Well, a picture tells a thousand words, but to be honest the one below’s a bit surprising. I’d thought some of the biggest hills were towards the end … and although there are a few rises, it’s clear that the worst climbing, by far, is in the eighth mile. Yes, it’s another weekend of staying in a lovely Dentdale cottage (well organised, Jan!), avoiding drinking too much on the Friday night, and then celebrating in a state of mild exhaustion on the Saturday night.

The start was a bit dramatic. James and I were talking about how fast to go off, adrenaline kicking in, that sort of thing, as you do. Then off we went, but within a couple of seconds, James, a yard or two in front of me, gets a trip and after manfully trying to stay upright – legs and arms flailing everywhere – he has no option but to hit the deck … sensibly aiming for someone’s ‘front-garden gravel’. I carried on, hoping he’d quickly get back on his way, and lo, there he was, legging it past me at full pelt, heading for the sharp end of the field. I, too, was going quite fast … I got through the first five miles in 34′ or so, and 10K in 43′, at which point I’m thinking this may turn out to be too quick. I was right, and slowed more and more as the temperature rose heading towards that big bump shown above. This is not a good part of the race … a long drag, and mentally, you’re thinking,’We’re still heading away from Dent’, which frankly doesn’t help. Anyway, it’s always a relief to get to the bridge at about 10.5 miles, turn round and head for home. Also, although there are a few steep rises, I always like the run-in, and now that profile explains why …

James was first Strider home, with a great time, and not too worse for wear after his encounter with the gravel. I was happy with my run, a bit faster than last year. Nina (or ‘Nina Jane’, as the results have it), also had a good run, also faster than last time and worth a third prize for her age group. Dougie got the right side of the two-hour mark this year, after just missing out last time around, as did Alister, on the first part of an epic weekend’s racing. Phil Owen also had a good run, getting back on the road to recovery, followed by Jan, who got a third in her age group as well. Good runs, too, from Jean, Stef and Margaret, but two more special mentions: Jacquie really wasn’t looking forward to this one … mainly due to us all winding her up about how hard it was going to be … but she had a great run, and got a half-marathon PB on the way round. Finally congratulations to Yusuf, who made good use of George’s number, ran very well, and put over sixty runners behind him – well done mate!

Results

345 finishers.

Striders flooded over the Pennines for this one in huge numbers! Nine ran the full race, but several more ran a ‘Half-Dent’ (Barrie, Christine, Mary C), others got out for a run on the morning (Pam, Yvonne, Peter M) and we were very well-supported round the course. We had no less than four cottages being occupied for the weekend, which meant you couldn’t pop out for a paper without tripping over drunken or hungover Striders in the street.

The race? Well, it all augured well on the morning. A nice cool start to the day, but very bright. We set off into a light breeze – I got a good start, and it was all looking good until near the halfway point, by which time the breeze had gone and it was all getting rather warm. Blew up. Vest off, took on board all the water that was on offer, but it didn’t help much. Alan Rowell went past round here – he said later I was “looking crap”, and he was right. Turning the corner at the top end helped – the breeze was back, and as I cooled down I speeded up again. Actually, Jan said later she was bloody freezing along here, so one way or another we had quite a mix of conditions.

I ended up five minutes down on last time, and was glad to get to the finish, to be honest. Coming in topless raised a few eyebrows for some reason. Fiona had said she needed to take this one very carefully, given her recent injury problem, but despite being eight minutes down on two years ago, she still won her age group. Nina had a good strong run, well under two hours, followed soon afterwards by Roz, who was second in her age group.

Jan was along soon after, fifth in her age group with a good run, though she didn’t really need to be engaged in conversation until quite a while after the finish. She soon perked up once she knew the ladies had scooped a team prize. Well done ladies! And many thanks to the very many supporters around the course – always very welcome.

Results

369 finishers.

Honourable mentions, too, to Alan Rowell (1:43:24, and first M60), and Geoff Watson (1:49:00, and doing well to drag his fast-twitch muscles round this one), both running in orange.

Driving over the Pennines, it seemed as if we were going to be setting off into quite a wind. Luckily it settled down a bit and conditions were pretty good by the start – dry, cool and with more of a breeze into the face than a gale. Fourteen Striders lined up at the start – I was hoping there’d be enough back at Prudhoe to make the numbers up – there were, luckily – but this one was always going to be my one and only missed XC.

I always forget how many hills there are in this one, and sure enough, half a mile down the road we were directed up the side of the dale for the first climb, followed by a nice downhill section. So the whole race goes. I kept a good pace up for the first five miles (34′) and went through ten miles in 70 minutes. Thought I might have to slow up a bit then, but more nice downhill bits made up for some quite steep bits in the final stretch, so I kept going and was well chuffed to get round in 1:40 or so, a full three minutes up on my PB for this one. The marathon training must be working …

Quite a few Striders came in just after the two-hour mark, led by Alan Smith, but with Jan Young not far behind. Amanda gave her legs a first outing in the sun for the year, and enjoyed most of the race – possibly excepting the last few miles. Barrie Evans and Mike Elliott also ran half the course, stopping at the bridge – great to have lots of support there, by the way – I saw Pam, Mandy, and Barry Bird, to name just three.

Excellent race!

Results

421 finishers.