kinder trial 2011

i signed up for the KT way back in early december, but after Lamb's Longer Leg i was all for crying off fell races for a few months whilst i got some training under my belt.

but, with one eye on my overall rankings in the Hayfield Race Series (we all need a dream), and buoyed by a few runs home from work in the preceding weeks, I decided to throw my hat in the ring for this one.

The (circa) 12 mile KT is an orienteering event, with staggered start times and a map, showing all the checkpoints, given to you 2 minutes before you start.

I opted to take a clockwise route, catching K12 first then up to K9, following the route round. Apart from the first slog up to K12, there wasn't much hard climbing once that first hill had been crested. the fog was down, however, reducing visibility to around 50 feet. i took the event at walking pace for the most part, using it go gain experience of Kinder as there are a few more races around the area i'd like to do in future.

the view from K3

after K4 we briefly took the Pennine Way, but soon dropped down the face of the hill to hit K3, skirting round the contours to K6, and heading onward towards Kinder Downfall. myself and an older runner from Altrincham AC took too high a line coming down to this checkpoint, and were forced to climb down the cliff face to reach K1. After following the contours again to hit Red Brook and K10, the remaining checkpoints were picked off in quick succession as they were bunched together and easy to find using landmarks.

around K5 i met a sound runner from Goyt Valley Striders and a lady from Knavesmire Harriers, and we made the remaining checkpoints within a short space of each other and trotted back down to Hayfield Scout Hut, a little over four hours after i'd started the race, for some well earned soup, a brew and some cake:

lessons learnt? Mrs theoptimisticrunner had kindly bought me some leggings the week before - these were much better than the tracksters I had worn at Lamb's Longer Leg (sorry Ron). I learnt lots about Kinder Scout and Hayfield, and would now have the confidence to take a quicker clockwise route round the course. Coming down too high at Kinder Downfall cost me around 15 minutes (won't be doing that again) and there was a quicker route up to my chosen first checkpoint than the one i took on the day.

I had a great time doing this one and hope to do it again in future.

next up, hopefully, is the Lactic Acid Test near Stalybridge in February.

lamb's longer leg

i suppose i should mention the fact that I have done a little off road running in the past - something called the Five Minute Run at school (used to take me about Twenty) - a few trail races including the Hawkshead trail race and Sandstone Trail 'A' race and the Tegg's Nose fell race, but the 3.1 mile Lamb's Longer Leg was The One: my first fell race as part of the 2011 Hayfield Race Series and my plans for further fell races throughout the year.

mum and dad bought me membership to the FRA for christmas, the price of £12 was a sign of the low-key, great value things that were to come (they even failed to put enough stamps on the envelope when posting out my membership pack; the £1.98 Post Office charge to collect the package kind of added to the charm of the whole episode).

noting the requirements for 'full body covering, map, whistle and compass to be carried at all times', I duly made my way to the Lamb Inn on the Hayfield/Chinley road along with the rest of the family ("it'll only take me a good half hour",I told them) on the day. Given that my specialist kit extended only as far as the aformentioned trainers, and a whistle my dad found in a drawer somewhere, I arrived looking like more like some sort of bizarre decorator than a fell runner:

undeterred, we made our way to the start, at which point the call of nature reminded me of the organiser's mention of 'no safety pins/no toilets' in the race description. After having availed myself of the nearest dry stone wall, I duly climbed over a stile to join the race and was given my first lesson in the grip of Walsh PB's on a hard surface: I went arse over tip, taking most of the stile with me, bashing my knee and jarring my back. Nice one.

the race itself was good fun: an uphill start, some gentle uphill, fun descents, with a whacking great 1:3 climb about halfway through the race. Delay #1. The open moorland that followed was also tough going, tussocky and uneven so that you daren't crack on too much for fear of spraining an ankle.

then we saw the first of two marshalls, directing us 'straight on' - job's a good un, but i had to pull up shortly afterwards as a result of the knock in the back I sustained before the race. Delay #2. 

before i mention Delay #3 I must admit to being a self-confessed Map Geek: I will often look at maps of things like my work, my home, local town centres, just to check everything is still where it should be. So you can imagine my delight when I found a map of the race route over Christmas - i spent the next two weeks studying the route and every contour of the map.

so for some bizarre reason, in the final third of the race I spotted a group of runners ahead of me running up Mount Famine (not part of the route) and slogged up behind them to the crest of the hill, where a kindly soul out walking pointed out the error of our ways to us; we duly ploughed back down the side of the hill to complete the race.

Delay #4/Pearl of Wisdom #1 (part 1 of a series i expect): don't wear a pair of your dad's 15 year old XL Ron Hill tracksters whilst doing a fell race, as they will fall round your ankles round about the time you should be running 5 minute miles down a hillside.

so I came in second from last (actually Third from last, but two people DNF) but had a cracking time in the process, washed down with half a bitter in the pub afterwards and an afternoon on the sofa.

fell racing - you can't beat it.