to hear things didn’t go quite as planned Daz, but really well done for digging-in and making it to the end. I’m not so good in hot weather either – I sweat significantly at the best of times and had to drink like a fish on the way round to replenish myself. Thankfully lots of CPs not too far apart.

And well done Nick with your time at Lantern Pike.

Hope to see you guys in the near future…. my events for the rest of 2015 are IoM Ultra (Runfurther counter), Windgather and Roaches. Looking forward to IoM, as was entered last year, but missed my flight.

Has anyone seen the results for this out this year? I know they must have them as there was a female prize giving but nothing on the website yet.
Enjoyed the race it was my first time, one of the slickest registrations and number collection I've ever seen, no queue, handed everything we needed in a bag. Great support at the checkpoints and plenty of them, well marked just a little more road than we were expecting. Blooming great weather too, never thought I'd need sun cream.

Here you are :- http://www.sportsystems.co.uk/ss/res...Challenge/1906