UK fell relays

Race: British fell and hill relays (Todmorden) Leg 3 navigation

Time/Position: 1.41 (110th from 200 teams overall)

Buckley's eighth time at the fell relays, and mine too as the only ever-present member. I was captain again this year, and partnered Andy on the nav leg, which we have done together before. It went reasonably well with some decent route choices but physically we were well off the pace compared to previous years. The base was Todmorden cricket club and nearby park (which marks the old boundary between Yorkshire and Lancashire, I think) and all the legs initially went up the steep paths through the woods towards the open moorland of Flower Scar. These hills are not very big, around the 450m mark, so I wasn't surprised that the nav leg maximised the climbing wherever it could! A very boggy first checkpoint led to a climb up Flower Scar and then began an inevitable series of climbs and descents, initially heading north to a little stream valley, then doubling back through steep woodland to the moorland highpoint at Carr and Crags. A draining haul over the tussocky moorland down towards Clough Head before taking another climb to a hidden stream valley. After this, the terrain became easier and more runnable as it headed east then north via one tricky checkpoint hidden by a gate next to a steep stream valley. I worked this out and we finally gained some places here, as the four teams in front missed it initially. Then came a nice run-in via Stones Farm with good views over the Calder Valley.

PitP parkrun

'Race': Park in the Past parkrun

Time/Position: 19.03 (1st from 107)

Another quick blast around the local parkrun, beginning to take on its autumnal characteristics: big puddles and a bit of mud. This makes it slipper and slower, but it's still not too bad. This was my 4th 'win' at PitP and continues a decent recent trend, three 'wins' from the last four parkruns, with the other a very close second. Not races, of course, but aged 56 I'll take what I can! I jogged there and back from home, making it an even more enjoyable start to the weekend.

Llandegla BL

Race: Llandegla 5m+ (Border League race 1)

Time/Position: 35.30 (67th from 346 [1st V55])

Unless I have miscounted, this was my 100th Border League race, 21 years since my debut at Hoylake. Given my current lack of training and mileage, I was fairly pleased with my performance on what was a tough course by Borders standards. I can think of very few 'trail' races in the league over the years, so this was a real novelty on gravel tracks, with quite a lot of elevation (270m or so), so I was keen to do it despite hoping to ease off a bit in the league this year. It took in the main firetrack loop anticlockwise from just below the cafe. I took it fairly steady on the first climb: it then eased before a final steep kicker, nice views across the Clwydians, before the fast descent. Parking was inevitably going to be tricky, so we parked in Gwynfryn and jogged along the track from there, increasing the mileage to 13k or so.