chalk and cheese

or should that be heatwave and hypothermia????

the chalk = 3 in a row, 3 in a row, 3 in a row !! No, its nothing to do with football but, of course, a reference to my Duddon record. I headed down with Stuart, Ritchie and Colin for this beast of a Lakeland race in the quiet South lakes. A hot sunny day was in store making it pretty hard going for all 240 runners, me, Jason and a handful of other Scots. I found the climbs all a bit hard going, managing to hang on to a few English lassies I know who dragged me up many a time. I seemed to rally well in the runnable 2nd half from Three Shires onwards and achieved my aim of squeezing under 4 hours again for 90th place, only a minute down on last year, with Jason feeling the effects of his recent Windermere marathon an hour behind me.

Jason's FRA report = Just got back from a lovely few days. Really enjoyed the race, though it was very hard. Struggled up Little Stand, but felt a lot better on Swirl How and regained a lot of ground. Then died on the ridge! Not sure if it was the heat or just that I can't go fast and long but really great fun none the less. Well organised and friendly, so thanks to all the organisers, marshals, fellow runners and spectators who gave encouraging words.Disappointed with my time of just over 5hours but something to aim for next time. Not feeling confident about Ennerdale now, but think I will try anyway.its all good time on feet.

Results

the cheese = When I headed off from Strathaven on Sun on Alan Anderson's 78 mile Audax I was anticipating similar balmy conditions as on Sat, and the mild sunny conditions at 9am seemed very promising. However, 3 hours later in Scotland's highest village, Wanlockhead, it was a mighty different experience. Relying on my thin pertex and layers of Factor 30 suncream for insulation I was not far off hypothermic as we descended to Crawfordjohn sodden and chilled to the bone. A puncture only compounded my misery, but fortunately we were minutes from the village pub where we crept in for soup and tea and puncture repair. With 20 miles still to go we had no option but to head back out for more pain and misery, knowing that the next service station and pot of tea was only 6 miles away. It was there we were reunited with Graham Kelly and his dad, who were also sheltering and shivering inside and in no hurry to leave. However, after a swift purchase of some bargain fleeces at the Regatta shop to try and raise or core temperature above freezing we headed out for the last 15 miles. With the wind now behind us and some hills get warmed up on we actually started to feel a bit human and it was with great relief that we arrived back in Strathaven.

Heatwave and hypothermia all in 24 hours, what a country!!

Posted by John Donnelly on Sun 1 Jun 2008 | 2 comments

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