Clay Bank East , 6th January 2013

Raring to go and ready for action - our Poly team with L to R - Chris Tack , Barry Young and Martin Frost.

First week of the New Year - and the second event hosted by Esk Valley Fell Club - out at Clay Bank East near to Great Broughton on the North Yorkshire Moors.
 Three Polyrunners swept down  the A 19 at a brisk pace - as Martin Frost knew the route inside out from his time on Teesside as a student. Martin ran many of the routes used by Esk Valley as part of his chemistry degree - so he was the best qualified for advice on the course. 

One of our finest fellrunners, Martin Frost on the final descent to complete in 45 m 0 s in 37th spot

This was Martin's pre race recce from earlier in the week :
Q none of this is too steep, all runnable mostly on trods or good tracks. At 2 miles (CP1) there is a steady 1.4 mile hill to the top (CP2). 1.2 miles of gentle down hill follows and then a missable right turn (mile to go) to get through a broken dry stone wall, down to a stile to slippy forest grass track and CP3. from cP3 it's the last half mile, on a clay mud pile slight descent, then a much drier 300m is the steeper downhill sprint to finish. However this assumes I went the right way! Do not warm up on the track to the finish or you will have clay clad feet before the off.
UNQ 
The team welcomed Chris Tack for the first ( and hopefully not last) time - but sadly we were still one short of a full team thanks to Dave Johnson's baffling decision to deck himself out in the lilac and lime of NFR.
It was a cold day ( about freezing) and with a big field - which saw the start delayed by about 20 mins as the organisers fought to get everyone entered. 
 

A poor start to the New Year  on the fells for Dave Johnson - after 6 days he has still failed to achieve a single  pb. Dave  broke the line in 52m 15 s

The start was a lung buster as you complete almost all climbing on the route in the first few minutes. All 3 of us avoided the Cleveland Way stone path (used by the majority )- as we tried to eke out an advantage by striking off at an angle. But for sure none of us had done a proper warm up for this sharp climb. 
The track off the plateau and onto Urra Moor provided the chance to regain rhythm - but just as the fog swept in - coating the moors in a damp haze. The superb views of Teesside's chemistry set from the summit promised by Martin disappeared in the gloom (or was it just pollution)- limited vision all round but the track was well defined. The NYM events always seem to have a fair amount of Land Rover tracks or flagstones.
The turn round point is at the trig at Round Hill as you swing back on yourself to head for home.Apparently at 454m Round Hill (rather a dull name compared to what you find in the Lakes or over the border) is the highest point on the NYM. So - it's not Roseberry Topping - which hardly makes 320m. Either way it wasn't likely to get Dave's altimeter on his Garmin spinning round.

Debut outing for Chris Tack - and an impressive 47 m 12 s in 51 st place. Chris - you made the right choice for the event on 6 January ! Chris gets tangled up with Shaun Harris of NFR.

By the turn Martin  was about 3 mins up on Chris - who was about 30 seconds up on me. It gave us a chance to meet up - for the last time before the end.Dave was trudging up to the trig and couldn't be seen in the fog - either that or his shirt provided good camouflage.

Quick steps towards the line - and a finish in 47 m 38 s in 57th spot (the Heinz placing) . Unusually passing several runners on the run in .

The final descent was on a very muddy track as Martin had warned. Pleased to report for the firt time ever I ran to the finish on my toes - rather than heels - but this was only because I hadn't tightened down the shoes properly at the start - creating a real risk of the shoes getting sucked off in the mud.  So a surprisingly fast finish saw me passing a few outliers on the sprint to the line - where Martin and Chris were already waiting. 
Dave came in a few minutes later to boisterous applause from the fine NFR contingent.
A fine early season jaunt - that was not too demanding - and another chance to turn the legs over before the season goes full blooded. 
Thanks again to Esk Valley for a well organised run - well taped for easy navigation. Thanks also to Brian Waite for these photos.
Full results here :http://www.eskvalleyfellclub.org/results/fell/nehra/Clay%20Bank%20East%206-Jan-2013.pdf 

A photo's worth a thousand words - as Dave Johnson shows no shame - despite the condemnation from his team mates !

Captain Cook's Fell Race - 1st January, 2013

The plateau summit at Capt Cook's is reached by John Baty - as our lead runner. John finished 14 th overall on the day and first V45 back.

