I won a fell race

Yes, you read the title correctly! I won a fell race. After about ten years of slowly improving and attending lots of local races that the top runners might not fancy doing.

It was Disley Diamond Dash. This was the second year the race has been run. Last year was part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations - hence the name. It was about 5 miles and did a pleasant loop of Lyme Park.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "it must have been attended by only about ten runners". Well that's where you're wrong. There were 18 runners, and most of them had done fell races before.

This probably means I'm now part of the elite crowd and will be afforded a great deal of respect at national championship races. Rob Jebb will turn to Morgan Donelly and say "watch out for that Noel - he won at Disley last week," before beating me by more than a minute per mile raced (as always).

I can at least dream.