Brathay Windermere marathon 2010

Dave Robson

I left home early on Saturday morning to support the 10 marathons in 10 days runners. They do the Windermere marathon route every day and the final day is the day of the race itself. I got to Brathay and registered and spoke to some of the runners and other friends from Fetch who had arrived to see them start. The 10 in 10 runners are an amazing group of people, I am very impressed and in awe of them all. Both the fastest male and female records were beaten this year.

I then drove down to the Swan at Newby Bridge and watched most of them through there and then onto the hill at 21m to see most of them through that bit. Lots of people from Fetch and friends and relatives of the runners at both points to chat to, so time flew by. The day had started pretty cloudy but it was pretty warm by the end.

Then off to Wilf's in Staveley to meet up with my daughter and partner and later my son and his partner. Lovely meal later and then I had an early night whilst the youngsters had a few drinks in the village.

Up early this morning for a light breakfast for me (but not for them, I just looked on enviously) and then drove to Brathay. Lots of chat, saw the 10 in 10 runners off again and then prepared for my own race. I had no idea how I might do. 4.30 - 5.00 would be fine. 4.15 would be great, sub 4 no chance.

I started off steadily and after a few miles I was just over 9 min/mile pace, which was nice. How long would that last ? Got to halfway in dead on 2hr and I started to dream a little. Then I remembered the third quarter is the hardest part, lots of ups and downs in that section so I said to myself 'get through that and see where you are at 20m'. Well I was 3hr 5min at 20m and starting to tire, so sub-4 had gone. I kept going to some Fetch supporters at the top of the steep 21m hill and got lots of cheers and encouragement ('get running', 'we'll be watching to see if you walk any more' !), but then as three years ago, I just seemed to lose everything in my legs just when I could have put my foot down. I resorted to telling myself just to grind it out. Managed to reach 25m in 3h 55min so realised I had an excellent chance of a course pb. The last mile and bit was tough and I had to walk up the steep drive, but I got home in 4hr 10min 53sec a course pb and my third fastest marathon ever, so I was very pleased.

I was very tired after the finish, I just had to lie down for a while. Its been some time since I have so tired after a marathon. I think last weekend's races were the reason, but overall I was very happy.

Haltwhistle Challenge 26m 2010

Gee that was a bit of a toughie ! This was the first year they had invited runners to this event, it was walkers only last year and 37 runners started two hours after the 140 or so walkers today.

They didn't want runners running through the town so they started us on the north edge of the town and finished us on the south edge. This meant we covered less distance than the walkers in theory and it was a bit less than the advertised 26m, I measured it as just under 24m. I say in theory because we had a long walk from Race HQ to the start and a long walk from the finish to Race HQ, so we did cover close to 26m but not the normal way !

Apart from that it was a lovely event. I left home early, picked up Phil Owen and got there about an hour before the start. Chatting to other runners and then made our way to the start. We were told to beware of cows and their calves but this was only likely to be an issue for the front runners, so that was a relief.

Within about a quarter of a mile, we started to climb and climb. We got to Hadrian's Wall which looked lovely, but there was a very strong wind from the north which had made in hard going. It was also sunny all the way round, so in spite of applying sun cream I resemble a beetroot at the moment.

We ran in the vallum for a while which took away some of the fierce undulations, but we did have to run along a section of the wall. Well I say run, but the climbs were very steep so they had to be walked. After a mile or so we headed further north and then west before returning to the wall and headed down to Greenhead for the halfway checkpoint which was serving soup. I opted out of that and headed on and caught up with Phil who had been running more hills than I was, but had been slowing down on the tarmac sections. After another climb ! we reached the Pennine Way which I had expected to be wider, but it was a narrow path. In this quarter we were overtaking walkers all the time and this meant no concerns about which way to go. Overall it was very well marked and i did not get the map out at all. This section was peaty moor with some boggy sections so I was glad I had chosen trail shoes.

Then down off the moors to the South Tyne valley, along an old railway line and down to the river and the lovely area around Featherstone Castle and from there back to Haltwhistle.

Pie and peas afterwards. A lovely run, very similar to the Swaledale Marathon for those of you who have done that.