Baschurch XC

Race: Boreatton/Baschurch 7.5k XC (NW League race 2)

Time/Position: 30.17 (54 from 177 [3rd V50])

Three consecutive Saturday cross-country races, in three different vests, allowing me to briefly indulge my Tour de France fantasies. In the red of Wales two weeks ago, the green of North Wales last week, and the blue of Buckley in the North Wales league today. As with the other two races, this was a pretty average (at best) performance, sluggish throughout. I still remember the last event at Baschurch, which was a classic mud bath complete with river crossing and wall jump. This was nearby in Boreatton, not quite as memorable but still a good course albeit a bit short. It had a few tough climbs and was (surprisingly) not all that muddy, so I wore fell shoes rather than spikes. I slipped on some of the soggier corners (around a little lake) but probably gained the time back on a short gravel track section. A lovely day, with far-reaching views over Shropshire from this big PGL centre in the grounds of an old stately home. I found the pace hard to handle again, and finished miles down the field after a particularly slow final lap of three.

Moel Gyw Blind Relay 80th

'Race': Moel Gyw 'Blind Relay' (4m/800ft)

Time/Position: 33.10

John Morris's 80th birthday, so he'd organised something suitably memorable to mark the occasion - a headtorch 'blind relay' from the Raven Inn to the top of Moel Gyw and back. Tokens were handed out randomly in the first field, meaning you didn't know who your partner was until the end. I think my partner was Tim Hargreaves and I think we may have been joint first or second, but none of this was entirely clear, which seemed appropriate! We did win a Hulson's pork pie and some cash, which we immediately gave back (the cash not the pie). The route took the usual KJC race route until the bwlch, after which it headed north to take an obscure 'path' through the heather to the top of Gyw: this is where we began to catch up with the tail end of the first group, leading to chaotic scenes on the 5 inch wide micropath. I thoroughly enjoyed the descent back to the pub, around 11 or 12 minutes from the summit direct via the turnip field. It always feels as though you are travelling ridiculously fast when racing by headtorch, an illusion of course. A very nice evening.

Welsh regional XC

Race: Welsh Inter-regional Cross-Country Champs 9.5k (Dolerw, Newtown)

Time/Position: 41.27 (89th from 180)

Another week, another championship cross-country fixture. This was a huge contrast with Glasgow for several reasons, although my performance was similarly 'adequate', nothing more. The last time I represented North Wales in the regionals was 2016 in Brecon, quite a gap. Compared to the internationals, the regionals are a lot less intense, but the (very large) field is still very strong and the conditions in Dolerw park on the banks of the Severn were appalling after a lot of rain. The course took one smallish loop with the usual frenetic argy bargy at the start, then three slower big laps around the edge of the park - and after several earlier races conditions had descended to 'quagmire' in numerous places, knee deep mud at times, ankle deep for much of the rest. This kind of thing is uniquely draining and a gradual slowing is inevitable. I lost some places on the last lap but never imploded fully, although never felt particularly strong either. So although it was almost the opposite of Glasgow in XC terms, it felt similar in terms of performance - mildly disappointing but not disastrous. I scored in 4th place in the green and orange vest for the 45-55 North Wales team, and we did enough to win the silver medal, which was a nice bonus.

Hart Fell

Peaks: Swarte Fell, Falcon Craig, Hart Fell (808m)

Area: Moffat Hills, Southern Uplands

My original plan had been to combine the cross-country champs with a few mountains in the Arrochar Alps. However, Kate agreed to join me for the long weekend so it seemed inefficient to head north this morning, despite perfect November weather - hard frost, crystal clear initially. Instead, we headed south from Govan and branched off at the time-honoured halt of Moffat. Despite numerous visits over the years, I'd never actually done Hart Fell. So Kate dropped me off at Capplegill (a four house hamlet) and after some deliberation I found the 'route', a tiny path up the very steep hillside adjacent to steep Hang Gill (all the names in these parts have much in common with northern England). A sustained and very steep climb led to an easing but then horrible tussocks and bog slowed progress again, all quite tiring after yesterday's race, at which I had obviously put in a big effort! Finally, at the plateau of Swarte Fell, everything improves dramatically. Superb views down to the deep Blackhope valley, very steep on this side (crags even). On the other side rises Saddle Yoke, with mist curling over its summit and that of White Coomb beyond. At the head of the valley Hart Fell looked quite distant and I wasn't sure if I would make it in the time I had (90 minutes!) while Kate went shopping in Moffat. I ran across the plateau, sticking to the edge where I could, then comes an easy climb over Falcon Craig (it is spelled like that). From here, Blackhope gives way to a shallower upper cwm (Cold Grain) below a broad col (the intriguingly named 'Hass o' the Red Roads'). From the col a final steep climb leads to the true Hart Fell 'summit', a vague highpoint clearly above the trig to the north. Hart Fell is a giant whaleback essentially, but I had nice views of the Lowther Hills and Solway Firth. The sun came out and the views improved further as I hobbled through the tussocks on untravelled and pathless terrain down Cold Grain (the upper cwm) to the top of Blackhope. This was all rather splendid, excellent scenery, surprisingly wild for these hills, even mildly dramatic in places with craggy hillsides and plummeting rivulets. It would have been nice to complete the Blackhope horseshoe (which looked excellent) but I didn't have time so made a beeline for the track that I had spied from above. On gaining this, good running led all the way back to Capplegill and I made up for lost time (although it still took 1.45 for the 12k/760m route so I was slightly late).

