Rombalds Stride

[Rob Furness]

Rob, I've nailed the Baildon Trig to Golcar section. Found us the fastest descent ! Reluctantly doing a recce of Burley Woodhead to the finish this afternoon. Not a fan of the menston road section.

I usually run on more or less the bearing stated in the literature, and if you know where to look there's a trod that heads like an arrow towards the cattle grid checkpoint.

Ironic, I got a tad lost there today. Went too far to the top of the woods instead of sweeping slightly to the left & on to the Quarry Car Park. 2 trusty dog walkers put me straight. Can anybody remember exactly where the "self clip" is part way up the Chevin ? I lose it every year ! Cost me 2-3 mins last year.

Self clip is really easy, as you go through the steel gate, head straight on up a muddy path onto the grassy steep hill with steps and it'll be obvious.

It'd be more than embarrassing if I went wrong on the Chevin section given the Big Hill as we call the path from the road back up to the woods is a regular club training feature. It's a tough enough climb less than 2 miles into a training run let alone 20 miles into an event....so I've told myself not to overdo the downhill road section before that climb (whether I'll heed my own advice remains to be seen!)..

I ran that hill on Sunday 6miles in to a 12miler. It's bloody hard but doable if you slow down enough (I was around 15min/mile pace for the mile including the hill). On 'race' day I doubt I'll be capable of running it though!