Bluebell Trail 10

(Not for Shrinking Violets) Sunday, 3rd May 2009 - 10 am

10.3 Mile road and woodland trail race through beautiful woods in the heart of Yorkshire. Unique river crossing to finish. A race of true ‘Yorkshire grit’. (Road shoes ok)

 

70.9 miles from FY5 3BF - HX4 8LS (1 hour 25 minutes)

Do it Again:    Yes

Scenery:          10

PB potential:   N/A

Atmosphere:   10

Organisation :             10 ( Plus points + no way you could go wrong and no queue at the loos!!!; Minus points - some dubious mile markers and no Vet categories/Teams in results, though I understand Dave Waywell, Carmel Sullivan and Kath Hoyer all won prizes. (I just would have liked to have known how many V50's were in front and if our Ladies finished well up!)

Value:                7 (£8 club/£10 unattached/no entries on the day) another gym bag containing a small toffee crisp, apple, banana, bizarre marker pen and a blister plaster!

Beginner-Friendliness: 5

 

Met Dave Waywell at 7:30 am to follow him and Kath down as Michaela wasn't sure of the way as she'd only done it twice before! I was looking forward to it as Michaela had been raving about it and there are not many races in the last 27 years I haven't done, plus Michaela had booked us into Hotel Rendezvous, Skipton for a Valentines Day treat

http://www.rendezvous-skipton.com/  (they seem to make a big thing about promoting their weddings!)

 

The race sets off in a lovely wood. There’s not much room for overtaking, but the wise runners realise there’s 10 miles to go and a tough hill at 4 miles. (There was no jostling). I started off level with Carmel and behind Kath for a while. Mick Edge and Dave Waywell were somewhere in the distance. The route goes onto road and then joins a canal towpath for a mile.

 

The route then leaves the canal and joins a cobbled path, then back onto road. After 4 miles we approached the dreaded Trooper Lane (Michaela believes this is tougher than anything on the Buttermere Round, but I'm not sure). It’s a 570 foot climb in just over 1/2 a mile. I passed Mick at this point and half ran/half walked the rest.

 

The route then goes onto Beacon Hill which is basically a sheer cliff! The views from here apparently are stunning, in a West Yorkshire way, and as far as the eye can see. (if you have time to stop and look). I was trying to catch our Chairman! We then followed an old pack horse route. The route is really well marshalled and no danger of going wrong. I think it was this part that reminded me of the minis in the Italian job as we seemed to be running down an old sewer (not that there was any smell!) I had a bit of a battle with a Clayton runner, (Jeffrey Pickup I think) - I'd get him on the up-hills, but then he'd pass me again on the downs, (he finished just over a minute in front)

 

I'd say from 7 miles onwards, its pretty much downhill, though there is a bit of a tricky muddy bit where I came a bit unstuck, (lost 3/4 places). We go back onto the canal for about a mile and actually pass a 10 mile marker and I thought "Christ almighty, how much further is it??!!"

 

I'd viewed the river crossing before we started and they'd rigged up a rope to cling onto

http://www.photos-dsb.co.uk/Bluebell%20Trail/content/Bluebell_Trail_171_large.html

After I'd finished, I gathered with about 40 spectators watching with glee the people struggling across the river. (A bit like watching cross country) (Hoping somebody will go flying?). I think if they took the river out, people would stop doing it. It’s the highlight of the race! I watched 1 guy splashing the marshals and no-one seemed to mind.

 

After the race, we headed for Skipton and hit some horrendous traffic. We had a few pints in some grotty pubs and then checked into our Hotel. We had a bit of a rest, watched the football results, (Swansea 0 - Blackpool 1 by the way), and then walked along the canal back into Skipton. There was a barge fancy dress competition - one was the Titanic. Another one was done out in a Wizard of Oz theme. The Skipton pubs were even worse at night - doorman on duty, people swearing and lairish men and women wandering round all over the place. Reminded me of Blackpool! We adjourned to a Curry House and had a really nice meal, except they 'innocently' put somebody else’s drinks on our bill

 

1st Man 67:55 Adam Breaks (Stainland Lions) (Host club) (Adam came 8th in the Salford 10K last year in 33:18) 

2nd 69:37 Andy Brown (Bingley)

3rd 71:10 Gavin Mullholland (Stainland)

4th 71:22 Andy Thorpe (Halifax)

5th 72:30 Andy Whitworth (Meltham)

 

1st Lady 76:36 Karen Pickles 15th overall (Pudsey)

2nd 79:35 Sue Pennington 25th (u/a)

3rd 80:56 Melanie Woodhouse 29th (Roberttown)

4th 82:28 Jessica Riley 48th (Stainland)

5th 84:37 Tanya Seager 64th (Stainland)

 

Wesham runners:-

 

55th Bates 1:23:26

69th Waywell 1:25:20

71st Edge 1:25:50

83rd Sullivan 1:27:46

115th Hoyer 1:33:17

126th Dempsey 1:34:55

147th Sharples 1:37:45

194th Cruse J, 1:45:03

206th Cooke 1:46:16

 

327 finishers

 

 Photographs
http://www.photos-dsb.co.uk/Bluebell%20Trail/content/Bluebell_Trail_171_large.html Bates
http://www.photos-dsb.co.uk/Bluebell%20Trail/content/Bluebell_Trail_57_large.html Dempsey
http://www.photos-dsb.co.uk/Bluebell%20Trail/content/Bluebell_Trail_58_large.html Cooke
http://www.photos-dsb.co.uk/Bluebell%20Trail/content/Bluebell_Trail_29_large.html Edge
http://www.photos-dsb.co.uk/Bluebell%20Trail/content/Bluebell_Trail_34_large.html Waywell
http://www.photos-dsb.co.uk/Bluebell%20Trail/content/Bluebell_Trail_72_large.html Cruse
 

Written by: Martin Bates

Submitted: 7th May 2009

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor