2017 Percy Pud

Apparently it's nearly 3 weeks since I ran the Percy Pud - how time flies!  I've been busy, and I've not always been in the right head space to write a review.  In a lull amid the pre-Christmas frantic rush though I have found time to put my thoughts on the race into words.

I've been aware of the Percy Pud for a while, being a long standing fixture in Sheffield organised the the Steel City Striders - in fact this year was the 25th anniversary of the first running of the event.  Last year the event was on the first weekend after I had moved back to Sheffield, and starting as it does in Loxley it's practically on my doorstep, just over 2km away.  I ran my first parkrun that weekend but already had a desire to run the Percy Pud, so you could say this marked the culmination of an amazing first year in running.

I'd run the return leg along Loxley Road a few times, as I would often go out along Loxley Valley Trail and back on the road after the slog up Stacey Bank, but one Thursday lunchtime decided to recce the whole route, so ran from my house to the start, did the full course, and then ran all the way back, making it a nice 14km run.  Obviously the roads were open so I was only on the pavement, and there was a lot of wet leaf fall, but it was good to get a feel for the route. I found the outbound Loxely Road stint really hard work as it's uphill and undulating, but then I really enjoyed the road around the back of the reservoir out to The Plough and back despite quite a headwind, and Loxley Road return was the old familiar route.

When I entered I decided I was going to aim for sub 50 minutes, having run 50:01 at my first 10k in May, so submitted an estimated finish time of 49:49.  Come the day of the race I met up with Andy, Liz and Kelly G and we made our way to the start area.  It dawned on me I had to walk a long way down and was surprisingly near the front, positioning myself between the 50 minute and 45 minute pacers. After the usual standing around for a bit a horn sounded and we were off.  I started my watch as we headed under the arch and ran with the pack, jostling for space a little but nowhere near as bad as Amsterdam.

The start was fast, I was happy. I was passing people, I was keeping up with the 45 minute pacer.  This was good, I was really enjoying myself! But still, this first bit was my least favourite and there are 10 of these kilometre things to do so don't get carried away.  I'd been working on my cadence and technique, so I was trying to bear that in mind keeping my pace high while ensuring that I felt my heart rate and breathing were under control and not at the ragged edge. The first KM went quickly in 4:24, the second even faster in 4:16, and I was at the dam wall - the bad bit was done!

I'd noticed on the first leg that not everyone was using the hills - this is Sheffield, surely everyone has had plenty of practice - but this meant that I was overtaking all over the place on the short sharp downhill segments and still absolutely loving it.  OK, settle in for the mid section. Eyes on the prize, don't blow it all early, keep that breathing in check.  We were being encouraged over to the left hand side of the road by now to make space for the returning runners, and the KMs kept falling - 4:24, 4:46, still amazingly good times for me and still WELL on target.  Just after the 4km mark I saw the pace car, followed shortly by a few lone runners before the pack came past.  Tricky hairpin turnaround at the 5km mark, take a gel on board before the water stop, and it's homeward bound.

Not long after turning I heard Andy shouting encouragement as he headed towards the turnaround, and shortly after I spotted Kelly G and Liz, returning the encouragement to them.  Everyone was looking good. My legs were not tiring and the pace was holding high, before I knew it I was at the dam wall and knew that once I had the small climb out the way I could push for the finish.  2km to go and I was beginning to feel it, but I could see the 45 minute pacer in the distance and slowly but surely I was gaining on him.

Drive up the hills, use the downhills for speed, inching ever closer.  With the finish almost in sight I passed him just as he was telling those around him they were well on course to hit 45 minutes, and then the finish line appeared and I could see the clock - gun time was on 44:50 and that was it, I started sprinting for the line. I crossed on a gun time of around 45:03 so was confident I had smashed my target and finished under 45:00. I felt weirdly emotional at this point - happy and yet really close to tears.


