The Trigger

[Travs]

After dishing out the advice on here to Orval, like some kind of self-proclaimed expert, I should probably refer myself back to tip number 3.... "look at the map"..... and perhaps I wouldn't have dnf'd today...

Despite feeling incredibly stiff after XC yesterday I was running quite well. Due to the weather conditions I'd been toying with sticking to the Pennine Way after Black Hill, all the way back to Crowden... probably at least a km longer than the route down Little Crowden Brook, but surely better running... however on the way up Black Hill I was in a decent group which contained Nicky Spinks, so I wasn't about to head off in a different direction from these lot.

They'd dropped me by Crowden, and I found myself in another group who seemed to be doing a lot of dithering on the way up Lawrence Edge... I didn't fancy having them on my tail over Bleaklow, so after setting the compass I sprinted off and left them floundering.... spot on across to Bleaklow, one lady who was moving very quickly actually passed me twice, so I must have got a good line.

Unfortunately on reaching Bleaklow top I had a lapse in concentration... in fact it was worse than that, more like a moment of stupidity... I won't delve too deeply into the details of what I did for fear of being mocked, but suffice to say I should have had the map out, I knew things weren't correct, but I ploughed on following the shadowy figures in front... ended up probably about a mile too far west, and from there it was a thankless task to get back on track...

By now was getting alarmingly cold due to the slowed progress due to constant checking of the map, and I was soaked to the bone (I probably don't need to mention that conditions were absolutely shocking... it's Bleaklow Moor, in January). I was actually just about to set the compass south and just aim for the Snake Road and get off the hill, when I hit a path and managed to relocate myself back on the way to Higher Shelf Stones.

Conditions at Higher Shelf were desperate and it was hard to make progress into the wind, and it was a relief to find the way to Snake Pass was a little more sheltered. This didn't last long and when we hit the Pennine Way again the wind was pretty fearsome.

I felt good mentally, but I was still quite cold, not moving with much spring in the step, and soaked through... I took the decision to retire, fearing that if I headed off towards Kinder and things went wrong again, I might not have the body temperature left to extract myself from trouble.

Although I paint a pretty desperate picture of the conditions, they were certainly manageable, and had I not had to slow down I'd have been fine and got to the finish. I wasn't exactly floundering at the back of the race either, I still got to Snake Pass in 3:15 so was on for a top 33% finish, but wasn't worth the risk.

Hard decision to make after 3 hours of hard work, and possibly only an hour and a half from the end, but live to fight another day.

MRT marshalls at the checkpoints and other locations were superb, on a busy day for them, with the Spine coming in the other direction. It's a fine race, and I'd recommend to anyone with the qualifying races behind them, to have a go. It'll put hairs on your chest!

Pete