A nice change of scenery race wise, despite it being just down the road I’ve never done the Ian Roberts Fell Race so figured for a fiver and it counting on the Meltham AC club fell championships I’d give it a go.
I’d heard all sorts of things about this race, mainly that climbing Pule Hill was brutal (can confirm!) and that the last 1.5ish miles are pure classic fell running with no real track, ankle twisting grass tussocks and a couple of gnarly slippy bits of single track mud path.
It was also a pretty miserable day as well so about perfect fell racing.
I didn’t really have any ambitions for the race after spending all week nursing my sore knee but figured I’d at least have a crack at getting maximum points in our own club championships by being first home of our club runners. Beyond that, I just figured I’d go out reasonably fast and see how long I lasted.
In the end, I lasted about half a mile and half way up the first climb before my legs kindly informed me it would be a tough race. Oh well.
Climbing – Pic Credit Si Roberts
Pule Hill was brutally tough but power hiking up that was a good workout in itself and then the final path-less mile and a bit were extremely hard work and not entirely danger free. I nearly fell down a massive hole that appeared in front of me under some moorland grass and then slipped down the steep side of a clough and had to climb back out the other side!
Pule Hill looming large – Pic Credit Holmfirth Harriers
In the end, I gained a place and lost a place to someone else in the last sprint to the finish line for 17th overall so fairly happy with that but plenty of room for improvement still.