Conwy 'three peaks' run

An early morning run made possible by the clock change. Left Hodeston in the half light before 7am, warmed up with a circuit of the town and food festival stalls, then up to the top of the Sychnant Pass. Windy with drizzle on the summit of Allt Wen, but an orange sun lit the horizon further west. Alpenglow (almost!) as I ran back down to pick up the paths over Penmaenhead and Mynydd y Dref.

British Fell Relays

Race: British fell relay championships, Middleton, Cumbria (Leg 2, 15k, 1000m)
Peaks: Castle Knott, Calf Top
Time/Position: 1.39.02 (79th from 220)
The Middleton Fells are a small range of quiet hills south of the Howgills proper, and made an interesting and attractive venue for this year's British fell race relays. This was Buckley's fourth time at the event, and I like it more every time - just a great day out. An early start saw us arrive at the race HQ in a field above Middleton by 9am. Paul D set off on the first leg under threatening skies, and handed over to Steve and I an hour or so later. This is the third time I've done the long pairs leg, and we set to work making up a few places (although we took a bad line initially, having to cross a deep rocky gorge to regain the wall!).  From here, the route steepened up to a checkpoint on Eskdale Pike, after which we passed dozens of teams up Thorn Moor to the summit of Castle Knott. A tailwind was very pleasant up this steepish but nicely runnable ridge. Then an uneccessary descent took us right down to near the road at Barton Beck, then very steeply back out - a real slog - right up to the highpoint at Calf Top. Steve had done the XC race yesterday so unsurprisingly this was a lot more comfortable for me. The weather was rather grim by now: misty, some rain and driving wind. I thought it prudent to get the map out, and took a rough bearing down to Wrestle Gill. We opted to contour high up with the valley as a 'handrail'. Glad we did, as a good number of teams must have gone too far left down the broad ridge - missing out checkpoint 6 hidden near a stream junction at the bottom of Wrestle Gill, numerous DNFs as a result. I scoped out several sheep trods and used them to good effect. Later, a long haul round Cartsaddle Hill gave way to a very fast finish. Steve suddenly found an extra gear, and his track pedigree started to show as we finished quickly. I've placed around 40th in all three previous relays, so this was obviously quite a bit slower, but we still gained around 100 places over the leg. We handed over to Huw and Andy, then retired to the marquee for sausages and local Kirby Lonsdale ale.

Flintshire 10k

Race: Flintshire 10k
Time/Position: 37.25 (3rd from 354)
Although my time was a little slower than last year, this was my first road race since April and as such quite an enjoyable outing. It's an ideal transition from a summer racing in the hills, as it feels more like a fell race than a road race, with one giant hill taking up much of the first 5k, but I still suffered from lack of leg speed as soon as it flattened out (having only resumed interval training last week). This is inevitable at this time of the year: there's a big difference between a long fell race and a road 10k! A small group of us set off at the front of the race in beautiful autumn sunshine, quite hot. Not too many club runners, possibly because it is a tough course (with 800ft of climbing) that guarantees a very slow time! As we approached the hill, I started to get a bit closer to Darren Blazier in second place - and we had a good battle all the way up, me going ahead on the steep sections, him pulling past as it levelled out. At the top of the hill near Maeshafn, he pulled past decisively and I had no answer to his pace as the road started to descend to Nercwys. Went through 5k in 20.40 or so - this race ensures a major negative split. We were well ahead of the rest of the field, over a minute separated me and the runner in 4th, so I just concentrated on getting close to last year's time on the very fast final 5k (16.45?).