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.