Pentland Skyline - 8th October 2017

The Pentland Skyline race is a tough 27km race in the beautiful Pentland hills just outside Edinburgh. It starts at the Hillend ski centre and follows a clockwise loop, taking in all the summits, and amassing 1890m ascent before finally returning to the start point.

 

 We often walked in the Pentlands when we lived near Edinburgh many years ago, but that was before I discovered the joys of fell running. The race has, however, been on my radar since Silke started studying at Heriot-Watt university three years ago. With both Silke and Emeline now studying in Edinburgh the time seemed right for a weekend combining a visit to the girls with a good run in the hills.

 

The start

The weather on the day was clear and visibility perfect so no problems anticipated with navigation. Waiting at the start there was a chilly breeze so I decided that long sleeves were the order of the day. Then came the race briefing and a reminder of the 2:15 cut-off at the Drove road drinks station at roughly half way. Soon we were off, and on our way up the first hills – Caerketton and Allermuir. To start with it was mostly single file on narrow paths before broadening out onto good grassy tracks. The sun came out and the sky cleared, giving stunning views of the whole range, although it looked a long way over all those hills!

We came over Castlelaw hill, and skirted the firing range. The red flags were flying and the crack of gunfire could be heard, so clearly, they were busy playing soldiers. It was getting very warm by this time and very pleased to reached the first drinks station and have some water. From here it was back up on to the ridge and then good running over Turnhouse Hill, Carnethy Hill, Scald Law, South Black Hill, East Kip and West Kip before reaching the next drinks station at Drove Road in just under 2 hours.

The race description warns of much tougher terrain on the second half and sure enough from the top of Hare Hill, the route is marked here at request of the landowner and descends through tussocky heather rather than taking the faster, eroded path. Then a short steep descent through slippery wet grass and bracken where most runners (myself included) ended on their bum at least once. The race continued with some rough, boggy terrain over Black Hill and a steep climb up Bell’s Hill. From Bell’s Hill it was then Harbour Hill and Capelaw Hill before reaching Allermuir Hill again and then retracing the initial part of the route back to the start.

I was starting to tire towards the end, and I was looking forward to reaching the finish. As we got closer I became aware of a runner gaining on me so I did what I could to increase my pace. Finally, there was sprint for the line where I was finally caught. It turned out there had been two runners battling with each other, so it seemed I had been incidental to their private contest.

I crossed after 3 hours 51 minutes, and was pleased to see Silke and Emeline cheering me in. Having finished I suddenly felt extremely nauseous. Whether it was the sprint for the line, or accepting too many jelly babies from spectators on the way round, or a combination of the two, I will never know but I certainly hope I don’t make a habit of it. Nevertheless, a good day out – a good hard run, in perfect weather. I finished 138th of 226 finishers, 17th of 38 in my category. 

 

Relief at the finish

Feeling sick!

 Photo credits: Carnethy H.R.C, Scottish Hill Racing, TripAdvisor & Silke

Stranda Fjord Trail race - August 19th 2017

I spent the week leading up to Stranda fjord checking the weather forecast for the area. It stubbornly kept saying rain all day – until Thursday, when suddenly the forecast changed to sunshine all day. But it was a false hope - by Friday morning the forecast sun had been replaced by cloud, and by the time we arrived in Stranda on Friday evening the rain was back on the agenda.

Saturday morning dawned just as wet as forecast, although thankfully mild and still. Hanne drove me to the parking area before the start and we trudged 15 minutes up the gravel road in the pouring rain to the start.

I was pleased to get underway. We started off on the gravel road but soon veered off on to a trail that went up through the forest - with all the rain the path was very muddy. The route levelled off a bit as we came out of the forest but then continued more steeply up, this time through heather and bilberry bushes, and we used both hands and feet to get up the steep slope.

As we got higher up the vegetation disappeared and the terrain changed to rocky scree. It was fairly stable but slippery in the wet and required full concentration. It would have been very easy to fall or twist an ankle. This continued to the summit of Fremste Blåhorn, at 1478m, the highest point on the course. Retracing our steps the first ½km, the rocks were just as tricky going down, and I was repeatedly overtaken by more nimble competitors. We continued down on the scree before heading back up to the next summit of Heimste Blåhorn. By now we had covered 10km/1500hm and the time said 2h 37min.

 

We descended along the ridge. It was rocky and hard work but very enjoyable with some nice easy scrambling at times. I ran with a young Norwegian guy for a while and we chatted, and helped each other find the best line down the technical sections. Eventually the ridge flattened out and gave way to boggy moorland, again with heather and bilberry bushes, the route was off-trail and followed markers across the moor. As we approached Stranda we picked up a path again, which eventually joined the road and took us to the food station in Stranda at just under 24km. It was a boost to see Hanne there, and she was relieved to see me too – I was within my guesstimate of 4 – 5 hours to reach here, but only just. When she asked how it was out on the course I replied with one word – ‘brutal’.

But I couldn’t stay chatting all day, there were still 9 km and 1200m to go, so having had some food it was time to go again. By now the rain had stopped and I was able to dispense with the rain jacket. I ran out through the town, passing the athletics stadium, before getting out to the trail. Again the first part went up through forest until the route reached more open, rocky terrain. It was hard and steep and I was tired. The kilometres seemed to pass very slowly as I made my way to the top of Trollvardegga (1049m) and Roaldshornet (1230m) but eventually I reached the final summit, and from there it was just 800m to the finish.

It was a relief to cross the finish line and see Hanne waiting, and the soup and bread was very welcome. It was now a pleasant afternoon, the sun was coming out, and it was a joy to sit and take in the view for a while, before taking the gondola down and going back to the hotel.

