Sunday 28 December 2014

Longshaw Sheep Dog Trails.

Longshaw Sheep Dog Trails Fell Race 30/08/14

Myself, Craig, and Martin decided to carry on racing.

We enjoy running, we enjoy the banter, we enjoy the sport and we enjoy the land.  So the next chapter in the adventure took us towards Sheffield and close to the burbage edge.

Here is the link to the website:

http://www.longshawsheepdog.co.uk/fell_race

We arrived to a muddy field in a cold and wet miserable day. O the joys of running in the rain. None of us knew what to expect and how difficult the race was. We had just turned up to take part in the race.





After a brief warm up, a close look at the competition. we were ready to go. I have no idea who the best runners are or who am competing against until the race starts. Craig on the other hand has some sort of memory log of every runners profile and could probably tell you their shoe size. Martin is humble and doesn't get drawn into battles until the race starts. So in that sense he is like me. However am sure he and craig are making a database on who's who in fell running. Martin loves his research.

After a very excitable commentary to the race instructions from the guy who commentates on the dog trails and the start of the race is under way.

Nervous hold me until the first few steps. And then they just turn into energy. I some ways I hope this goes and in other ways I hope it stays.

So, a dash and a sprint to the exist of the fete. Into to some woods and several road crossings we hit burbage edge. I went off quick, so I was in a good position. Running over the burbage edge was like a fell runners dream to me. As I love running from rock to rock and path to path. It suits my style of running if runners have a style. I switch off and just become apart of the landscape. Its easy running. Once we got to the waterfalls and bridge we came back on ourselves towards the Higger Tor. More enjoyable running, though it was boggy and the paths were narrow, so it made it hard to over take. One the way to Higger, I followed another runner and went the wrong way slightly. So I lost places. Craig made it in front of me. I shot over the river that I should not of crossed and climbed Higger Tor with grit to make my places back. I did, apart from two.  Craig offered me encouragement, which really helped as he doesn't say anything during races, so it meant alot. I pushed on, hit the down hill and decided I should go for it. After Winyard Nick I felt good and started to fly downhill, this didn't last long as I hit a hidden stone in the heather and went flying, lucky the runners behind didn't fall over me. Two had passed. I thought I broke my big toe again. I decide to run steady for a while and then I though Its two miles to the finish the quicker I get back to quicker I can see a first aider. So I decided to run with pace on the balls of my feet. This hurt...I carried on and caught the two that overtook me. I stayed with them until the last field in the finish as I didn't want to get lost. lucky the finish was uphill. I managed to pass both them towards the finish. I went straight to the first aid tent.

After lots of ice and some reassurance that my toe wasn't broken I calmed down. Martin and Craig found me and offered help in the form of a pub and pint. I accepted and off we went.

I finished 9th 45minutes and 40 sec, Craig 12th in 46minutes and 15 seconds, Martin 26th in 49minutes and 30 seconds.

Photos taken from the longshaw website:





















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