The race is set in the picturesque Errwood valley, formerly home of the Grimshaw family. The valley is now flooded to form the reservoir which covers the old village where the servants used to live. The house used to look like this:
It now looks like this, and the fell race runs past it.
I was again hoping to beat my previous best time for this race. So I got in with some of the runners who I know do times slightly faster than I normally do, and I tried to keep up with them. I lost a few, but managed to hang on to some of them.
The end of this race is on a stony track that is about 3/4 of a mile long. It starts to go downhill at the very end. This year I mistook a slight gradient for the point where I should do a sprint finish. This almost went very wrong as the guy I was racing then caught me and we were neck and neck for about half a mile. Luckily, he's one of the few fell runners who doesn't descend as well as me, so I managed to sneak in front of him at the very end.
I think it was partly this last mile of racing that helped me beat my previous best for this race. I'm starting to realise that next year is going to be tricky - how will I maintain this level of improvement? I think I'll need some good excuses lined up.
