3 Peaks Race - 24th April 2010

Being a Settle Harrier, this is our local race - and we know we are lucky having it on our doorstep, especially when some folk have to travel half the length of country to participate. The 3 peaks is the largest UK fell race now attracting around 750 hardy souls, it is 24 miles long and 5300ft, some say it is not a true fell race - more of a trail race, whichever - it packs a punch. Being in April and in Yorkshire the weather can do and will do anything and this really can change the aspects of the race, for the last three years the race has been blessed with sunshine and warmth - in fact this year was too warm for many, with over a hundred retirees!


The 3 Peaks race is a good tester for fitness and speed and can give both the new comer and old timer a 'good kicking', if good preparation and respect is not followed! It got me this year... - this year was my seventh race and was not my best run, with heavy legs and no spring in the step, I eventually crossed the finish in a reasonable, but not blistering 3.46. For me this event is a good marker for the forth coming Fellsman...(I will rest up properly before this...)

They are here and looking very nice

First pictures of the new Kayaks...

The Tahe Marine "Wind Duo"

Very very nice!

Wind Duo Kayaks are on there way...

We are all very excited and eagerly anticipating the Delivery of our New Tahe Marine, Wind Duo Kayaks.

Spring in kentmere.

Sent from my blackberry.

Haglöfs Highlander Mountain Marathon

We have just got home after a weekend in the North of Scotland in the stunning setting of Gairloch. This was the 3rd Highlander Mountain Marathon event, but the first one we had competed in.

Myself and Helen Jackson were partnered for the A Class, along with other Haglöfs athletes Tim Higginbottom and Chris Near. We were all set to run hard and race the best we could. Unfortunately Helen fell quite ill the day before and seriously considered not taking part. The amazing scenery and sunny weather provided some motivation to crawl around the D class though, and that we did.

The event took the normal mountain marathon format of carrying all kit for an over night camp, except here we would be met by a band and hot cooked food. The map was OS 1:50,000 which meant reading the terrain was really quite tricky as little craggy outcrops on route were not immediately obvious.

Tim and Chris stormed the first day in 4 hours, 59 minutes ahead of 2nd place. with that kind of lead they sat back and had a couple of beers at the overnight camp. We walked round the D class and had a cracking day in the sunshine chatting away and forgetting to navigate sometimes. Somehow we were 4th at the end on the second day!

Day 2, gave more glorious sun and 20C temperatures. The first touch of sun burn for 2010! The terrain was really wild and not a footpath in sight, a really magical day, virtual wilderness, with just the odd runner coming into view. The finish took us right through the town and to a very warm welcome from the crowd assembled there.

Tim and Chris won the A Class with quite a lead, and we mysteriously came 3rd in the D class. It was amazing that Helen ran at all with her illness, but she was glad she did. Glorious sunny, midge free days are too rare to miss in Scotland.

We cant wait to go back next year!

Photos: Dave MacFarlane - planetFear

More info: www.handsonevents.co.uk

Karen's Easter & Open 5

Well Easter had the promise of rain, gales, snow and wind - pooh! But hopefully some Chocolate too... So I planned not alot and got - well some fantastic weather and some great activities. Friday was a bit pants on the weather front so did some DIY - well I made a picture frame for my Ama dablam photos and then found a friend who needed a roady ride on Saturday - we set off thinking it's gonna rain - but it didn't - phew - I needed a good ride to push me and Steve was fast enough to pull me round so I showed him a cultural tour of the peaks by the road (not my usual off road stuff but good), we went through Chatsworth, Haddon and Thornbridge hall estates and it didn't rain - phew. Next was a meal and too much wine at a friend's house up the road and the morning bought gorgeous weather again - so of course the hills beckoned and off I set on an Easter Run out the back of the house up Bradwell Edge. I knew I had to save my legs for the race on monday but the sun was out! I decided to drive to Ruthin for the Open 5 in the morning as the forcast was for rain overnight and my van is quite noisy to sleep in in the rain, so an early night and an early morning. The clouds looked big and black as I got near Ruthin and then i saw the hills, oh i remember these hills - they are quite big - umm maybe should have saved my legs a bit more for this event! Oh well if I don't do well i can just put it down to multi day training! When we all got there we found out the start was about 8km away up a hill - oh well will spin it out on the bike and use it as a warm up! The clouds started to disappear - hooray! I started on the run and the map looked like a mass of contour lines - my legs were gonna love this!!! The hills started and i lapped them up - doing what I had planned in 2 and half hours in 2 hours - oh well i get to do more biking! The biking started well for about 10 minutes - then I got to CP 17, a broken wall crossing the bridleway, the CP was supposed to be 10m up the wall, so i went for a romp over the stones and found nothing, so I thought maybe there was another wall a bit further on (upon reflection i should have looked at the other side of the map, the running map was 1:25000 not 1:50000 so showed the walls - and there wasn't another one!) I fell over lots by the wind pushing me off the slippery muddy horrible track and found no other wall. I was a bit discouraged and thought I had better turn back, it was about a 20 min turn around now back to CP17 and back to where i was - i dithered and then abandoned the idea - apparently I was only about a meter away from the CP but it was quite hidden - bugger! So i carried on and got to lots of mud but an excellent downhill - this cheered me up - was giving myself a hard time for such a stupid basic error - oh well - have a good ride now and forget the race! I had a good ride and got alot more points and felt my legs a bit on the last up hill to the finish but it hadn't rained and I'd had a good day. Rode back to the event centre with a mate, definately pushed the legs over the edge, stood in a queue for a bacon butty and then sat down to listened to everyone get their prizes. I had just missed out by a minute on 3rd place (same points), so if I'd bothered to look for CP17 a little better I would have come 2nd!!! 4th felt good though! Then to my surprise the series points were announced and I'd come 3rd over the series - yippee i got a trophy!!! What an excellent way to end a good weekend... Now where was the easter egg....

It is now wednesday and I found a play mate for a 6 hour ride around the Peak District - bit of rain, lots of mud, some excellent downhills, well i chose the route and put all my favourite ones in, and then I got an easter egg - yippeee! Am now officially stuffed!

Open 5 Ruthin Wales

Team Haglofs had a successful weekend at the Open5 in Ruthin, North Wales. The Team split up with Alex doing the Male solo class, Karen the female solo and Mick and Paul joining forces to compete in the Male Pairs category. The course start was an 8km bike ride away from registration up a steady climb to the foothills of Moel Famau. All the team started with the running section first followed by the bike section. The runs highest point was only 554m but the whole course was up and down many hills and valleys. The weather was windy but remained rain free. Alex had a very impressive score which saw him just miss out on a podium finish in the very strong Male solo category, Karen also just missed out on the podium finishing 4th (same score as 3rd but marginally slower) Mick and Paul made it on to the podium in 3rd place. All the team really did well against some very strong opposition. Karen also finished as 3rd in the female solo Open 5 series.

Paddling Training and Rescue

Thursday was a gorgeous evening on Windemere, there was some blue sky and snow capped mountains. A paddle up the lake from Newby Bridge returning just as the light was fading. On the way back down the river a sheep was trapped between a wall and fence in a distressed state. Its new born lamb was crying for its mum. So as quick as lightning we beached the boats and lifted the fat bloater (it was fat and heavy!) over the wall returning mum and baby to live happily ever after..... Ahhhh a nice story!