FRA Relays 2014, Middleton Fells

All results and splits

So that is it for the hill relays in 2014. The Westies select enjoyed a very windy, mostly dry day in Cumbria.

Steph and I travelled down on Saturday and enjoyed a bargain night in a hotel only 20 minutes from the start. So I pitched up with a full fry in the stomach hoping it would be settled by leg 3 start. Thankfully it was by the time Owen and I huddled in the start.

Last time I ran with Owen he took a heavy tumble early on – this time it was his first step that caught him out as he turned to start running. No harm done and he was quickly up to speed pulling me along. I worked as hard as I could to hang on and watched (whenever I was able to lift my head) in awe as he picked some great lines which helped us make up some places!

The fun of the navigation leg is only getting your map and checkpoints as you start. The organisers did very well in setting a few challenging checkpoints. The 3^rd one was particularly tricky and appeared to catch out quite a few teams. We followed the runners in front up to the wall but quickly decided the checkpoint was to the right. Plenty of teams hung left so we were very relieved to find the dibber hidden in a sheep pen about 500 meters further on – disaster avoided!

Overall I think we had a good run – I didn’t really find a rhythm so was the weaker part of the duo but still had a great time.

I’ll leave the others to add some tit-bits from their legs, and I think Sharon picked up loads of info on how to stage the FRA relays.

Results are here – Westies finishing 43rd – well done all!