Meantime - another day and another year and another fell race- as the fell section made the 40 minute dash down the the A19 to Great Broughton. This time John Baty joined the trio from Auld Lang Syne of Trevor Wakenshaw, Barry Young and Dave Johnson*. (There were some stiff legs from the previous day). Conditions were a good deal calmer with a blue sky and warmish westerly winds that had eased down. Despite all this it was still cold enough for ice to cream a few of the roads . This caused a couple of early fallers as the field of 260 plus  headed up towards the Captain Cook monument.
A mid race downhill road section also required a fair bit of caution - as indeed did a few of the styles as John came a cropper on one of them.
Captain Cook is a fine race for New Year's Day - and got the nod over Hillforts and Headaches - up at Rothbury (but which is really a short blast hill race rather than a fell race).Mick Golightly represented us up there.

Trevor Wakenshaw making steady progress during the early stages of the race - Trevor worked his way through to 114 position.

The climb out of Great Aydon is shortlived but tactically you need to start fairly near the front as there is a good deal of congestion on the first 1/2 mile section. After you leave the tarmac there is a severe final scarp up through some coniferous forest - which becomes pretty much a walk.John was well on his way by this stage - but I bumped into Trevor just before this section.From there I linked up with a group containing Steve Small from Middlesbrough & Cleveland Harriers - a fine hurdler and steeplechaser - although I'd let Mike Bennett of Elvet slip away.  Once however you reach the plateau at Captain Cook's monument - virtually all the climbing is done (and within the first 10 mintues).

All fell run specialists tack their number to their shorts.....Esk Valley had run out of numbers - so I ran as X5 .The road was very icy at this midpoint in the race - so caution rather than adventure.Completed the course at position 80- and quite surprised to pass a dozen or so on the flat run in .

The monument is a bit unimpressive - for the local boy made good. They tend to spend a bit more money on the warmongers at the Admiralty - rather than the mappers and navigators. Cook was impressive on that score - as he led one of the few successful naval expeditions. For sure sailing round the Pacific Islands must have been the dream posting compared , say, with Franklin's disasterous effort to sail round the north of Canada complete with the usual over bloated naval back up of Royal Derby china, moustache wax and snuff.
You're not on the summit for long before you head back downhill through the woods and then out onto a sharp descent a slippery path cut through the broom . Running wide gives the option of breaking the descent if that's needed.  Once you hit the valley bottom it's about a 1 mile run over fields , through holly ways and across various kissing gates to the finish - which comes up in a hurry.
The fun was all over well within 50 minutes - as we all headed off for a New Year's Day wash down in the fast running stream before the process began of estimating where the team would have finished - if we'd had that elusive 4th runner.The New Year was welcomed in with a quick dram of Macallan's !
This is just one of many well run fell races from Esk Valley Fellrunners across the North Yorks Moors. Results are here:http://www.eskvalleyfellclub.org/results/fell/nehra/Captain%20Cook%27s%20Race%201-Jan-2013.pdf

Thanks also to them for the photos.

There's always one - but he'll need more than those dark sun glasses to disguise that inauspicious shirt ! Dave Johnson* finished in 140 place and about 45 mins of steady running.

Auld Lang Syne Fell Race, 31 Dec 2012

Dave Johnson's conversion on the road to Wuthering Heights - as Jesus's newest (and oldest) disciple leads tha messiah onto the fells .DJ always was into strange sects.

An end to 2012 - and  a  lengthy journey to the shire of the Bronte country (located next door to James Herriot country) - a pilgrimage prolonged by Dave Johnson's  Garmin's failure to provide navigational reference points.
 It was up on t' fells at  Wuthering Heights - on a hillside at t' back side of Keighley for the Auld Lang Syne race organised by a group called the Woodentops. This was to be our first literary run - as we avidly sought out the main locations for the novel. This was unfortunately  hindered by a limited knowledge of the book so we must have missed lots of things. Sad to report that Trevor claimed he'd actually read the novel - but on closer questioning it seemed more likely that he just knew the lyrics from the Kate Bush song of the same name . Kate's warble was loosely based on the Bronte story -covering all the main screech points.
For those who haven't read it yet - it's long winded - but don't despair as it can be summarised quickly .
Wuthering Heights is the story of a precocious whimsy called Catherine. She kicks off an affair with a stranger to the moors called Heathcliff. She was 'drawn' to him not just because of his unusual name - which seems to be based on 2 topographical features and may be an abbreviation for Heathclifford which would add a 3rd feature -but also because he was dark and had a big ambition. (The Brontes specialised in weird names - they were the only family apart from the Royals that had an Umlaut in their surname). Cath was probably only flirting anyway to impress her right on friends that she wasn't obsessed with status , money and all those other ghastly things. But Heathcliff really did have no money and she soon ditched him for a safer pair of hands . It's a fable for the modern day as girls seek out street credibility to make a socially worthy impact by dating someone 'unique' or 'interesting'  - such as the  workshy poet . Soon disappointed - when she learns he gets his inspirational lines off Greg Penn -at which point  he then just becomes another waster. She then marries the dullard with the platinum card - who owns an Audi on hp. This is the basic story to WH.
So  Cath went on to  marry the owner of Wuthering Heights .For reasons never quite explained Heathcliff disappears for 6 months after the marriage - but resurfaces as a rich man . The unmentioned conclusion is that he was dealing drugs in Halifax.