I collected my t-shirt and Christmas Pudding, got a drink of water, and headed up to see the others finish.  Andy had already crossed the line by the time I got there, and I saw Kelly G and Liz finish. My Chip Time in the official results came through as 44:31, utterly blown away with that.  Turns out we all had a really good race:

• Me: 44:31
• Andy: 47:17
• Kelly G: 49:43
• Liz: 55:21

And we weren't the only ones - the male and female course records both fell (there was a £1000 prize for each of these) with the Male winner being Andy Heyes in 29:42 and the overall second place finisher was Scottish Olympian Eillish McColgan in 32:23 - breaking her own record from last year and setting the second fastest 10k in the country this year.  The first quickest?  Her performance at Leeds Abbey Dash.  Hmm, seems a fast race... maybe next year?

Froggatt Edge - Hairpin and Pinnacle Boulders

Two days in a row climbing in the peaks? It must be summer!  Amazingly we had a bank holiday weekend with fine weather every day so despite the cocktails last night we decided to go climbing again - Andy and Ceri couldn't make it yesterday so wanted to get out and it didn't take Liz and Kelly much convincing to join us.  QWe were looking for somewhere for Ceri to get back in to climbing after injury, so it was a toss up between Stanage Plantation and Pinnacle Boulders at Froggatt and Pinnacle won - mainly because of the fear of Stanage midges.

Once parked up we started the walk in, and decided to warm up on Hairpin Boulder as it is so close to the parking.  As usually happens when we get to this block I mange to climb the easy problems - Hairpin Scoop, Hairpin Arete and Flake Problem - before trying and failing on something harder.  This time it was Crash Test, not much harder but a sit start and I just could not make it work. Still, I wasn't going to beat myself up over it as there was plenty more to climb, and we walked on to the Pinnacle Boulders proper.

Plenty of fun here - some nice warm up material on Pooh Bear and Teddy, then the significantly harder Teddy with a sit start which took me a while as sit starts really are not my thing (I know, I need to work on them) and then a nicer climb on Pick Pocket.  I tried and failed to start on (Ahem) Starter Motor so went on to try Areet - I got to the top and then bailed, realising when I got down that for the easier grade I should have broken left to finish, but also I had missed the sit start. I couldn't face trying it again...

I went back to join Liz round the back for some light relief on Bear Pooh, Rupert Bear and Bare Rupert, then news came back that Andy and Kelly had cracked Starter Motor so I went to steal beta and watch them trying Areet.  While they tried I practised my sit starts on Baby Bear which is a great little problem for precisely this purpose, and Liz successfully topped it too. Back on to Starter Motor and it all clicked, I was up.  Andy and Kelly were trying Northerner now and I spent a while working it with them, I got as close as any of us did - reaching a ledge we think you need to mantle, but on my best attempt I bailed right and finished on Teddy, so I'm calling this climb "Northern Bear". None of us finished it, but on a cooler day it might go.

From here we moved up a few boulders, Flatulence refusing to go for me (!!!) and Air Bear was it's typical inelegant self.  I did the not particularly tricky Mini Mantel before stopping for a rest and really failing to get going again, I looked at some of the other problems on Air Bear but couldn't bring myself to try them so napped in the sun with Liz and Ceri while Andy and Kelly finished up some more climbs.  Soon it was time to head to the pub for a couple of pints and then home after another successful day out.  The next time we climb outdoors may well be in France, it's not long now!

Today's Logbook

Robin Hood's Stride

It was a bank holiday weekend, there were no plans, and the weather was fine.  We'd been talking idly for a while about trying some crags away from our usual stomping ground, and Cratcliffe was one we'd highlighted as it is a bit of a different setting, with jumbles of boulders in amongst trees - almost reminiscent of Fontainebleau.  With others in our group having things on it ended up being Liz, Kelly and I making the 1hr journey down past Bakewell, and parking up for a short walk in.

We followed the Limestone Way until we could see Dorsal Fin, and walked over to Green Boulder before dropping down to The Lower Boulders. Joy of Ledge and Joy of Noledge went quickly, but Flake Slab and Flake Slab Arete seemingly had no joy in them and as we were warming up still we moved on and tackled The Arch, T Slab and T Slab Arete - a few non commital attempts at Arch Direct and we decided that the description of "A desperate static move" was not very enticing, so wandered back up to Green Boulder and paused for a bit of lunch.

