Originally Posted by
anthonykay
The tea and cakes were all laid out in Calderbrook Church. It must either be the Old Folks' Tea Party or the Turnslack Fell Race. Actually it was a clever combination: the Old Folks' Turnslack Fell Race and Tea Party. On the pre-entry list, 15 of the 35 entrants were M/W60 and over. and looking around the 53 who turned up on the day, I reckon the average age was well over 50.
Yes, only 53 runners; presumably the clash with the Blisco Dash Championship race had something to do with that, but it is a pity because Turnslack is a great classic of South Pennine fell running. Plenty of steep descents and climbs, some stretches of more gently undulating moorland, and testing terrain underfoot. There are only a few short sections on well-made tracks; the rest is on smaller paths and trods that appear and disappear, and through tussocks and bogs.
For myself, I started at a modest pace and gradually got slower, with other runners passing me on all the descents. However, I still held out some hope of beating a World Champion, until on the flat ground at the top of Noon Hill, the last summit, Ann-Marie Jones came past me. Anyway, I finished only 4 minutes slower than two years ago, which doesn't seem too bad after only four weeks of training following a three-month lay-off with injury.
Dan Taylor did an excellent job, taking over as RO after Kevan Shand's 45-year stint in that role, and he had taken his strimmer out on the final descent route through the bracken. But he now realises (in case he didn't already) that however well you mark a course, someone is going to go wrong. One woman who passed me after about 2 miles came into the finish shortly after me, and I know there were a few more who went astray. For myself, I was going slowly enough to see all Dan's red flags.
Oh, and the cakes were possibly the best I have ever seen and tasted at a fell race.
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