View from the finish

Stranda fjord is a great race in amazing terrain, and it would have been fantastic to have done it in good weather with doubtless awesome views. In the rain it was hard going with the mud and greasy rocks, and without a doubt the toughest race I have attempted. It took me 7hrs 19mins, which gave 182^nd place overall out of 370 starters (298 finishers). I was satisfied with finishing in the middle of the field.

Endure Dynafit Trail

My next big target was Stranda fjord trail race in Norway in the middle of August. After the disappointment of Ennerdale there was nothing to do but knuckle down and train for Stranda. This went well in July and I managed 225km / 6000hm for the month (admittedly Strava does tend to overestimate ascent).

My warm-up race this time was Endure Dynafit Trail in Odsherred, West Zealand. Again, there were longer options (50km and 100km), but I opted for the 25km. I convinced my running pal, Anders, to enter too, and it was good with some company for the trip. 

After rain in the last two races, it was nice to see a bit of sun at the start of the race, although the forecast was very changeable with a chance of shower or two. The start seemed fast to me, I felt that I ought to be in good form but I felt that I was struggling to stay in the group I found myself in – the group after the leading group – but perhaps I just needed a couple of weeks to taper before Norway. 

    That's me in the yellow vest!
 
The route was great, even if the route marking was a little lacking one or two places! It was incredibly varied – sandy beach, rocky beach, grassy downland, woods, and with some steep climbs including Zealands 3^rd highest point, Vejrhøj, and a total of about 500hm. 

Compared to the Firkløver trail in June, it was a tough race over harder terrain, but in the end I managed a very satisfying 9^th place (of 70 starters) in 2:29:11. I was just behind Frank Ahrens who, overtaking me, said ‘Wasn’t it you who took my bronze medal at Julsø Ultra?’ Fair enough that he had a little revenge.

The sun was shining again when we had finished, so it was a fine finish to the day with a dip in the sea.

Summer racing - Firkløver trail and Ennerdale Horseshoe

Firkløver trail 

Early summer’s main event was Ennerdale Horseshoe which, with 37km and 2290m, is the longest of the classic Lake District fell races. As a bit of a warm up, I decided to run the local race in North Zealand ‘Firkløver Ultra Trail 50/50’ (FUT 50/50) the weekend before Ennerdale. The race is best known for its longer distances – 50miles or 50km – but I settled for running the 16km distance.

The day dawned very wet and I was quite pleased that I hadn’t started at 7am on the 50 miles; there was still a chance that the rain might stop before my 12.00 start. It didn’t.  But soft, mild weather so a bit of rain, albeit fairly heavy, shouldn’t really be a problem especially in the forest.

I didn’t want to go flat out just a week before Ennerdale, but a decent, manageable pace that I could keep up all the way round.  It was a nice route, mostly in the woods, but a few open stretches too. There were a couple of short sections of ‘off-trail’ across the forest floor, and a low tunnel under the railway where I was bent double going through, but otherwise easy trail running. There was a hug from one of the organisers at the finish, a beer, cake and a relaxed atmosphere – what more could one ask for. My time was 1:25:14, 17^th of 77 overall and 16^th of 44 men - not record breaking, but good enough for me feel that I had had a ‘good’ run.

 No photos from the race, unfortunately, so here is a photo of the race organisers - Carsten, Per Egon & Klaus

Ennerdale Horseshoe Fell race 

A week later and I was on the starting line in Ennerdale feeling far from confident. My annual Lake District camping weekend with old pals was timed this year (at my request) to fit in with the Ennerdale fell race, so we had taken the long journey to remote Ennerdale to camp at Routen farm. I had spent most of the preceding week studying the weather forecast and it hadn’t been looking promising. The previous day we had been out walking in fine weather on the first part of the race route over Great Borne, Red Pike and High Stile, but the prospect of the full route of 37km/2290m was making me decidedly nervous.


On the day the weather was every bit as bad as promised, with heavy rain and high winds. At the race briefing the organiser said that only the mild temperature had held him back from cancelling the race. Off we went, clad in waterproofs. The start followed the lakeshore path for the first kilometre or two before climbing steeply up Great Borne. We didn’t need to ascend very much before we began to feel the full force of the wind and the heavy rain started hammering on the side of my waterproof jacket. I carried on up to the first checkpoint which I reached in just under 50 minutes. This was a little worrying as I seemed to be right up against the cut-off time, which I had copied from the website onto my race map. 

As I continued on along the ridge towards the second checkpoint, I became more and more convinced that I would retire from the race. It was difficult to run in a straight line in the wind, the rain was hammering on the side of my head, and I felt in danger of being timed out. I could look forward to another 5 or 6 hours of wind and rain, visibility was very poor, and I really wasn’t enjoying it. I reached the next checkpoint and told the marshal I was retiring. He pointed me in the direction of the valley and that was it, I was out of the race.

 Once I dropped a few hundred metres, the wind eased, and suddenly it became enjoyable again despite the persistent rain. I jogged back down to the valley floor and along the lake until, eventually, I arrived back at race HQ. There, having officially retired, I chatted with some of the helpers who fed me tea and cake. I saw also that the cut-off times had been extended, I just hadn’t noticed before the start, so I needn’t have worried about that – oh well.

All in all a bit of a disappointing day on the fells, although I probably made the right decision – I’m never going to win a race, I run for the fun of it – so if I’m not enjoying it doesn’t make much sense to continue. As a bit of a consolation whilst I was drinking tea the marshals from CP1 returned. Who else than the legend himself - Joss Naylor – who won the first 8 editions of the Ennerdale race, (and probably thought I was a soft Southerner for dropping out!).
 

  The view back along the ridge to Red Pike on a good day (photo taken the day before the race)