Kelly and I decided to take on Short Arete, and after a bit of cleaning and a bit of effort Kelly got up it, but I just could not get comfortable enough on my feet to enjoy it.  I am currently climbing in either a pair of Evolv Shaman II which need resoling but it'll have to wait until after Font now, or an utterly destroyed pair of Five Ten Anasazi's - the Shamans are miles better where I need good feet but I am saving them for Font in a few weeks at the moment - currently on the lookout for another pair of Anasazis to tide me over as I'm all too aware I could destroy the Shamens if I am not careful.

From here we moved on to Dorsal Fin which was a really nice bit of rock, we soon sent Dorsal Arete, JT and JT Crack and then Vandals went soon after - so named I assumed after some fairly terrible behaviour several years ago. Potty Time really wasn't worth the effort required to send it (but we did anyway) and Flipper / Flipper arete were frankly terrifying.  I'd have tried harder on Flipper Arete were it not for the fact the landing was terrible - a huge lump of rock behind you just where you would fall.

After this we headed to the Main Edge and Muscle Slab.  Kelly got up it with it's interesting mix of slab and overhang, but I again suffered a lack of foot confidence and bottled it despite having cracked the first big move eventually.  From here we headed to The Square Block and some nice slab/mantle practice, finishing up on Angle Arete before it was time to head home for a barbecue.  We will be back to Cratcliffe, plenty to explore on the main crag which we never even got near. For now though it's time to wash the sunscreen off and fins some meat to grill :)

Logbook for the day

Stanage Far Right, again

Stanage Far Right is fast becoming a favourite area.  Easily accessible from Sheffield after work, and the walk in is fairly short and easy - even if we stay until sundown it's not hard to get back to the parking.  It's also really nice rock.  After our recent trip to The Henge we already had desire to try the Huge Slab area so as soon as the forecast was good plans were made.

The Huge Slab is easy to spot and we walked in, landing next to The Cube.  A little bit of Head Scratching on Cube Left made me decide to warm up elsewhere, and I soon bagged the straightfoward Upper Cube Traverse before going back round and working at Cube Arete and Cube Left, comfortably getting them done.  At this point Liz was attacking Lower Cube Traverse so in her rest breaks I was trying Slots but just couldn't get it to work for me.  After a brief look at some of the problems on Huge Slab itself and deciding they weren't for me we moved on to Gripple.

Landings are pretty sketchy with a jumble of rocks at the base of the rock, and it's quite high, but Gripple One was dispatched On-Sight with only a few sketchy moments. Gripple Two needed more work being higher with worse holds and there was a moment when topping out when I thought I was going to topple backwards, but it all came good. Gripple Three looked too green, too high and too poor over a bad landing to even warrant an attempt.

Around the corner Ed, Kelly, Andy and Kelly were already on Gripple Nipple so I went and joined them, but was struggling to link it all up.  The start was fine, thanks largely to some significant reach, but going up from the slot to the top was not working - I was repeatedly chickening out of throwing for it and making neither one thing nor the other moves which weren't going anywhere.  I carried on working it while Ed was grappling with Gripple Graunch, and it was getting rather frustrating.  I switched from trying Kelly's beta from matched on the slot to Andy's beta of pressing down on the left hand in the slot and going for the top with the right.  Eventually my right hand stuck - just - and I matched the top and hauled myself up the wall with more than a bit of noise.  For something I worked so hard I was expecting more than a 5b out of it, but I'll take what I can.

After catching my breath again I joined Liz, Andy and Kelly on the Pert Block, going straight up Pert Wall then making a meal out of Pert Bloke by trying to climb it on the steep overhanging side rather than the slabby side.  With this pointed out I got up it and then ticked off Pert Block Arete too before we called it a day as the sun was setting.  All in all a good session, and just what I needed to clear the head after an indulgent weekend.

Witness the Gritness!

It was another fine evening yesterday, so we headed to the Peaks again.  With a flourish of last minute planning we decided to go to Higgar Tor as Ed felt the need to push his climbing into Font 7 territory, and I was looking to try and push myself a little (although not that much!) too. After work I drove out and wandered over the top of Higgar Tor past a plethora of youth groups out enjoying the weather, and dropped down to the Big Slab area where Ed and Kelly were warming up.