Trevor's glorious Poly vest lights up the road - for the short section before entering the moors.

Lots of people then die and babies are born and Heathclifford then takesover Wuthering Heights farm after kicking out Cath's hubbie.

It was quite apparent however that Heathcliff was never a farmer - as the building is now in ruins with no evidence of any attempt to work the land and plant a few turnips.
As usual in any female novel - there's not much happeneing but lots of detailed discussion - where male characters are forced to listen to lengthy speeches without getting a right of reply.

Just a few of the cast from the Auld Lang Syne Fell Race

Heathcliff wasn't a fell runner - in fact the tiresome novel doesn't feature any sportsmen at all.  So while the start line for the race featured a few dozen runners in fancy dress - representing many fictional characters from novels and film - there was  no one from Wuthering Heights. The cast  list included Jesus of Nazareth complete with cross (book and film that one) , Rapunzel ( from the Brothers Grimm), Batman , a cast of cowboys riding horses - Tommy Cooper style, the Slag Brothers from Wacky Races, Superwoman - who was really super, St. Trinians ( men in drag ...), Tigger, Saint George, an officer from Rorke's Drift ( Dave Johnson had relieved Mafeking several times - but hadn't brought his pith helmet),John Peel ( not the hero worshipped DJ - but the foxhunter). But no characters from Wuthering Heights!!
To confuse matters even further- the race was summoned to the quarry by a Black Watch tartaned piper belting out the Dashing White Seargeant; a Hundred Pipers and More and that great Corrie Bros number - Flower Of Scotland. . The conditions were absolutely atrocious -  Scottish weather -with the rain driving in at every angle on a fierce force 7 sou' westerly. The run took us out a quarry before heading onto the moors and down through a steep banked valley with a river running through it. The first 3 miles saw us pointed into the driving wind with no chance to tack - until  the high point at Wuthering Heights farm.Trevor had made a smart start - and it was only on the climb up to the farm that his famous colours came into view.

Water dancing while Jesus waits on the bank side for the sea to part. Water was thigh deep at its worst !

 A quick exchange of pleasantries - as we circuited the trig before heading downhill across a fine heather moorland - the heather not high enough to impede a rapid run - and with the wind on the back. Progress was swift til we both got jammed behind Superwoman as she displayed her silky skills. It was then back down to the river -  picking off a few more characters on the drop . The final drop to the river was by now a mud slide as several runers got upended. Then the final ascent to the gravel track home - and past a derelcit farm house that Heathcliff had probably kicked in after Cath got married.
The final moorland trail was a bit tight - with tiring runners in front blocking off our attacks. Then enough in the tank to dash for the line - passing St George in the process. Trevor and I were a shade over the hour. Dave Johnson hurtled in a few minutes later - cluthing his crucifix. We were all comfortably in the top third of th field - in a race that featured some top class runners - including the eventual winner GB Triathlete and bronze medal winner at 2012 Olympics - Jonnie Brownlee in the striped blue and white vest of Bingley Harriers.

This is Wuthering Heights farmhouse - photo taken on 1 sunny day last year. It's clear that Heathcliff was a feckless farmer considering the general poor land management skills on show.

 Heading home and the only thing to do in Yorkshire was to get fish and chips - harder task than we expected. This involved a detour to Skipton to Bizzy Betty's chip bar ( everyone in Yorkshire over the age of 50 is called Betty or Norah). It was there that we regaled the lady fish fryer with our exploits on Wuthering Heights- a lot of strange characters up there - we told her  - but Emily Bronte could have knocked out a far better novel with a bit of imagination as she could have replaced her list of dull personalities with the cast of characters on the Auld Lang Syne . She could even have mentioned Christ's second coming which for sure would have won favour with her bible bashing dad.
Dave Johnson bought 2 huge bags of chocolate chip cookies in Skipton- but refused to share them with his friends A most Christian thing to do - and worth mentioning.
A great race - and this is the web site for more info :http://www.woodentops.org.uk/index.php?topic=als
Thanks also to the Woodentops for the photos.