Headless Winter BG

[bestathlete]

Remarkable achievement - well done that man

[FellShoeShuffler]

Really well done

[Derby Tup]

What brilliant news! Looking forward to reading all about it

[MorganW]

Ed I was out with Stu and Debs midweek. Were they supporting or was it just Ilkley.

Either way well done to all for keeping you going.

Ian

Stu Pitches did Legs 2 and 3 (3 with me and Roy Ruddle). Stu is an Ilkley Harrier now.

I think Debs did Leg 5, but can't be sure. Sadly had to rush home and missed the final stages.

Hopefully Headless himself will surface here at some point to tell is how he's feeling this moning.

[Fat-Lad]

Fantastic I honestly thought the conditions would have been too much.
Top Man

[Bobert]

Well done Headless in those conditions.

[mxhornet]

Well done

Nice way to make your debut

[Marvin]

You must have given your pacers a very nervous time, Headless - just four minutes to spare! Can I suggest going a bit quicker next time?

[Headless]

Thank you everyone.

Two breakfasts down and I'm about to move onto lunch, which will consist of copious amounts of birthday cake; Morgan you should have eaten more cakes .

Marvin, leaving Honister I was quite relaxed - 3'45 to go so an easy run home planned. Unfortunately the weather deteriorated rapidly, my pacers had one of those moments and all the margin was used up with a mistake between Hindscarth and Robinson which meant I had 90 minutes to get home. On the hill we knew we had enough time (just) but there were some worried people in Keswick when I failed to show when expected.

Support was mostly Ilkley Harriers with Debs and Stu from Dark Peak (there were two Stuarts)

I'm physically feeling very good - quads are stiff and one blister but I can walk down stairs forwards. I suspect tomorrow may be a different story.

Friday night conditions were more exciting than expected. I was very aware of the front going through during Friday afternoon and evening and was expecting it to clear through by midnight whilst we were still on the safer ground of Skiddaw and Calva. I had a contingency of a delayed start but the forecast was for it to deteriorate into Saturday night so there was no anticipated net improvement in the weather - sitting in the pub in Keswick having tea we were watching the christmas decorations being buffeted. At 2100 the rain stopped and at 2130 the wind died down. It picked up again as we got up Skiddaw (OMM proportions) and made the ascent of Calva easy - I just spread my arms and was blown up the hill. It then died down again as we passed Skiddaw House (I never intended to go near the Caldew even before the heavy rainfall will have swelled it further). The plan was to go with Halls Fell if the weather was calm enough or Doddick if it wasn't - on the summit it was fine so Halls Fell it was. 50 metres down the wind opened up again and we were buffeted on the rest of the descent. This continued through until 0500 before finally relenting soon after Hellvellyn.

By contrast, Saturday was then one of the best Winter days out for a long time - calm, crisp and clear.

[Marvin]

Unfortunately the weather deteriorated rapidly, my pacers had one of those moments and all the margin was used up with a mistake between Hindscarth and Robinson which meant I had 90 minutes to get home. On the hill we knew we had enough time (just) but there were some worried people in Keswick when I failed to show when expected.

Times like that are horrible, when you can just feel the time ebbing away and any contingency just disappears. 90 minutes from Robinson is 15 minutes inside our schedule - that's pretty quick at that stage in the round. Well done again.