Brough Law - Round 1 NSP Champs 2014 - 9 March 2014

Poker faced   Chris Waite plots his course on his first .fell race for the Poly. A typically steady start from one of our most consistent xc runners of the last 2 years.

Brough Law saw a record turnout in glorious weather of 121 runners - the Poly contributing 6 runners ( with Katharine Davis our first female for 2014).
This is a very fine course which wends across some iron age forts on a plateau to the south side of the Breamish valley. Visibility was excellent - which meant no excuses this year for missing the route. Like a good number of the Northumberland races , a lot of the climb is taken up in the first 10 minutes or so of running.

Beating a track as Ian Holland summits at Brough Law and with a sharp descent to follow on some good to soft ground. Ian collected an early season prize as 3rd in the V60 category.

The Robsons again led the line for the Club - with William Robson leading the way for our group out of the initial climb onto Brough Law itself. It took a descent and another climb onto Ewe Hill before normal service was resumed as Garry Robson worked his way forward . Garry eventually climbed through to 7th spot in a shade over 40 mins with William 29th and first junior back in about 45 mins.
Chris Waite, Mark Small and Katharine Davis had all taken honours on  a successful day's racing on the preceding Saturday at the masters' north eastern xc championships. But a fell race is something of a different order to a 3 lap xc in  Howdon. What counts for a hill at Howdon doesn't rate a contour on Brough Law. However it was mission accomplished for all 3 with Chris just behind William in 32 spot; Katharine 55 (6th fastest female)  and Mark at 81 in 53 mins.

Fast improving Mark Small has had a fine start to 2014 across the full spectrum of races from 5k  to xc . Taking on Brough Law after a xc race on Saturday is certainly one for the brave or the rash.

Ian Holland , with  good deal of local knowledge in these fells was our final runner back - in a shade over 57 min and pocketed the V60 3rd prize.
Ewan Brown from Edinburgh was the winner in 37 m 30 s - with Lee Bennett of Elswick in 3rd spot again leading the charge of the local harrier league clubs. 
A good team turnout for the first race - with Garry celebrating a strong finish and leads the championship from race 1 , just as he did 12 months ago. Can he maintain it ?  the Champs resume at Hedgehope Hill in April.
Thank you to NFR for the event and Alastair Macdonald of Runners Wanderings for these photos - some great scenery on show .

Out of the blocks fast today was William Robson as he's sandwiched between 2 classy fell races in Bruce Crombie of Alnwick and Wil Horsley of NFR at Brough Law summit.

Getting into his stride with the hills of the Cheviots folding away to the horizon, is Garry Robson. Garry steadily worked his way back through the field and was a strong finisher in 7th spot and yet another top 10 race  finish.He's led to the top by Dave Armstrong of NFR.

New Year's Day 2014 - Fell Races

Assortment of colours and characters  for the NYD event at Cap'n Cook's as the runners file steadily towards the summit

For NYD 2014 , Poly forces were split - with Barry Young (with NFR consort Dave Johnson) attending the maritime themed event at Captain Cook's - while the Robson duo sunk their teeth into Hillforts and Headaches up at Rothbury. Captain Cook's is a well supported race run from the birthplace of Captain James Cook at  Great Ayton .
Captain Cook was one of the world's greatest navigators who sailed many a sea with compass and    quadrant mapping out the world's islands and giving his name to a set of islands  in the South Pacific an inlet and a strait .
The Cook monument  bears the following inscription:
 While the art of navigation shall be cultivated among men...... so long will the name of Captain Cook stand out amongst the most celebrated and most admired benefactors of the human race
Or so they thought. Nowadays navigation, according to some  is no longer dependent on the map and compass or the skills of a  Cook .
Depending on the attendant weather and prevailing runners - the Wooler vest apparently provides a good reference point in bad weather , for some at least. While in  good conditions it is left to the benighted  'Garmin' - an electronic global positioning instrument  dependent on the reliability of United States satellites spinning many thousands of miles away in space whose signal is warped by the magnetic field and infra structure .
Garmin never had any islands, bays or inlets  named after him because he didn't find any from his dry lined and double glazed /solar paneled office with the water cooler and crisps. Nor does Garmin have a monument to his credit - if he did it would be some kind of box giving out a bleep (and rather prone to battery failure and weather) rather than a sandstone obelisk !
Nevertheless some pay homage to the god of Garmin.

