Winter Half Tour of Bradwell 2020
February 8th 2020
18 mile fell race
The longest "half" of anything I've ever done....
That feeling when you park-up to what you anticipated was a small, local and fairly unknown fell race, and you find Lucy Gossage and Claire Shea-Simmonds parked either side of you :o
Oh and then you realise it's a no-GPS race, and you may need to actually use that compass-thing you've been carrying around as mandatory kit for the last few years...
This race sure did have some quirks! The above aside, at the start everyone had to put on their waterproof trousers, waterproof jacket, hat and gloves, and trudge 500m or so up the road to what appeared to be a playing field. Once checked-off and allowed into the field, everyone proceeded to fairly rapidly strip and repack their carefully packed bags with said kit. Oh how glad I was that I have the sort of waterproof trousers that have long zips and don't require shoe-removal to take-off.
All repacked and ready (or so I thought) to go, in the two minutes prior to the race it was then announced that numbers had to go on the front and not the back (if it's that important, why not just put it in the race instructions?) so I had to even more rapidly switch this to my leg. Aaand done. Aaand go!
As seems the norm for fell races, straight up a gradually steepening hill. This plateaued out with fabulous views (oh did I mention, the weather was breezy but otherwise perfectly sunny, showcasing the Peaks at their best?) into a slight headbreeze. I found myself jogging alongside a "nice" man who kindly informed me that we were headed down and up the huge cliff-face (or so it looked) across teh valley. Er, thanks!
The downhill from the first climb was fairly slow, being a rocky stream in essence. Thanks to carrying around my 3.5 mth little buddy I was desperate not to fall, so took everything very conservatively (I did fall once, a little later on, but thankfully on my side and into soft mud, leaving me with a very sore bum but no other implications thank goodness). The next climb started along a road in the valley, before scaling a sheltered hillside before popping out onto a very busy ridge! The ridge itself undulated to the trig point (and check-point) at the top, before descending in a nicely muddy and grassy manner down to the village.
The third climb was a little trickier, mainly because by this point the field had thinned-out to the point that I actually had to do some navigation! I managed to get correctly onto and up most of the gentler climb, but as it gradually descended I took a wrong turn at a fork intersection. I was very grateful to be corrected by a past participant behind me, meaning it only cost me about 30m of distance. The pleasant gradual descent led me through a woodland before a u-turn back and down to the level of the reservoir. The scenery then changed again to a welcome 2-3 miles of relative flat on a disused railway. I was very glad to make some distance fairly quickly, with this ending on a busy road crossing.
At this crossing timing stopped to ensure everyone crossed safely. I would have loved to make the most of this for a break/snack but I was conscious of how long this race was taking me (i.e. how slow I was) and needed to push on in order to get home in time. Therefore I went straight through, and started what I knew to be the final climb. This was long and not particularly gentle. In fact there was a good mile or so of walking - every time I thought it had levelled-out enough to run the headwind picked up and scuppered me! Near the top however, I saw a few women ahead and managed to rouse myself into a gentle jog to catch up and then overtake them. Keen to keep them behind, I pushed-on and was so glad to meet the peak.
Another slow descent followed, this time because of the sheer steepness and narrow-ness of the path, combined with a lot of gorse and mud. Not exactly a fast finish - but I could see the village of Bradwell below, and took it carefully but steadily. Once in the village I knew mostly where I was having driven through, and ran my way to a very welcome finish!
A quick shower and soup later and I was on my way home, having had a brilliant time, and pleased with the fact that I hadn't gotten too lost with just my map and compass. I was also happy to have come within 15 mins of the stiff competition in the female gender category. I feel the percentages below are not entirely representative, I really pushed myself as much as my buddy would let me, and some women were over an hour behind....
Would definitely recommend this race - I think there's a "full" version (35 miles?) in summer which would be appealing if I wasn't otherwise occupied. It was good value, my only gripe would be having to carry a lot of unnecessary kit - nowhere on the course was particularly exposed or lonely. In fact there were probably more hikers etc on this course than most I've done.