(An aside while I think of it: In my book it is Higgar Tor, whereas the location I ended up tagging things with on Instagram and Facebook was Higger Tor.  Turns out both are acceptable, but I am sticking with Higgar Tor as that's what my book knows it as).

After warming up on Broken Arete and quickly getting my head back in to climbing I flashed Pocket Wall which was satisfying, as I was quickly getting on to harder stuff and sending it.  We then moved on, initially looking to head towards Like Pommel but ending up at Harvester.  Here Andy joined us, complete with bike, having ridden out from Sheffield.  Harvest Grove went after a failed attempt where I didn't feel comfortable, then when I got to the top the second time I noticed that I was oozing blood from my little finger - this rock is sharp! Soon taped up and it was time to try Harvest Arete.

Ed got up this quickly, throwing a heel up to a nice ledge and rocking over it, but neither Kelly or I could make this work.  I eventually cracked it by using a pebble for my left foot and getting my right onto a small lip around the arete, allowing me to stand up for the top at which point it was pretty much over save for watching your head when topping out.  We then worked at Combine Harvester, Ed again sending it without too much bother while the rest of us suffered the sharp rock again and again.  I was getting the traverse start in fine, but failing to get to a position where I could then finish it using the same beta I used on the arete.  Eventually multiple repeats saw my technique going backwards so I called it a day on this one.

We then headed over to Leaning Block, the reason we came here as Ed wanted to try the 7A Witness the Gritness.  This is an imposing block, and has quite a few trad routes going up it.  Witness is on the lower side of it, meaning you are faced with the might of the boulder and even though you are not going all the way up it, it's quite intimidating.

Definitely not staged to make it look like we were going to solo it. Nope.

I was quite tired from trying Combine Harvester by this point so mostly spotted and watched while Ed, Kelly and Andy gave it repeated attempts. I gave it several good goes, eventually managing to pull on and get off the ground but unable to go anywhere right or left.  Ed was managing to get an awesome knee bar in, but even once I had switched from shorts to trousers for protection from yet more shard rock neither Andy or I could make it work.  The rock was quite warm and only got warmer as we held it, but the start holds were also suffering from excessive chalk - a bugbear of mine when climbing inside, never mind outside.  You really don't need that much - you are only trying to dry your hands - and especially when outside you really should clean it off afterwards.  It's not that hard to show some respect for the rock and your fellow climbers.

Anyway, rant over.  While we were attempting it a group of Scouts came through who were weaselling up a fault in the block, quite a few of them expressed a desire to climb what we were climbing but I think maybe our lack of progress put them off :). Ed was getting further up than any of us, and at one point borrowed a stick from one of the scouts so he could tape a brush to it and clean a higher hold.  Eventually as the light failed and we had all had enough of this, I took my shoes off at this point and kinda wish I hadn't as everyone else tackled the start of a trad route which looked easy but high - topping out at the same place Witness tops out.

And with that it was time to leave the peaks again in the light of a beautiful setting sun. Hopefully it won't be long before I am back.

Bouldering at The Henge, Stanage Far Right

The weather was looking good - not too hot but dry, and plans were made to head outside. Plans were made over coffee at The Climbing Works on Sunday and we drew up a shortlist, which resulted in a decision over curry later to go for Stanage Far Right (often classified as part of Stanage Popular from a Trad Climbing point of view but worthy of it's own area when bouldering) and look at Easy Jamming (though that might be high and scary), Huge Slab, Henge, Snout and Rim.  I picked Liz, Kelly and Kelly up after work on Monday and we drove out to meet Ed, arriving to a beautiful moody peak sky - and a fair breeze, so I was glad to have packed long trousers and a hoody.

We walked in and decided to start at The Henge as it was Liz's most favoured area, and we could always try more on the way back.  The walk in wasn't too bad and the weather was lovely for climbing, not as hot as on recent trips so the rock had a lot more friction to it. We started out with Tweedle Dee, Steps and Tweedle Dum which were beautiful to climb if a little high for a first climb of the day biut landings were good and the rock was full of solid holds.

