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Thread: Most dramatic moment.

  1. #1
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    Most dramatic moment.

    Fell racing always carries the chance of a dramatic moment. Could be anything.
    I'll start off.
    It was the Ben Nevis race. 89 or 90, not sure now. But I was having a stormer. Had zoomed down the grassy bank and was now flying down the last few zig zags to the valley floor. I was mapping the terrain several yards ahead, my feet finding their own way....except they didn't. It was the perfect tap tackle. One foot clipped a rock, pinged into the other leg and that was it. I was launched head first into a sweaty slightly clad missile with no control but heading straight towards 2 large boulders. This was gonna hurt! Except somehow I flew into the gap between them and got wedged by the shoulders. Adrenaline numbed the pain and I struggled free and finished the race in a PB time. Only afterwards did the pain kick in along with the realisation that I had had a lucky escape!

  2. #2
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    Had a similar fall on the Black Mountains Race, descending off PYGF in shocking weather.... slid, fell perhaps 40ft at quite a rate, but no comedy ending like yours...

    Cross Country seems to be good for some drama... "Grand National 1993" type starts with people going flying, people stuck in mud unable to move.

    The start of the National Cross Country is a sight to behold, and must be the most dramatic sight in British Athletics, not to mention actually being in the middle of it!
    Last edited by Travs; 18-12-2020 at 10:48 PM.

  3. #3
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    The first Kinder Downfall race, 1980. Racing another runner along the path from the top of William Clough to the Downfall, arms flailing and accidentally touched him, which knocked him off balance. You expect anyone who falls over to just get back up and carry on running; instead, he stayed down, screaming "My knee, my knee"; and I could see that his knee was dislocated.

    This was long before any RO would expect you to take extra kit on a BM race in benign weather. I realised that I was no more than half a mile from the Downfall checkpoint, so I just told him that I would get help, and raced along to the Downfall. Fortunately, not only were the Marshalls there, the Mountain Rescue team had stationed themselves there, so it wouldn't have been too long before they got to him.

    I recognised the runner on the start line the following year; he said that he had recurring problems with that knee, and there were no hard feelings towards me.
    In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
    Jorge Luis Borges

  4. #4
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    That's rather unfortunate Anthony. But good to hear he was reasonable about the incident.

    I did similar at football... Broke an opponent's ankle with a fairly innocuous 50/50 challenge... Worst bit was hearing he was self-employed and it was likely to affect him financially.

  5. #5
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    Well that stimulated a torrent of fell running related reminiscences!😄😄

  6. #6
    Most dramatic moment? I'm torn between two or three in particular:- Dropping out of the mist on Lingmell with the whole of Wasdale spread out below me after several hours navigating. Or the inversion and then the brockenspectre of the ridge dropping from Crag Hill (complete with runners shadows) on one of my early races. Or maybe a glorious sunny day when for some reason everyone took different lines up Wetherlam on 3 Shires and the whole fellside was a mass of brightly coloured club vests - or maybe just the views on Jura on a good day. To me dramatic doesn't imply dangerous or frightening, just spectacular.

  7. #7
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    Sierre-Zinal a few years back - I had accepted the offer of a free massage at the finish, and my quads were being put through agony, but I was able to watch the finishers coming in. A chap about 70 came in - he had blood all over his face, and he was clearly in a bad way - he kept muttering things in French, could not keep still, and was resistant to any offers of help. I felt so sorry for him, and of course hoped I would never be in the same position.

    Y3Ps a year or two later - final descent - still a long way to go, tired legs, a tendency to relax too much - that sudden trip, down I went, managed to turn my head to the left to protect my face, my glasses cut into my right temple, my shoulder hit the ground and tore my Haglofs top, touching my face there was blood on my glove ... I felt OK in myself and finished, and went to see the paramedics - a quick wipe down to remove the dirt, no bandage - as I was walking back to the car a fellow runner commented "You need to see the medics" - "Ive been!"
    The chaps I was car sharing with took some photos for posterity. I tried to claim on insurance - prescription glasses and the Haglofs top - but they said fell running was an extreme sport and was therefore not covered.

    I did a similar thing on a run over Steel Fell not that long ago - the edge of my glasses cut into my eyebrow this time - I now wear glasses with lenses that are literally bullet proof. I should have learnt the first time - it is not if, but when.
    Last edited by Mike T; 22-12-2020 at 11:33 AM.

  8. #8
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    Quite so Mark...I chose the adjective with that in mind😉

  9. #9
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    You learnt a lot from that little adventure!

  10. #10
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    I think you learn more when things go wrong...

    My biggest lessons learned come from three days out when things went wrong and had potential to be really nasty...

    A full winter conditions day out on Snowdon.
    Wasdale Fell Race 2016 (when i think about a third of the field retired)
    A disastrous overnight run/bivvy on the High Street range.

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