The Trigger Fell race has been on my radar for a while but was always put on the back burner due to it being a point to point race & hence the hassle of organising transport.
This year however fellow club colleague Martin Bullock was going to give it a go, along with his mountain marathon partner Richard Holmes, so that excuse fell away & we all duly entered.
I was a bit more worried than usual about the cold as it is January & a pretty exposed route.
Also Martin had helpfully filled me in on his previous experiences on the race with hypothermia including the resulting blue tongue.
This then entailed more than the usual amount of pre-race kit faffing for me before we all set off in a fine drizzle with everybody pretty much already in full kit.
The drizzle was to set the tone for the rest of the race, and although it was relatively calm & sheltered in the valleys, on the tops it was very cold, wet & claggy.
Luckily the route is relatively easy to follow being mostly on the Pennine Way, but there are a couple of deviations where time can be lost in the fine navigation to the actual checkpoints.
Several hours later we descended in Edale to a very welcome grand spread in the village hall, having passed the real hard men & women of the day doing the Spine Race in the other direction.
My learnings from the day:
- Get better waterproof gloves or take more pairs, cold hands aren’t fun.
- Make sure your map, glasses & compass are easily accessible.
- Cold hands made it impossible to get them out & use them meaning poor route choice & slowing down.
- If in doubt follow Nicky Spinks as she knows where she is going.
The winner was Tom Saville of Dark Peak in an impressive 3 hours 37 minutes. Slightly slower than his wining time from the year before.
(interesting Tom Saville fact I learnt on the day, he completed his first BG at the age of 16)
Performance of the day was by Martin Bullock, just to get round on minimal training having had the dreaded lurgy all xmas, & resisting the temptation of the bus of shame at Snake Pass!
Charlie McIntosh 20th (1st V50) 4:38:22. Martin Bullock 145th 6:30:58. (FULL RESULTS)