Moving on from here it was more of the same with Hook, Line and Sinker then on Slotted Wall it was starting to get a little more technical - nothing too taxing but on my first go I decided I had broken too far left to count it (verging on to Slotted Arete) so repeated it being careful to stay centre, then quickly knocked off Right Hook and Slotted Arete.

We then headed further along at took a look at the Quick Wall area.  I bottled it before even pulling on several times and we got confused by the topo, in Peak Bouldering it appears to stop before the top so we decided it was a matched top hold rather than over the top climb, and eventually I built up the courage and flashed it, but I think that was far too easy to be a 6A+ so I am guessing it must go further than we took it.

I then took on the sit start on Staircase Flake and then Front Flake before looking at The Henge itself - this has lovely looking breaks but is rather high so I let others go up it first before getting on.  As it happens this was a really nice climb and at no point did I feel uncertain but when I got to the top my heart was racing and I realised I was breathing fast - I think I forgot to breath all the while I was climbing it!

Finally it was time for a very rapid ascent of Sparky Slab, if nothing else because the previous area was very sheltered and we were getting bitten a lot, getting around the corner meant a bit more breeze to keep the midges down. I was really enjoying myself, the rock here was lovely, but the light was beginning to fail and we needed to head home.  I'm already itching to get back outside again, I have got my head properly into it again and I need to start pushing my grades.  Hopefully it won't be too long, but this weekend sees Cliffhanger and having failed to make it along in previous years I have this firmly in my calendar.

Quick Climbing Update - Cioch Top and yet another visit to Burbage

In amongst the recent running it has been far too hot to climb indoors, so we have headed outside instead.  On Saturday Andy took Liz, Kelly and me out to Burbage to meet Ed and Kelly and their friend Alex, where the plan was to head to some of the boulders we didn't get to last time although we ended up revisiting Cobra, Pock, Lamb and Sheep before then moving on to Armoured Car and Tank.  It was quite hot, and I was running the next day, so I was fairly gentle about the whole thing and there wasn't really anything to write home about.

After work on Monday we decided to head to the Peaks again, making it three days in a row I had been in the Peak District. We wanted to head somewhere we had not seen before, and aimed for Cioch Top Boulders at Curbar Edge.  When we got there we had a long walk in including a bit of scrabbling, and then searching for the rocks - turns out the picture in the book is deceptive and what looks like one rock is actually two, with an awkward boulder in front of the one we were aiming to climb, and with worse than expected landings with the drop off not far away.

Oh, and it was a lot steeper than it appeared in the book which made it look far more slabby...  Left Arete was an easy climb  but with a quite high and balancey top out, where you get over and realise it's not much better than the face you just came up.  Crispy Roof was a really nice climb, and for the first time this year I felt I was pushing into the space I should be climbing outside in rather than coasting and taking it easy. I didn't like the look of Crispy Noodling or Crispy Rib though, and this particular boulder felt quite loose and fragile.

The area is clearly a lot less climbed than some of the peak crags, the rock having a lot of loose sand and grit all over it making for some careful climbing. Chekov, Scotty and Bones were all simple enough, moving on to Mister Spock and Uhuru was a bit more intimidating as the top was quite a bit higher. Despite being the lowest grade on this face no one fancied Sulu, but we worked Uhuru for quite a while to no avail.

Kelly attempting to find anything on Uhuru

Picture by Liz

Having exhausted the area we moved back to Moon Buttress, initially looking at Dog Leg Crack before deciding that crack jamming was a silly idea and dropping around in to The Trench where the landings were good and the tops not too high. A nice easy Left Arete (common name...) and then it was time to work at Trench Hole where there are a few good hands and then a lot of slopers, which eventually went.  The neighbouring Ringworm was less pleasant, some nice undercuts and ledges low down and then a barren sloper that I just couldn't stick to right where you really wanted a tiny pebble or sharp crimp just so you had something to work with!  Others got it, but I just could not make it work however I tried it, but I gave it a really good go.

