My first fell race since Whittle Pike some eight months ago after a bit of a break from competitive running trying to get my back injury better. I was really very chuffed to finish 11th out of a field of about 250. I was 25th in 2005 (last attempt) in 1:20:06. I covered it in 1:16:25 this time round.
The Garmin Forerunner clocked this at 9.71 miles and 1770 feet of ascent and descent. Advertised at 10m and 2,500 feet, there’s quite some difference here, but I trust the Garmin. The start’s almost 700 feet up and Kinder’s only a shade over 2000 feet.
Still – it’s a tough, classic fell race. Faster than many Lake District ones, it’s descents are good under foot, and easy to keep your momentum up without being too steep. There’s a killer (for me) 1.5 mile run in at the end – the type I detest(!), and I annoyingly lost two places here, but that’s the price I pay for being a cyclist who just can’t be bothered to train to run on roads.
View the race route magically trasported from my Garmin Forerunner into Google Earth KMZ here.
Click on the image above for the profile of the route (and my pace along the way in blue)