Simonside Cairns

December 16th

Rothbury, Northumberland

11 miles, 1,400ft

A fresh December morning saw 85 runners shuddering outside the Newcastle Hotel in Rothbury. Minimal preliminaries then off. Picturesque setting. Gravel lane. Arched footbridge. Then steep tarmac hill. Pot-holed farm tracks. And finally onto hill proper. Long steady climb to NT car park and then out onto wild boggy upland. Interesting sapping running.

Long long slog out across boggy moorland till you finally dive into some forest for a change of scenery. Sharp turn northwards. Skittering through felled forest and skatey wooden boards. Zero friction on slatted wooden walkways. Another dive into dark spooky forest. Silver tinsel marking the way. High-speed jinking leftwards across the ditches and ridges in line with trees. Perfect spongy running surface. Then out onto hard hard gravel road for quick blast to final steep power-stepping up big rocky blocks to summit of Simonside. Making good ground on road-runners. Now the pain really starts. Two more tops to crest. Walkers provide a few obstacles. Path churned to mush. Last top Dove Crag. Rothbury comes back in sight. One final long long descent. No way I'm letting anyone past now.

Punishing section on the potholed farm track. Wasn't expecting it to be uphill. Last batter down the tarmac hill can hear footsteps slapping and fast approaching behind me. Don't look back. Just turn on all out sprint. Get to the bridge first. Then no one can pass. Just the gravel lane go. Sprint. 110% burn. Finished. Collapse on ground.

Look back. 2 guys. Then Kate. She collapses.

Positions 85 starters

10. Gary Tompsett 1:25(ish)

18. Chris Upson 1:31:48

21. Kate Jenkins 1:32:01*

*1st Lady and new women's record by more than 2 and half minutes.

Posted by Chris Upson on Wed 30 Nov -0001 | comments are closed

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