Really Wild Boar race
Posted by Sam Harrison on November 11, 2014 at 17:41.
bog fell race howgills wild boar fell yorkshire dales
I hadn't thought I would be free a couple of weekends ago so didn't think about the possibility of doing a race until the Thursday evening, when upon checking the FRA calendar I discovered that not only was there a race just up the road from us in the Howgills, it was up a fell that has been on my to-do list for a number of years; Wild Boar Fell. Perfect!There was a good show from Bowland - maybe the lure of notoriously plentiful spot prizes was a contributing factor. In fact, we comprised over 10% of the field (though that figure is less impressive in the knowledge that the field was only 85 strong)!
Anxious not to make the same mistake as last week - setting off too fast - I placed myself further down the field and paced myself much more steadily at the start, slowly picking up my speed and performing a few overtaking manoeuvres as my legs warmed up and I was certain I wasn't going too fast. I made the most of the gradually-inclined track at the start - ground which tends to suit me best - to push on and put myself in 13th place by the time we arrived at the final steep grassy ascent. I was overtaken on this final sting, but managed to regain my position on the flat stretch across the summit plateau, before letting go on the descent to enjoy the fantastically spongy but not-altogether-straightforward grass and bog back down to the track. I was slowly reining in 11th and 12th places, but it wasn't to be and I finished in 13th place, in a fight for the line with Tim Cowin from Howgill who had been slowly catching me up all descent long.
Ted Mason had a cracking run and won with a good 35 seconds in hand over 2nd place team mate Goldie. The prize giving was as generous as others had made it out to be, with plenty of spot prizes and plenty more bottles of wine for those that didn't end up with a spot prize! Full results are up here.