Chevy Chase

The Battle of Chevy Chase was fought at Otterburn, Northumberland on 15th August 1388. A Scots raiding party led by the 3rd Earl of Douglas defeated the English under Henry Percy. The Scots won but the Earl of Douglas was killed.

The race of Chevy Chase was run from Wooler Youth Hostel on Saturday 6th July 2002. 20 miles. 4,000ft. As far as I am aware, nobody was killed or injured, although the course was reasonably demanding.

So that the slightly quicker runners have some moving targets to chase down, they give the slower B-class runners a half hour head start on the 'elite' A-class hill athletes. There are also hordes of walkers bumbling along on the same route, who start 1½ hours before A-class, making you feel like some sort of superstar as you belt past them.

Anyway, the route follows good trails up onto Cheviot. Steep descent through a V-valley. Then up onto Hedgehope Hill. Long upland section before you drop to follow a river through nettles and tricky rocky boggy bits. Then back up a steep forest track and back the 2 miles of track and tarmac you started on.

I managed to hold onto 5th place until about three quarters of the way round, but then started to flag. I perhaps went at it too enthusiatically on the Cheviot and Hedgehope climbs, and was closed down gradually as I couldn't keep the pace going for the last 3 miles.

A bit frustrated to lose places near the end, I looked at my watch coming down the hill to Wooler and realised I could at least get in under 3:15 if I made a bit of effort, so I sprinted down the final lane and into the Youth Hostel grounds with 3 seconds to spare.

Kate came storming in, easily taking 1st Lady, about 5 minutes later.

Results

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1. Joe Blackett (Middlesborough) 2.44.38

2. Morgan Donnelly (NFR) 2.45.29

3. Garry Owens (NFR) 3.01.55

4. David Armstrong (NFR) 3.05.26

5. Steve Birkinshaw (NFR) 3.08.06

9. Chris Upson (Westerlands) 3.14.57

12. Kate Jenkins (Carnethy) 3.20.07 (1st Lady)

134 finishers in A+B class.

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

Category races