RO Lou Osborn’s Race Report
Staging a series of 5 races in the winter months holds inherent risk. The weather and the ground conditions often provide a challenging stage for racing and the shorter days can necessitate flagging courses in the dark. We have never had to cancel a race yet in 7 years, but we have had to shorten and alter our routes to ensure safety for both competitor and marshal.
In the week leading up to Clough Head, the penultimate race in the 21/22 Winter Series, the forecast had veered between unrelenting rain all day to brief periods of sunshine. Then on the day before the race, Storm Malik was forecasted to begin at 4am Saturday morning and last for 12 hours or so. Malik was due to bring wind speeds with gusts of 75mph, prompting MWIS to state that “walking may be impossible at times, gusts may blow you over even on lower slopes”. So, sadly, we had no option but to revert to our bad weather route.
Having publicised our new route, this did not deter our loyal competitors! 182 runners gathered in Threlkeld Quarry ready to start. The Kong workshop provided a welcome warm registration area and many huddled in the last few minutes before the race. Our youngest competitor surprised many with her high leg kick warm up routine, nearly taking out a few of our older runners with her exuberance!
The runners toed the start line and as Corny and Tess (the youngest of our marshal team) set them off, one runner had obviously read about Stephen Pearce’s extra race training at S.O.B. and decided to replicate. Forgetting his dibber, he had to sprint a further half mile at the start of his race to retrieve it from the car!
The new course was only 3.5 miles but took in a 1000ft of climbing. I had given Scout Adkin (my Ambleside AC clubmate) the target of reaching the first checkpoint at the highest point of the race first. She took up the challenge and nearly achieved it, only beaten by the young Harry Bolton (Keswick AC)! The phenomenal lead that Scout had after the first climb led to her easily winning the Ladies race but that didn’t stop a flying Hannah Russell (Helm Hill) from achieving the fastest female descent of the day and cruising to 2nd place. Holly Wooten (Keswick AC) continued her run of good form and finished a solid 3rd.
The men’s race was slightly different with Mark Lamb (Keswick AC) reaching the high point in 6th place, before steadily picking off all the runners ahead and clinching the victory by 17 seconds from Jack Wright (Ambleside AC). It was a Keswick sandwich as Matt Atkinson followed shortly behind to claim 3rd place.
Runners then came in thick and fast with many, many close battles to the finish line. All agreed that there was no way they could have run up Clough Head – it was bad enough getting to the high point of this shortened route! A hot drink and a few biscuits later and new friendships were made and memories forged.
My race report would not be complete without thanking our brilliant marshal team. Time and time again they battle into the elements, never complaining – they all deserve a medal. For this race we had several new faces who kindly stepped in at the last minute when they heard we were short – thank you all!
We had really hoped that we could hold the full race route but, as it turned out, everyone enjoyed the race and returned with smiles on their faces. That, for us, is what it’s all about.
And so, we look forward to our final race – Loopy Latrigg – on Saturday 19th February. This will feature a new, slightly longer course due to the tree felling on Latrigg and may have a new start venue – keep an eye on our social media feeds for more information soon.
Last time we staged Loopy Latrigg, Chris Holdsworth (Ribble Valley) held his stag weekend in Keswick and his cohort rocked up to the race all in fancy dress (we don’t think Chris had much say in the matter)!
And so, to celebrate the end of the series and in honour of Chris, we are offering prizes for best fancy dress costumes! This is an option if you would like to take it up and keep our marshalls and other competitors entertained – the choice is yours!
Results & Standings
Race results and Series placings so far are all available at Sportident HERE.
COMING UP…
Remember, to count in the Series you must complete our last race – Loopy Latrigg. With this in mind, and considering our last 3 races have sold out, we have increased the entry limit to 300. Entry is available HERE.
We hope to see you all there!