With daylight fading it was time to head home, and we were treated to a really great peak district sunset.  There were plans to head out again on Wednesday but we were tired and the weather was threatening rain so I went for a swim then hosted a solstice barbecue instead, with only a few periods of hiding from rain :)

2017 Dark Peak Trail Run - Short Course (12km)

So, having done the White Peak Trail last month it was only rational to enter the Dark Peak Trail too. Described on the event info page as "A longer trail running event on the footpaths, tracks and trails within the ‘grittier/higher level’ surroundings of the Northern/Dark Peak District" it sounded interesting, and I signed up the day after the White Peak Run in a bout of post race enthusiasm. As the race got closer I studied the race profile more, and realised it was 2km of relatively flat trail, 6km of relentless climbing to gain 261m, then 2km steep downhill and back on the same 2km trail as we set off on. Target time for a Silver band finish was 1h05m - 1h20m which means a pace of 6:40min/km to 5:45min/km, looking at that hill I figured a gold was not going to be achievable but a silver should be comfortable.

Race week approached and I had not got a decent run in for a while but managed to stretch my legs on a 10k hitting a pace of 5:49min/km (on the flat) which gave me confidence for the race. Also in this week I received a message from Kelly D asking if I had space in the van for the trip over to Hayfield. I assumed he had a friend looking for a lift over but no, he had decided this event would make a perfect taper run for him in advance of the Round Sheffield Run. Kelly is quite a bit faster than me but as he was tapering opted to run with me, so we discussed strategy and went for a fairly simple one - try and run the flat bit on the start at around 5:30min/km then see what the hell brings - slow up, fast down - then once back on the trail give it all you've got left. The other thing the week before the race brought us was hot weather, and I was praying for it to break at the weekend, I would even have welcomed rain.

That didn't happen. We left Sheffield bright and early on Sunday morning and you could already feel the heat in the sun. By the time we got to Hayfield at 8:30 it was already scorching. We got registered and sorted race numbers etc, then watched the long course starters depart and listened to their briefings - extra water stations had been added, conditions were dry and dusty. As expected kit rules were restricted, this time I did opt to leave my waterproofs behind but still took my pack for water supplies, having been cunning and frozen the bladder before setting off. Waiting for the start it was beautifully cold against my park, I shall be repeating that idea.

Time for the off!  As it is a dibber timed race there is no mass start, people instead starting on an individual time.  Previously I have ended up right at the start of my wave as other racers seemed to be reticent, but on this occasion there were many eager racers jostling to start and we ended up several people back.  The first 200m were quite narrow and twisty, dropping down steps and over a single file bridge before going up the steps on the other side, through a housing estate, and then on to the trail proper.  This meant that pace was very low and as I run to an average pace for the current km I was trying to get back in to the target zone when Kelly pointed out we were going much faster than planned (his Fenix 5 is better at instantaneous pace than my Forerunner 405) and we were running under 5:00min/km. It felt good, so we agreed to try and stay just above 5 minutes.  The trail was wide, smooth and flat and well shaded by mature trees - this was feeling OK! Kilometre 1 went in 5:26, k2 in 4:57.

Across a road at the split point we had been well briefed on, then we take a sharp left and start the climb.  A brief flat road section at the top and we reached a switchback where we also had to stop at the checkpoint to dib in, sapping all momentum.  This was the start of the hill proper as we took on Over Hill Road. We soon climbed out of the trees and into searing heat, slogging up the road.  There were many many false summits, and it seemed to go on forever.  It was feeling OK though and and we were actually maintaining a decent pace, between 6 and 7 minutes per km. I was taking on water in small sips all the way up, and at some point I decided to take on a Wiggle Mocha caffeine gel but the running was so hard I couldn't stomach eating anything.  Eventually I managed to find a bit flat enough that I could take it on and wash it down, and on we went.  After the face I discovered that at some point on this climb my heart rate hit 198bpm which is the highest I have ever pushed it in a race.

 As we got higher we were treated to beautiful views over towards Manchester, and after about 25 minutes of hill we passed the drinks station, neglecting to stop as we both had ample water with us.  Just up the road from here we turned hard left off the road and onto a trail.  The gradient here ramped up significantly, hitting 20% at one point then settling back down to around 10%.  At this point I was wiped out and had to resort to walking for a bit while my heart rate recovered, my breathing calmed down, and I lowered my body temperature. I was determined to start running again before we ticked over the 7km mark, and thankfully the gradient had calmed down by here.  In the final push up the hill I decided that I wanted a Tour de France style summit marker at the top as a reward, and then over the crest of the hill appeared... a summit marker!  I let out a laugh and relief flooded my body as we started on the downhill stretch.  The terrain was still quite technical, far more reminiscent of the Langsett 10k than the White Peak Trail Run from last month, but we got some decent speed up.