International XC Glasgow

Race: British+Irish Masters Cross-Country Championships, Tollcross Park (8k)

Time/Position: 30.23 (48th from 68)

My aim on turning 50 was always to be picked on merit for Wales (as opposed to 'substitute') and to give a decent performance in the international cross-country championships. That was completely stymied by Covid, which meant 2020 and 2021 were cancelled, and then I got glandular fever which put me out of contention for last year's race in Dublin. So this was my first opportunity, and I was pleased and honoured to be selected albeit at the effective end of my current age category before the 'fallow year'. I still have nightmares about the 35-50 race at Aintree four years ago, where I was moving at interval pace but looked behind me after 500m to see an empty field as I battled to stay in touch with the group. Belfast in 2012 was pretty tough too, and I was probably at my best then. This year I wanted to at least vaguely compete in the 'older race' and not get completely blown away. Inevitably, there's a temptation to go off too fast as the field is so competitive and so small - there really is no hiding place. It was a beautiful autumn day in Glasgow, cold and crystal clear, and the course was conducive to fast running despite two hills and around 300ft of climbing. Conditions underfoot were better than I'd expected too. This all meant that I ran the first 2k lap in 6.53, far too fast for me at present (3.24k pace) although trying to keep pace with Jez, who I was ahead of last week. I struggled through the second lap snd then knocked back the pace a tad, a bit of race management! The long drag on the third lap was probably the toughest part of the race, after which I perked up for a better last lap. I felt I should have been half a minute quicker than this and was totally eclipsed within the age category, but that said I was at least vaguely competing, as I'd intended, and I did score for the team. I haven't actually done a proper cross-country race for quite a while due to the reasons above - two more to come in the next 14 days.

Lowther Hills

Peaks: Lowther Hill, Green Lowther

Area: Lowther Hills, Dumfries and Galloway

An obscure microrange tucked away in the south-west between Galloway and the Southern Uplands proper. But despite its obscurity it wasn't my first visit - I came here for the 2007 OMM, a learning experience which went fairly well until Gary got a touch of hypothermia and we packed it in before day two began. Today, by contrast, the weather was delightful, cold, sunny and frosty as we drove up the Mennock Pass from our hotel in Dumfries (Caerlavarock yesterday, somewhere I've wanted to visit in November for decades). Kate was up for a hillwalk, and I was resting before tomorrow's high-pressure race in Glasgow, so an amble up the Southern Upland way was ideal. Misty at first as we set off from Wanlockhead, famously the highest village in Scotland, a somewhat counterintuitive fact, but a fact nonetheless. It's an atmospheric and very quiet lead mining village, and the path heads up between a weaving private road. That gives a clue to what awaits at the summit, a giant radar station. This was doubly weird today, as the mist didn't clear - so why saw a glint of light and then the giant golfball appeared in front of us through the mist! I was confident it would clear eventually, so we took in the side road (literally a tarmac road) to Green Lowther, which has additional masts and other unsightly hardware, before returning to the golf ball - and on the return it did finally clear, some spectacular effects as the mist peeled away and views opened out across to Galloway west and Tinto east, which is always recognisable (I jogged up it 4 or 5 years ago). A very pleasant ambling descent with Kate, although my hands were frozen, red raw.

Birkenhead BL

Race: Birkenhead Park 5.5 (Borders League race 1)

Time/Position: 32.30 (62nd from 480 [1st V50])

A record border league field, and by my reckoning one of the most competitive ever, up there with the post-Covid Capenhurst 5m race (when I ran 28.40 but finished 60th). I'm not too far off 100 appearances in the league now, so do have a fair amount of races to draw on by way of comparison! This was similar to that Capenhurst race, although more pedestrian from me, a slightly odd race where I felt unusually comfortable by recent standards (where I have often been hanging on for dear life) but didn't really feel able to push the pace for whatever reason. After the usual frantic start and quick first lap, the field settled down and Jez and I embarked on a miniature battle of our own. As usual in the league (and especially in this fixture) the tiniest slackening sees others fly past, and a slower third lap lost me a few places. I had opened up just enough of a gap to finish 1st V50, which is never easy in the league, although certain elite supervets were absent. Well down on my course PB, but it wasn't a personal worst either, and the course was very wet and slippery today. 

Dash in the Dark

Race: Dash in the Dark, Race 1 (6k+/200m)

Time/Position: 30.10 (6th from 97)

One of the nice things about these races from Llandegla is the constant course alterations, almost never the same route twice. I have been doing them for many years, although missed last season through illness. This route seemed meatier than that of two winters ago, with an initial descent (like old times) followed by a long climb to the northern edge of Llandegla. From the edge of the road, the route climbed back towards the lake where it took a confusingly circuitous route around the eastern edge before a long southern loop through the forest to finish back at the centre. All of the sections were familiar from previous events, but weren't necessarily taken in the same order! Ian H pelted off very rapidly to win overall so I just concentrated on keeping a reasonable pace ticking over with Sunday's border league fixture in mind.