To the race - and this year we had warmish conditions with lots of mud. The drive down had been eventful given that we arrived far too early with 7 minutes to spare to the start . This caused the inevitable apoplexy and road rage from DJ who had spent New Year's Eve fretting over the travel arrangements . With bad judgment , parking on a busy day could be arrnaged no closer than 5 metres from the start line - generating further pre race worry - as we lined up with the competition with 2 1/2 half minutes to spare.
The field was a mixed bag with a chance to meet up with a few regulars from the southern half of the region such as Steve Small from Middlesbrough & Cleveland Harriers ( our friends form the T & F league and doing rather well these days); Elvets had a big grouping with Mike Bennett and there was a squad from our friends at South Shields Harriers including Mick Jones and Kevin Ayre. Jonny Malley  - a strong fellrunner - had made the Xmas trip north from the Dark Peak and grabbed 3rd spot overall.
A congested start as the 280 runners headed out of town and towards the farms at the lower slopes. On the climb it became quite apparent that the heavy rains were going to make this heavy going. Last year if you could avoid the ice - it was firm and fast. It is a hard slog through the pines and onto the moors with a tough section of travesing exposed roots. The summit provides flat running round the Cook monument as we then head outback through the forest before a sharp scarp off the top. This stretch proved tricky. Having passed Kevin and Mike over the tops - I found my way hindered by a couple of runners in flats screech sliding their way down . Kevin used the chance to flip by and he was away. No hangover excuses and I wasn't about to let him lose - and at the next climb I drew level and eased away from him.
The descent down to the village and the sprint through the muddy holloway saw me extend the lead as I crossed the line at   69th in 41m 24s  . Kevin was in  next 30 seconds or so back . Then Mike Bennett eased in at 77 th , followed by Dave at  about 45 mins . A good start to the year and reversing last year's defeat to Kevin.
 A fine commemoration for Capt Cook. No doubt some await the name Garmin commemorating a race. Maybe for a breeze block alley run round Sacramento, Gateshead or somewhere else that's featureless.
Not to be outdone , the Robsons were flying the flag at the sharp end of the field in the other traditional NYD race at Rothbury: Hillforts and Headaches. This is more of a hill climb blast as once you make the Simonside Ridge the race stops. Nevertheless despite it's shortness - it is virtually ascent all the way. Gary notched up 7th  place in 25 mins with William a few places back in  13th in 27m 29s  .
Thanks respectively go to Esk Valley and NFR for getting up early and organising the events.

Season up and running !

Simonside Cairns Fell Race - 8 December 2013

Garry Robson clears Lordenshaws before the drop back to Rothbury - as he tests the wind direction with his thumb.

A record season's turnout for the Poly in 2013 at the pre Christmas fell race at Simonside as 7 Polyfellers made their way up to Rothbury.This was the place to be to avoid all the Christmas shopping hullaballoo.
The route has had a few changes over the last couple of seasons thanks to ice conditions on the flagstones up at Simonside in previous years and some clean felling of pine at the foot of the crags. It always has been a bit of a liquorice  allsorts arrangement underfoot with tarmac, grass ,  bog , greasy duckboards, forest tracks , heather swathes and then the whinstone paths across Simonside. What decision on footwear ? Mudclaws or trail shoes ?
 This time round  the route up and onto Simonside crags followed a sheep trod alongside a barbed wire fence  just beyond Selby's Cove  instead of the usual trip through the clean fell and then the cliff face steps climb. The route meant a speed reduction for the true climbers as slower runners tarried on the only clear route . The pathway was a touch narrow  until the summit was approached.
Sad to say that some clean felling a couple of years back at the foot of the crags had removed one of  Christmas's cultural highlights as the missing pines left nothing to hang the music speakers and Christmas lights on - so no more jiggering up to Simonside to the sound of Slade.

Homeward Bound is one of Dave Johnson's favourite songs from areonautics expert and crooner John Denver . He's halted at the car park and and can't believe that not one of these drivers will offer him a front seat lift to the finish. The hatchback owners offered him a run back in the boot with a flock of chihuahuas - but DJ(always the traditionalist) insists on a standard saloon as the only  appropriate form of transport to arrive in.

