Pen-Y-Ghent race

Let's begin at the beginning.

It's a nice sunny afternoon. I'm stood in a layby with my manager and his girlfriend, going through a bizarre series of stretches. Everyone else who posts to this blog is off doing crazy things in Glencoe. So what am I up to? Waiting...

We wait a bit more. Then Chris turns up in his Volvo. Then Matt, and all of a sudden there are 8 of us. We all do some more bizarre stretches and try and psyche each other out.

We walk over to the 'start line'. Someone says 'go'. We all run off.

This is the fifth running of the annual YHA (+ hangers on) Pen-y-Ghent race/fun run. I say fun run, as you're not supposed to race on a public path without police permission. It started as a 'lets go for a run sometime' comment from the manager of Stainforth YHA to some of his staff, then suffered under the effects of excess testosterone and became a race.5 year on and the hormones haven't worn off yet...

Pen-y-Ghent is a big hill. 694 metres, according to my map. There's a very steep path up one end. Guess which way we're going? Got it in one...

I've been spending a lot of time on my bike recently, hence I'm not such a great runner. Aiden, my manager, has been training for this. Chris, the manager at Stainforth, runs this about once a month. The others I've never met, so I don't know. As we set off, I go hard, keeping with Aiden and Simon. I think I can keep this pace up but I'm wrong. The gradient and surface changes make it hard to keep a rhythm going, and the fast start was the wrong idea: I've never run this race and it's been a long time since I did anything like it. So, I flag early on - after about a mile, I'm 30 yards back on Simon and Chris is about 30 yards behind me, but looking a lot fresher as we reach the first stiles. He passes me soon after.

The constant climb to the 'base' of the hill is a long drag, slight drops at times, but never enough to really relax and catch your breath. So, I chug along, keeping my own pace now, not aiming for the others: there is a chance I can reel some time back on the descent, as I know Aiden can't descend very quickly. But Chris and Simon can...

Ellie is 100 yards behind me, Matt 50 behind her, and I can't see Phil and Robin. I get to the steepest part of the climb (yes, those are crags on the map - yes, it is a 'climb', pretty much...) and pause briefly. The rough steps slow everyone except Chris down, and he goes up them like they're not there. By the top he's caught Aiden and is gunning for Simon.

I'm just aiming to get round, and hopefully stay ahead of Ellie, who seems to be gaining on me (must be her personal stereo). But I scramble over the last rocky step, look up, and see the trig point 100 metres away. I set off again, and there's no way anyone will catch me on the descent.

Pen-y-Ghent race route - 8.9km (5.56 miles), 464m climb.



As I top out, some other members of the YHA staff who walked up earlier are having a barbecue at the top. 'Well done!' says Alex. "If I'd know it was that steep, I'd have brought f'ing crampons" I reply. But it's mostly down from here. Over the stile and it's time to move. I look along the path briefly, and see Aiden a long way ahead of me. I'm not going to catch him, so I concentrate on going at a fast but safe pace. The descent is rocky and loose and at one point I see Aiden fall, but he gets up quickly, dusts himself down and he's off again.

The pain arrives at the gate into the lane - the last 1.5 miles is along a walled lane, not climbing, but not downhill enough for 'gravity assist'. so I drag along, trying not to hurt myself. At one point I glance back and see Phil about 500 yards back; he's made a lot of time up on the descent, passing Ellie and Matt. Robin's still nowhere to be seen.

I remember the advice I was given at the start 'turn left through the farm yard', and vault the gate, then trundle on to the bridge to finish. As I get there, the others congratulate me, and Chris tells me I've done 63 minutes, which quite cheers me up. I've come 4th, although I'm 7 minutes down on Aiden in 3rd. In a way I'm happy, as it tells me my running is better than I thought it was, but in a way I'm unhappy as I didn't run how I should have and lost time as a consequence. Oh well, I'll know for next time.

As the others finish we clap them in. Everyone who's raced has set a PB, which is quite nice. The hostel's closed this evening, so we can relax a bit. I neck some water, grab a CamelBak shower in the layby and then head to the pub for a nice pint of Landlord and a curry...