British Fell Relays, Barley - 17 Oct 2015

Another great day out with Team NFR. We managed to get together 2 teams for the annual FRA relay champs, to be held on Pendle Hill this year. The hosts Clayton-le-Moors put on a well-organised event with challenging courses across all legs with a mixture of good fast running surfaces, rough lumpy terrain and of course, the obligatory waist-deep bog! 

It was my first attempt at doing the nav leg as no-one else seemed keen to volunteer. After a great first leg by Karen, Katherine & Jane headed out on the long pairs leg. 

Right on cue they arrived back in the event field, ready for myself and Kim to head out to the woods to pick up our maps for leg 3.

The checkpoints were marked on and need to be visited in order. I managed to take (correct) bearings and with Kim's encouragement, we ploughed our way across the tough terrain from the first checkpoint via the Pile of Stones down to the furthest point of the route then back up again ! We crossed bogs, broken walls, contoured around spurs hoping the bearing would come good. We were encouraged by the sight of fell-running legends Angela Mudge and Wendy Dodds en route. I was delighted to find that I could actually locate the checkpoints and relieved to get back to the Bill Smith memorial gate which meant that we were back on the stream-side path and heading onto familiar ground. Unfortunately Kim took a bit of a tumble on the return across the fields and twisted her ankle which meant that she had to hobble back to the finish.

Emma had already set off in the mass start for leg 4. She did well to get round in a decent time and, most importantly, in one piece after her recent injuries. 

Once the results were out, it was a pleasant surprise to find that we were 6th v40 ladies team in a very close race. We had no idea that we were less than 2 mins away from a medal! Not bad considering that everyone was carrying injuries or insecurities before the race.

The men's open team had a strong result in 58th place overall 👏👏👏

Another great day on the fells in fab company 💜💚💜

Results - http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2015/BritishFellRelay/fell_relay_relayoverall.html
 

Hexham Courant Trophy

That's the trophy all nicely polished & ready to return later. Thanks to Tynedale Sports Council for voting me their Sportswoman of the Year last year. 😊

Ian Hodgson Mountain Relays

Great day at the Hodgson relays yesterday (4 Oct ). I met up with the NFR guys just after John and George finished leg 1 (Patterdale to Hartsop). They seemed to be pleased with their run.

Scott & Dexter had set off on leg 2 when I arrived. The rest of us headed over to Kirkstone where my leg with OC would start. We had a decent run over this leg in the clag last year. It was nice to see that Red Screes wasn't in cloud ...

..... But that didn't stop us having a little wander off to the left before returning to the main route!! 

It was all well planned as apparently Mark was still sorting his number out up until the last minute! As he and Andy headed off, it was announced that Borrowdale had just won! Impressive! 

We headed back to Patterdale to drink coffee/beer and eat bacon sandwiches whilst the guys finished off leg 4. 

A great team performance in a similar time to last year.

Well done guys! 💜💚💜

Ian Hodgson Mountain Relays - Oct 2015

Looking forward to a great day on the fells with my NFR team mates tomorrow. I'm doing leg 3 from Kirkstone with John which is a repeat of last year for us! 

Devil O' the Highlands - August 2015

West Highland Way Foot Race - Happy Birthday to me ! 🎉🎁🎈

The Yomp - June 2015

Highland Fling - April 2015

European Long Duathlon Champs, Horst - April 2015

Delighted to be selected for the GB team, following on from my success in the European Sprint Duathlon last year. We headed from Mallorca to Horst a few days before the event. Staying at the race HQ, the Parkhotel, proved to be a good decision. The race was not based in the town as it had been last year. Instead it was to consist of 4 laps around the park and lake for each of the 10k runs and 3 laps out on the roads for the 60k cycle. This was largely based on the route from last year and included many tight turns and involved negotiating cones aplenty! 

Concerned about keeping count of the laps, I decided to use hair bobbles and move them from wrist to wrist after each lap. Simple but effective! The first 10km run was intense and the route was busy with elite racers, as well as all of the age-group men and women on the course at the same time. 

I had worked out a route to my bike through the complicated transition and found it first time! Whilst trying to change shoes and put on my helmet, I forced down a jammy Danish pastry pilfered from the breakfast buffet and tried to shove small pieces of fruit bread into my even smaller trisuit pockets. I'm sure the Brownlees could learn from my technique!!! 

The bike route was stressfully busy and I was trying my hardest not to lose too much time or fall off! 

 

My back and neck were aching from the longest ride I'd done on my lovely new bike. I was almost finishing the third lap when my left tri bar came loose which caused me to panic a bit!! I managed to hold onto it and the bike and finish the ride safely. T2 was pretty quick for me and I headed out onto the second run.

By now, the sun was beating down on us and the marshals were getting keen with their whistle blowing ( I think this was for rule infringements). I was amazed how hard this 10k felt. I was pouring water over my head and didn't feel as strong as I was hoping. I felt sick, like crying or like stopping !! The Team GB supporters were very vocal as we passed behind the hotel and through the transition area. It was great to hear them calling out everyone's names. I was delighted to finish in 7th place. Not bad for my longest duathlon ever 🏃🚴🏃🇬🇧

Tri4U Training Camp - Mallorca 2015

What a great start to the Easter hols! A return to Pollenca and the Tri4U triathlon training camp. Great to meet up with old friends, make some new ones & get some warm weather training in - this time  with The Tall One. Happy days. 

Had to be careful not to over-do it with a busy April ahead. Not an ideal schedule but unavoidable.