The start of the race sets out on the last chime of the church bells ringing at 11 - and the first sharp ascent onto the hills starts just metres from crossing the Coquet. Heather Lambert (one of our England xc runners) was happy to exchange pleasantries over the first section before drawing back to run the route with Jenny Friend from Heaton Harriers (acting as navigator). Frosty , back , just from another injurt setback looked in a bit of bother as the tarmac gave way to grass for the climb onto historical Lordenshaws - as he started to drift back. Lordenshaws is famous for its historical cup and ring stones - some early artwork , proving as the socio archaeologists would say,that primitive man had finally found some leisure time from the daily grind of finding food  to be creative.A far more productive plan would have been to develop some genetically modified crops to cope with the damp and warm conditions to allow even more time for art - but that's another story.
Conditions were very mucky across the peatlands and the treacherous duckboards were again extremely icy as we wound onto Spylaw - the last settlement before the 5 or 6 mile run back to Rothbury. This time the path through the forest at Coquet Cairn  had been waymarked so there was no chance of losing runners at this point. For the mis navigators , it's a well trod run from here  towards Otterburn until runners nose into gun barrels at just past Hollywell before they realise it's not quite right .

George Adamson reaches Spylaw - last trees before Harwood Forest - and a longish boggy stretch to follow. George at least has kept his knees clean til now.

Simonside was  hard on the feet - as the stride pattern was chewed by the flagstones. My speed dipped. Frosty reckoned he was 90 seconds back at the northern end of Simonside . As we broke downhill , he flew past and sprinted out and on to Lordenshaws opening up a 250 m gap . In doing so , he had majestically swept up several other runners in his crazed descent . A slight gain on him to Lordenshaws summit - before  the path then dipped again and through a sharp 90 degree bend before Whittondean Farm. Decision taken to deviate off piste  and take out the corner and distance - which worked quite well until hitting some knee length heather - but still the gap came down. Not nearly fast enough however as Frosty had another sharp descent to come and with his downhill speed he was going to hit the final run in ahead.

A tough haul for Martin Frost as he veers over to Simonside on the climb out - things got a lot easier for him on his flying finish.It was a freezing day but Martin didn't want his Club vest to be sullied by any other covering.

Garry had a strong run close by the head of the field putting in another fine fell display.He came back in as 2nd V45 - good form in a strong V 45 field and was edged out only by Adam Fletcher in that class. He shot through the line in close order with 4 others in sub 90 minutes. He had a good few of the frontrunners in gun sights for a fair part of the race.Dave Johnson followed  in a few moments later . We then welcomed back our other runners with Ian Holland  and George Adamson - plus of course Heather with her chaperone Jenny Friend.
The day was completed as we all welcomed back Peter Atkinson from his grand county tour. This was not his usual Sunday fare as there were no bus shelters or patisseries en route or polite strollers doffing their cloth caps to him - this was a red in tooth and claw  run. A proper run indeed.

The final run in for Ian Holland as the North Of Tyne Search and Rescue man homes in for the finish with something fluorescent in his hand . Maybe a flare.

Many then settled down in the Newcastle Arms to enjoy soup and the generous prize list.
Kieran Hodgson from Eden Runners was first back in about 82 mins. 10. Garry Robson; 40. Martin Frost; 42. Barry Young; 60. Dave Johnson; 84. Ian Holland; 100. Peter Atkinson; 106. Heather Lambert;115. George Adamson.
The Club's resident bird man, Garry then organised  a short natural history tour of the Coquet valley before we encountered a party that were  distributing  the ashes of a fallen colleague across the waters of the Coquet.
Thanks go to John Duff and Andy Russell for the photos. Thanks to NFR for the event (looking for a new organiser next year)and  for the top quality entertainment.
Full results here :http://www.northumberlandfellrunners.co.uk/html/raceresults/2013/Simonside_Cairns_results_2013.pdf

Jenny Friend out the back of Spylaw with heather Lambert maintaining a close watch. I just hope they are heading the right way as the man in amber appears to be heading in the opposite direction. Best to take a sighting from the sun ladies !

It's now a very serious race - head down and calculating how far Frosty can be closed down before the headlong drop to Rothbury.

EMC flat earth specialist, Peter Atkinson completes a slightly more challenging Sunday run than he's used to. Joy turns to  anguish  as he's  informed that he's just missed the church service (he's as regular as the choir back at the coast where his EMC's finish  coincides with the service at Saint Woffle's) . He will now just have to hang around for  another 6 hours for Evensong