Montane Cheviot Summit Race 13 April 2013- Round 1 of the Poly Fell Championship

Garry Robson dominates round 1 of the Champs - as he hits the lower slope for the final run in

Langlee Valley and the Cheviot Summit Run goes down in history as the Poly's very first championship race.
Conditions had all week suggested that there could be trouble. NFR's Glen McWilliams had posted various bulletins which foretold that the race might not make the summit. But thanks to Glen's never say die spirit (fellrunners not parkrunners here)- he was going to have a race come hell or the high water in the Langleeburn. Early indications were for a dash up the Hawsen Burn towards Broadstruther and back - the last house outbound on the Chevy before the serious runing starts.

Getting set up at the start - as with typical Poly modesty - no one pushes to get on the front line - the dog  had a good run , by the way , but finished behind all our runners.

 At assembly , however Glen promptly announced that we were heading up the snow laden Cheviot but  ......the Mountain Rescue marshalls had not been able to reach the summit thanks to 60 mph plus winds off the ridge. The race was hastily reset as a hack up the Cheviot Route as far as Cheviot Knee (Scald Hill) - and back.(Again Scald Hill was familiar territory to the likes of Chris Rowe - a Chevy Chase vet).
As the 30 plus runners set off this was all something of a relief - except perhaps for Frosty - who on a recce in more severe snow conditions a week or so earlier had reached the summit and got back safely - complaining only slightly that his descent had been 5 1/2 minutes slower than he wanted.

More instructions before the start - but Martin Frost is dressed for summer day 10k at sea level . Presumably he's got some gloves in his bumbag in case things get a bit chilly.

The ascent was into the teeth of a fierce south westerly which sucked any air from the lungs and drove sharply cutting splinters of hail into any exposed flesh - shaving any left over facial stubble in the process (or in the case of Chris Rowe - trimming his beard).No one's face passed the Nivea test.
Conditons were reasonable underfoot until the approach to Cheviot Knee when we ran into bog and pockets of ice and just a few peat hags.However the turning point was close now - as the lead runners turned tail and headed back to the valley bottom.
The route back with the gale on the back and heading downhill was easy  - as it gave the first chance to catch your breath in some 20 minutes. The descent is a fast one - once the bogland had been crossed , Frosty reckoned he covered the last mile in about 5  minutes 20 secs.

Chris Rowe puts the brakes on as he crosses the line - and no one in sight behind him...

Garry Robson (debuting for NSP on the fells - and looking like a fish in water) was strong on the turn as he sought to chase down Bruce Crombie of Alnwick and Adam Fletcher . An impressive run saw Garry grab 4th spot oerall .A few minutes later we witnessed Martin Frost  bounding across the peat hags as he aimed for the firmer land lower down - eventually picking up 7th spot. I tailed Chris Rowe towards the summit (after rather stupidly holding a gate open for a female runner ) - but knew that tracking him on a descent was an exercise in futility - as Chris opened up the cylinders for the downhill slalom . Mal Slater made up the 5 piece group -and was probably the best clothed of us all -all  ready for an Everest base camp sortie.

Martin Frost - an excellent descender - in full flow across the muddy trail path. Still quite a lot of snow remaining up on Scald Hill in the backgrond

None of us seemed to gain or lose places on descent - though for sure I lost a few minutes on Chris and probably more on Martin. The very lower slopes seemed to be inhabited with quite a few mating frogs - encouraged to free their inhibitions froggy style by the sudden swoosh of warm weather. Hopefully no frogs got squashed in the making of the race.
After round 1 the Polychamps standings are as follows (we'll try to organise one of those fancy Lucy tables next time) : 1. Garry Robson 50 ; 2. Martin Frost 49; 3. Chris Rowe 48; 4. Barry Young 47; 5. Mal Slater 46; 6. Dave Johnson 0 ; 7. John Baty 0.
A few weeks for Garry to enjoy his top position - but early season form is no guarantee of a the final outcome. So all still to play for.
Special thanks to Glen McWilliams for maintaining an event - in a season that has seen many races cut.
Thanks also to Andy Russell (NFR) for some of the photos - Lily Robson for others.
Here are full results :http://www.northumberlandfellrunners.co.uk/html/raceresults/2013/CheviotSummitShort13.html