Calderdale Hike

Having finally got around to it I set up this blog so friends, family & voyeurs can see what I’m up to. So here goes my first blog.

A trip down to Yorkshire at the weekend to enjoy the fabulous weather & pick up Lisa who was returning from holiday with my Ma & Pa. Saturday saw me entered in the Calderdale Hike a 37m race starting & finishing in Sowerby near Halifax. The route changes every two or three years so this was a new course to me, though when I checked the map I recalled a lot of the area having lived not too far away. It would also be a good test to see where I was in terms of fitness and relative speed not having done any racing for a while.

By start time at 9am it was already pretty warm with a blue sky day in store. As its part of the Runfurther Ultra series there was a good turn out and several faces I recognised. From the off it was clear Martin Beale was up for it blasting out the blocks, though we didn’t take the short cut by the church. No matter as by the bottom of the hill we’d caught the leaders up and we’re forming a small group that stared to pull out some time on the rest of the field as we hit the first climb of the day. The run over Wadsworth Moor saw us all taking different lines, me clearly coming off worse missing the quick route to the road crossing popping out behind them all.

Over the next few CP’s to Holme Chapel I played leap frog with Simon Bourne and his “shadow(s)”. I resisted the temptation to sit on his shoulder as well. Probably not the most conducive to either a fast time or energy efficient way but at least in the end I know I made my own way round the course. But clearly there are some good short cuts and an optimum line to be taken. I was quite impresses that I’d been able to go round the route with about 98% navigation from memory.

It was getting pretty hot by now especially when you dropped away from the tops and after climbing up to Thieveley Pike I started to get a few niggles of cramp in my calf. So opted to back off slightly and try and hydrate some more rather than lock them up big time. This allowed the Bourne bunch to slowly creep away as we headed over to Foulclough Road. That and a bit of dithering over route choice through someone’s garden down to the canal to Bottomley put them out of sight. Still I was enjoying the day and the surroundings as it’s not so often I get to come to this neck of the woods anymore.

The run over to Stoodley Pike went well where I met the Caddie’s who’d come out to cheer me on, I was a little in front of my anticipated time so was pleased with how I was going and finally starting to think about the end. Another long decent into Crag Vale and climb out passing locals enjoying a beer & BBQ in the cracking weather made me envious and only served to gee me up to want to get finished so I could sit and relax in the sun. The final drag into Sowerby was a bit tiresome as it involved about 2.5m of tarmac and probably is a shame another CP to make an off road variant ending couldn’t have been created. But still coming in at 5:50 I was under my targeted 6hrs and came away knowing potentially it could have been a bit quicker if everything had got smoothly.