Champs races 2022

[Travs]

Well i was flagging long before reaching the top!

Funnily enough my feet were fine... i can't use them as an excuse (although where i've been limping round and compensating for my feet all week, i was incredibly stiff in the legs).

But it was the heat that got to me... didn't start overly fast... was about where i'd usually expect to be on an opening climb... positioned a few places behind Dan Gilbert... but on the first decent run along the top i was already treading water.

On the 3rd (and biggest) climb up through the bracken the heat came over me like a wave and i sat down a couple of times.... on my 3rd sit down i was starting to feel very rough and figured the sensible option was to slowly walk up to the top and shortcut back round to the finish for a dnf... on reaching the top of the climb there was a little bit of a breeze, and with most of the climb done, and at most 3 miles to go, i jogged it round to get a finishing place.

By the time i reached the final climb i'd wished i'd gone for the dnf option... the suffering only momentarily relieved by that girl from Helm Hill chucking a load of freezing water over my head.

Trundled over the finish line in 58mins, no idea on position but not remotely near the points, and considerably nearer the back than the front... but just pleased to finish and not have any lasting ill-effects.

Hello to GazB, DanGilbert, GeoffB.

And thanks to MrB and Tindersticks for your concerned enquiries as i was sitting down.

Pete

[Mike T]

Well i was flagging long before reaching the top!

Funnily enough my feet were fine... i can't use them as an excuse (although where i've been limping round and compensating for my feet all week, i was incredibly stiff in the legs).

But it was the heat that got to me... didn't start overly fast... was about where i'd usually expect to be on an opening climb... positioned a few places behind Dan Gilbert... but on the first decent run along the top i was already treading water.

On the 3rd (and biggest) climb up through the bracken the heat came over me like a wave and i sat down a couple of times.... on my 3rd sit down i was starting to feel very rough and figured the sensible option was to slowly walk up to the top and shortcut back round to the finish for a dnf... on reaching the top of the climb there was a little bit of a breeze, and with most of the climb done, and at most 3 miles to go, i jogged it round to get a finishing place.

By the time i reached the final climb i'd wished i'd gone for the dnf option... the suffering only momentarily relieved by that girl from Helm Hill chucking a load of freezing water over my head.

Trundled over the finish line in 58mins, no idea on position but not remotely near the points, and considerably nearer the back than the front... but just pleased to finish and not have any lasting ill-effects.

Hello to GazB, DanGilbert, GeoffB.

And thanks to MrB and Tindersticks for your concerned enquiries as i was sitting down.

Pete

That sounds tough Travs - all that limping because of your feet will not have helped, and climbing through bracken is never fun, especially in the heat. Better luck next time.

[mr brightside]

Well i was flagging long before reaching the top!

Funnily enough my feet were fine... i can't use them as an excuse (although where i've been limping round and compensating for my feet all week, i was incredibly stiff in the legs).

But it was the heat that got to me... didn't start overly fast... was about where i'd usually expect to be on an opening climb... positioned a few places behind Dan Gilbert... but on the first decent run along the top i was already treading water.

On the 3rd (and biggest) climb up through the bracken the heat came over me like a wave and i sat down a couple of times.... on my 3rd sit down i was starting to feel very rough and figured the sensible option was to slowly walk up to the top and shortcut back round to the finish for a dnf... on reaching the top of the climb there was a little bit of a breeze, and with most of the climb done, and at most 3 miles to go, i jogged it round to get a finishing place.

By the time i reached the final climb i'd wished i'd gone for the dnf option... the suffering only momentarily relieved by that girl from Helm Hill chucking a load of freezing water over my head.

Trundled over the finish line in 58mins, no idea on position but not remotely near the points, and considerably nearer the back than the front... but just pleased to finish and not have any lasting ill-effects.

Hello to GazB, DanGilbert, GeoffB.

And thanks to MrB and Tindersticks for your concerned enquiries as i was sitting down.

Pete

I learned a lot from my disaster at Alderman's. I learned how fast heat exhaustion can overcome you and how crucial a marginal gains approach to core cooling can be. I lost track of how much water i went through, but it was a lot, and it needed to be a lot.

My route in was pretty good, i'll make that my regular route to that part of the peak. The scenery was pretty good and i don't think i got gripped for speeding once. I opted for a 2 bottle hydration strategy using the one in my belt carrier as a reserve. My hand carried bottle was dry by the top of the second climb and i refilled it with at least 2 cups at the water stations, finishing up the reserve at the base of the final climb. My dunk in the brook kept my pants wet for at least half the race which helped with cooling massively.
I don't think i've ever run so well all things considered. Other people were suffering badly, and i was very surprised to fly past Paul Crabtree on the top. I kept on passing people all race and had the means to go very quick on the descents, but catching tindersticks on the final drop was a bridge too far. The second descent was very dusty and it was getting in my eyes a bit, the surface was scuffed up badly, but the walshes handled it with ease. I got my hands on plenty of local ale from the stall and from the brewery down the road. Not seen any results yet.

Cheers to the organisers!

[Travs]

Well done to DanGIlbert, GazB, Tindersticks and MrBrightside on all scoring champs points today.

[mr brightside]

Well done to DanGIlbert, GazB, Tindersticks and MrBrightside on all scoring champs points today.

I scored points? Where are you seeing that?

[mr brightside]

found it. They must be on it as we speak. Vet points only go as high as 10 don't they?

[dangilbert]

found it. They must be on it as we speak. Vet points only go as high as 10 don't they?

First 40 for v40 and v45. There's at least one person missing from the results and the times don't look right so there might be some tweaks required.

[dangilbert]

I agree with Mr B, the experience at Alderman's last year was definitely helpful in how to approach today's race. Still tough conditions but think I managed to pace it well. Carried water but only for pouring over my head rather than drinking. Thought the steep dusty second descent was the toughest part of the route.
All in all, well organised on the day.
Sounds like a rough day for you Travs and your less than ideal build up won't have helped. Like you say, at least no lasting effects, onwards and upwards!

[Travs]

Thanks Dan, and great write up MrB.

Whether it was just an unfortunate one today, or whether I was a bit too blasé about the conditions, I'm not sure... Perhaps a bit of both.

I'd knocked back two litres of water between 11am and the start, so felt hydrated. Didn't carry water, having nailed it last week in the heat over a similar distance race (admittedly it was considerably warmer today).

I'd certainly be more dilligent if I was to run such an intense race again in similar conditions.

GazB said something after which rings true... Longer races in the heat are easier to manage... Its the intensity that comes with the short races that does the damage.

And as Mr Fishwick also said to me at the end "its a tough sport"!

[anthonykay]

As Emil Zatopek allegedly said in similar conditions on the start line of the Marathon at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics: "Today we die a little." I still think it was the right decision for me to wimp out (and I note that there were only 175 finishers from 253 pre-entries; maybe others wimped out because of the heat?). I'm fairly sure that I would have died a little, or maybe a lot, however much I might have tried to hydrate.

If I have any regrets, it's that I didn't do Ricky's Race or Hob Hurst earlier in the week. Even on the open moorland of the latter, the intensity of the sun is bearable at 7.30pm, and it's the radiated heat from the sun rather than the air temperature that I have been finding really uncomfortable this week. The Met Office website gives "feels like" temperatures, which are never higher than the air temperature, because they only include the effect of wind combined with air temperature in the shade; but the true "feels like" temperature out of the shade has probably been around 50C in early afternoon for the last few days.