Had a brief conversation with the RO, it trudges up nanny lane to baystones then west to Wansfell, but god knows what happens either side of that. It looks like there might be some medium gradient technical descents somewhere, possibly after Wansfell. The RO is going to draw the route on my OS. 24 pre entered, 22 ran last year, I'd love to get round without any problems.
That was that then. Hard and stony are the words that spring to mind for the section either side of the summits that I couldn't work out, the rest was ok.
I like yha races because you get to see the inside of a hostel without the inconvenience of waiting two years on a list of names. This one was a Victorian pile which burnt down and was not so lavishly or tastefully rebuilt in concrete, apparently to stop it getting gutted by fire again...The insides are always different too, apart from the characters floating about the gaff. Everybody at a hostel looks like a foreign exchange student and sits about in flip flops reading fiction novels.
The race begins with a 1 mile run along a winding road followed by a stiff climb up some track called nanny lane. Travs this race might suit you quite well. There's a bit of a yomp between the summits then it's back to the familiar washed out rock and gravel footpath descent, the worst sort and so easy to trip. I took one of the numerous grass trods off to the side and got an overtake in, but all too soon I was backing off for jagged rocks. The descent mainly consists of a hard stony track described by tindersticks as 'a bit naughty', it seemed to drag on forever and i gave up trying to catch Darren, who was running well after running a leg of the bgr the previous day with 7500' in it. Hard underfoot this one, a bit like Ingleborough. Thanks to the RO for the awesome cakes afterwards.
Not sure whether you enjoyed it or not Luke but good to see you racing again!Originally Posted by mr brightside
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
Well done Mr B.
As you say Nanny Lane is a stiff climb but if you are fit it is runnable from the road at Lanefoot Farm for a mile or so, and then intermittently after that. The "yomp" between summits is worth a recce, as is the initial part of the descent from the Pike - there are several runners trods that avoid the worst of the bog on the ridge, and the nastiest rocky bits on the initial descent. Once on the Hundreds Road/Robin Lane section it is extremely runnable, and, once past the initial lovely grassy section, extremely trippable. I do like Tindersticks' description of this section - a bit naughty!
Well, one man's feast...
I think the route is aimed at all abilities and is navigationally straight forward by virtue of sticking to well defined routes. The guy i passed on the first descent section stayed on my heels for quite a while, but he didn't have the leg speed to keep up after the fell gate at the top of hundreds road. I could have passed him on one of the many short descents between the summits, but he'd have got me on the next climb, so i waited until i thought i may have the advantage.
By left ankle was stabbing me a bit and is sore today. I seem to have some cartilage damage in there after my soleus problem.
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