18 mile fell race
The longest "half" of anything I've ever done....
Oh and then you realise it's a no-GPS race, and you may need to actually use that compass-thing you've been carrying around as mandatory kit for the last few years...
This race sure did have some quirks! The above aside, at the start everyone had to put on their waterproof trousers, waterproof jacket, hat and gloves, and trudge 500m or so up the road to what appeared to be a playing field. Once checked-off and allowed into the field, everyone proceeded to fairly rapidly strip and repack their carefully packed bags with said kit. Oh how glad I was that I have the sort of waterproof trousers that have long zips and don't require shoe-removal to take-off.
All repacked and ready (or so I thought) to go, in the two minutes prior to the race it was then announced that numbers had to go on the front and not the back (if it's that important, why not just put it in the race instructions?) so I had to even more rapidly switch this to my leg. Aaand done. Aaand go!As seems the norm for fell races, straight up a gradually steepening hill. This plateaued out with fabulous views (oh did I mention, the weather was breezy but otherwise perfectly sunny, showcasing the Peaks at their best?) into a slight headbreeze. I found myself jogging alongside a "nice" man who kindly informed me that we were headed down and up the huge cliff-face (or so it looked) across teh valley. Er, thanks!
The downhill from the first climb was fairly slow, being a rocky stream in essence. Thanks to carrying around my 3.5 mth little buddy I was desperate not to fall, so took everything very conservatively (I did fall once, a little later on, but thankfully on my side and into soft mud, leaving me with a very sore bum but no other implications thank goodness). The next climb started along a road in the valley, before scaling a sheltered hillside before popping out onto a very busy ridge! The ridge itself undulated to the trig point (and check-point) at the top, before descending in a nicely muddy and grassy manner down to the village.The third climb was a little trickier, mainly because by this point the field had thinned-out to the point that I actually had to do some navigation! I managed to get correctly onto and up most of the gentler climb, but as it gradually descended I took a wrong turn at a fork intersection. I was very grateful to be corrected by a past participant behind me, meaning it only cost me about 30m of distance. The pleasant gradual descent led me through a woodland before a u-turn back and down to the level of the reservoir. The scenery then changed again to a welcome 2-3 miles of relative flat on a disused railway. I was very glad to make some distance fairly quickly, with this ending on a busy road crossing.
At this crossing timing stopped to ensure everyone crossed safely. I would have loved to make the most of this for a break/snack but I was conscious of how long this race was taking me (i.e. how slow I was) and needed to push on in order to get home in time. Therefore I went straight through, and started what I knew to be the final climb. This was long and not particularly gentle. In fact there was a good mile or so of walking - every time I thought it had levelled-out enough to run the headwind picked up and scuppered me! Near the top however, I saw a few women ahead and managed to rouse myself into a gentle jog to catch up and then overtake them. Keen to keep them behind, I pushed-on and was so glad to meet the peak.
Another slow descent followed, this time because of the sheer steepness and narrow-ness of the path, combined with a lot of gorse and mud. Not exactly a fast finish - but I could see the village of Bradwell below, and took it carefully but steadily. Once in the village I knew mostly where I was having driven through, and ran my way to a very welcome finish!A quick shower and soup later and I was on my way home, having had a brilliant time, and pleased with the fact that I hadn't gotten too lost with just my map and compass. I was also happy to have come within 15 mins of the stiff competition in the female gender category. I feel the percentages below are not entirely representative, I really pushed myself as much as my buddy would let me, and some women were over an hour behind....
Would definitely recommend this race - I think there's a "full" version (35 miles?) in summer which would be appealing if I wasn't otherwise occupied. It was good value, my only gripe would be having to carry a lot of unnecessary kit - nowhere on the course was particularly exposed or lonely. In fact there were probably more hikers etc on this course than most I've done.
Times
Total time: 03:17:55
Standings
Age category: 3/11 27%
Gender category: 7/40 18%
Overall category: 62/159 39%
Total time: 03:17:55
Standings
Age category: 3/11 27%
Gender category: 7/40 18%
Overall category: 62/159 39%
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