Race review - Orran and Nikki

It was a bitter cold day up at the bungalow today and despite the rather murky, dull weather- the views were pretty clear.

We were once again welcomed by the positively toasty Victory cafe for our sign on and it was difficult to leave the lovely, roaring fire to go out and warm up.

Today was the first day of the new electronic timing system therefore sign on was a tiny bit different today but not much. We were called in from warming up on the hill to be “dibbed” out and see the Winter hill league winners grabbed their well earned prizes.

I have to admit I was in a bit of a meltdown waiting to get out on the hill. I have been feeling pretty relaxed about racing today however around 11am nerves hit pretty bad and escalated from there! Standing waiting to check out I was feeling so stuffy and warm, it transported me back to one of the checkpoints in the spine race and I just wanted out of there. Finally we were dibbed out and headed to the hill. Myself and Alice Forster decided to do a few more laps up and down whilst waiting on the other 130 runners (yes! 130!! ) to get to the start. Our previous warmup feeling like a bit of wasted effort by this point.

The start was frantic! I didn’t hear anyone count down or say go and all of a sudden people were running ! Waaaah!!! This isn’t the start I had hoped for and it sent my heart rate flying! It did not help my very nervous head! No one seemed to be expecting it from where we were standing so must have been on the wrong side of the race start!

When we all took off it was really packed to begin with. As people reached the tram tracks people started to follow different lines. I dropped low as did Mark Teare and Orran and but it felt like everyone stayed a bit higher for longer.

Orran was leading the way on the lower route but could see that Harry Kneen and Mark Burman were around the same place just slightly higher up than him.

All 3 crossed the stream at the same time along with Harry Weatherhill . Orran punching at checkpoint 1 first. After the Cp Mark B took the lead along with Harry W. Both went through the middle path headed towards the fire track but Orran stayed low as did Harry K down to the lower path.

Harry K and Orran pretty much hit the fire track together but Harry’s form meant that he would get a gap on orran here which would stick.

When ascending the fire track Orran could see Harry W and Mark B on the higher path with Mark still in the lead - he hit CP 2 first.

Harry W and Orran dibbed CP 2 together and both them, by all accounts, descended rapidly or “nailed it” down to the next river crossing. Broken legs - what broken legs - clearly a distant memory for them both now.

Mark ascended to Cp 3 first with Harry K close behind him. Phil Knox has appeared by this point and ascended to CP 3 before Harry W and Orran dibbed together.

Phil moved well out of the cp but orran managed to close the gap once they hit that horrible field of Heather! Phil took a better line out of the Heather and got a gap on orran again. They would battle cat and mouse the whole way up Snaefell until Phil put in a big push towards the tram tracks and the Snaefell Cp.

Orran got to the top and pushed on the descent to try and close the gap but couldn’t. Concerned about Harry W’s descending skills orran pushed right to the end taking 4th place.

Mark was unfortunate in the latter stages of the race with some issues so had to pull back slightly. Harry K managed to take the win, Mark in second, Phil in third, Orran 4th and Harry W in fifth. Top racing from the boys and only minutes separating them.

Now what about the girls!!

#hereforthegirlsrace

Given the start I wasn’t sure I was leading the race but given the faces of the guys around me heading towards CP 1 and the fact that I could see the leaders suggested I must be doing ok even if someone was ahead. I descended towards the stream crossing with a big group of people and decided to just jump in and go in up to my knees, over taking Stu Osbourne In the process - I then got in a little group heading to the Cp. I dibbed in and headed off - again lots of people splitting off in different directions but I prefer the lower route. Stu came with me on the lower route and we had a little chat!

Being slightly distracted I took the wrong route and went too high, I realised pretty quickly and went to drop down and saw Alice Forster on the lower route. Alice is making a come back from a knee injury and has been running so well, I wasn’t surprised to see her. Me and Stu dropped down to run with her and I exclaimed “ahh I can’t find the path!” We finally get on it and we all did a bit of cat and mouse until the fire track. I could see runners on the higher path and knew we would all be coming into the Cp close together. I put a bit of an effort in on the fire track to head to the cp. My legs were feeling alright but my breathing and lack of fitness post spine were starting to rear their heads!

I dibbed in just behind Andy Watson and we descended down to the river together with Alice just behind us. I had a good line up to CP 3 which meant I was ahead of Andy and just in front of Alice. Once I dibbed I knew I was going to have to work to keep her climbing skills at bay if I wanted to maintain my position. Honestly I didn’t know if my body could take it!

I did what I could running my own race up that bloody hill. I knew I was tired and struggling but I was trying to run as fast as I could go. I could hear someone coughing behind me but I wasn’t sure who it was. There were plenty of people in front of me to focus on and it was just one foot in front of the other. I got to the tram tracks and was welcomed by Steven Partington, after he took my pic I heard him say well done Matt and realised who was chasing me. Matt caught up and we headed up to Snaefell together as I wheezed out is his direction “oh god I’m dying.” We dibb together and head off the top. It was freezing up there so shout out to the Marshalls!

I lead off the top slightly but I take the line to the path way too early and we were in no man’s land between the tourist track and the faster grassy path but given it’s a clear day it didn’t matter so much. Myself and Matt are pushing hard down the hill. I know Alice is a brilliant descender and likely to still be hot on my heels. I suddenly realise I can’t work out how to get to the finish - I start to doubt if I am on the right path. Matt comes whizzing past me and I think great he can find out for us! We realise it’s the gate and he punches in a couple of secs ahead of me. Alice follows in just 14 seconds behind me. Matt was 10th, I was 11th and Alice 12th. Andy who I had ran with earlier was 13th and Stu in 16th.

My time today was over 2 minutes ahead of my previous time which I am very pleased with considering my outing in January but reckon that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had Alice to work with today.

The legendary Jackie Lee came in in 3rd position in 33rd overall.

Also shout out to Graeme Hatcher who made his first proper race outing since the Spine Challenger North coming 31st overall.

The electronic system for timing was fantastic and the results were up in record time. Well done to Tom Cringle for setting it all up.

A very cold, enjoyable-ish and tough day out on the fells. Hopefully see you all at the next one. 💫

Picture - Nikki and Alice at the finish