Yet another Yetholm

Results

Still waiting to see the results so will have to leave it to the others to tell you how they got on. Numberswise it was a disappointing turnout of “yellow with a black W” vests, 5 in all, I think. Those of us who competed must qualify for extra points under Brian’s low turnout reward system. Elsie, Pat and I made sure that, not only did we have a ladies team but we also had a lady vets team so full marks to us. Pete and Brian were the only Westerlands men that I spotted unless there were others in disguise. And so to the race... Our one day of summer was a distant memory as we debated shorts or leggings? Long or short sleeved helly? Cagoule or not? Gloves? I started with my long sleeves down and wearing gloves and a buff, it were that cold! The race was being run anticlockwise this year, balancing things out for me: I’ve done it clockwise twice but only once in the opposite direction. That was 3 years ago when the cloud was down and we couldn’t see a thing. Things got a bit exciting on the way up the first hill, Staerough, as a cow came charging across the field and tried to join in/ break up the line of runners. Worryingly it hung around for a bit. I was getting closer to it and regretting my choice of red helly when it gave up and wandered off back down the hill. After that the race was pretty uneventful. For a bit Pete and I passed each other until we came to the first serious downhill and then he went ahead and stayed there. I kept him in sight for a while and turned my attention to swapping places with Tilly Smith. I was ahead until just before the sheepfold and then she pulled decisively ahead on the seemingly never-ending climb up The Curr. My least favourite part of this race is the bit through the marsh across the top and down The Curr to the Penine way. After that the running was great and the ground was surprisingly dry underfoot. The climb up White Law was tougher than I remembered, particularly when the marshall at the top of The Curr had suggested that it was downhill from there! Once we joined the St Cuthbert’s Way I was running pretty fast downhill trying to ignore sore toes and aching knees which, for their part, were trying to remind me of how they had suffered on the descent of Slioch. The two runners ahead of me took a left as we headed down towards the finish to cut across a ditch and scramble up a slope. My brain reacted to the “up” and chose not to lose momentum so I kept going to come down along the side of the wall. Going this way meant that the finish was hidden when I crossed the stream and so I was grateful to Pete for shouting at me where to go, especially as I could hear someone right at my back. A recent bad experience in the run-in at the British Relay Championships flashed through my mind but I wasn’t caught this time. Brian and Pete were already in and Elsie wasn’t far behind while Pat finished in around 2 hours ensuring that at least the ladies had a counting team. My watch showed my time as about 1 hour 40 mins a pb for the race of about 7 minutes and 15 minutes faster than my previous anti-clockwise run. I like this race, unfortunately it often clashes with orienteering.

Posted by Pauline McAdam on Tue 7 Jun 2011 | 1 comment

Category Hill Race