With 2.5km left to go the trail joined a road again which made speed easier, and then it was down a narrow wooded track back into the blissful shade of the Sett Valley Trail.  We tried to keep the pace high, accelerating past the 1km to go marker, and soon we could see trees and cars - the end was in sight.  Spurred on by this we hopped back across the bridge and into the field, running fast for the line, stopping the clock at 1h13m - Silver it was! At this point I had nothing else on my mind than sitting in the shade and pulling my shoes off.  The remaining water from my pack went over my head - ok it was warm from being against my back but that was lovely.


Duly cooled down we harvested the buffet, got our official results, and faffed around with the standard tasks of notifying friends we had finished safely and with a decent time, downloading and uploading GPS traces, and catching up on the activities of others as well as applauding racers over the line.  We'd started in the first wave of the race but there were not many people back when we crossed the line, and few if any people overtook us once we hit the hill - surprisingly no-one overtook us while we were walking though maybe people had availed themselves of the drinks station. Eventually all runners were home, and we looked at the results. And then looked again. We'd finished 13th and 14th out of 83 runners, which was 4th and 5th in class (Male 17-39). I'm still blown away by this, it's my best race finish and I'm not sure how I did it but the official results confirm that I did.


We drove back to Sheffield for a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs courtesy of Liz, and reflected on a brutally hard race on a scorching day - temperatures of over 30 degrees centigrade were recorded.  So, what's next?  An easier one this time, the Greno Chase but I do keep looking at the Accelerate Gritstone Series and especially the Salt Cellar Fell Race.

Burbage Birthday Boulder

It's my Birthday today, and in the run up I was wondering what to do for it. In the end I decided that I would really like to be out in the Peaks enjoying the fact I live in The Outdoor City. I'd also been planing to take my son out climbing again as he enjoyed himself at The Three Ships last month even if some of it was a little challenging for him.  After we got in last time we looked in Peak Bouldering and spotted that above Burbage South Quarries is an area named  "The Kindergarten" with two described problems in a large baby boulderfield great for getting kids started, so I decided to head out here with a view to dropping down in to the valley later.

As well as the usual Liz, Kelly and Andy we also had my friend Becky and her partner with their young kid, who I was passing on a pair of my boys outgrown climbing shoes to.  We all played around in the Kindergarten for a bit and the kids got up plenty of things easily before exploring the area for a bit, and then we headed down on to the valley floor.  This area is one I always have fond memories of as it was my first experience of outdoors bouldering; many years back now we headed here after work one evening and after finding Pock Block a little intimidating I got my first problem sent on Fat Cobra, so that's where we started.

Several problems fell easily here, and Becky got to pop her outdoor bouldering cherry. We attempted Cobra Mantel but it was just too intimidating with the mass of Pock Block right where you are likely to smash yourself , so it was time for a little play on some of the easier problems on the aforementioned block such as Pick and Wall Past Slot, then we decided to move on again. Lamb and Sheep have some nice gentle aretes which are a great introduction to Peak Grit, so we headed thataway.

We climbed Lamb Slab and Sheep Slab on many different routes, F really impressing with his commitment and footwork - those new shoes are really paying off as they have been described as "more comfy than his trainers" and he was smearing fantastically, walking up some slabs with no hands.  At the top of Sheep Slab we found a big hairy caterpillar which appeared to be trying to build a cocoon out of grit, which attracted quite a bit of attention.

I also managed to get a few more here - The Sheep's Backside, Sheep Easy, The Crook and The Crook Traverse - before making a weak attempt at The Shearing while others tried much harder at it.  Finally it was time to head to The Brick where many easy climbs went up Briquette and the the Short Arete went on Brick itself before decamping to Fox House for a pint and tea. It was a great birthday, nothing too hard but a lot of fun and even a touch of sun.