Logan's Run Fell Race - the video

Screes and Great Whernside

"We should probably check if there are any fell races near where we are going on holiday," said Mrs Noel on the Friday before we were due to go to Nether Wasdale for a week. After a quick inspection of the race calendar, we found there was a race starting from the pub just around the corner from where we were staying on the day we arrived. Very bizarre!

Mrs Noel managed to finish first lady and win a meal for two at the pub - which was very pleasant. Thanks to the management of the Screes Inn.

Then on the way back from our week in the Lakes, we also called in on the lovely Kettlewell to do the Great Whernside fell race. This was the Yorkshire championship race, so a lot of good fell runners had turned up. Here they are not far into the race.

It was a good race to watch. Ian Holmes was chasing Carl Bell down the final descent. He was slowly, slowly gaining with every step. Unfortunately, they went out of my sight before the end. Apparently, Ian Holmes slipped and fell in the last hundred metres, otherwise it would have been very close. I had a quick chat with Carl while he was warming down and he sounded pretty relieved to have won.

Mrs Noel finished 5th, but was pleased to be ahead of some quality runners in a pretty high-profile race like this.

Statistics for ladies

Normally I try to get into the top 20% of fell race fields. In the last year or so, I've even managed to sneak into the top 10% of some race fields. This is possible if there are 150 people. It's harder if there are 15!

The number of ladies entering fell races doesn't often lend itself to such analysis. There might be 10 women in a field, and one or two of them are normally disproportionately fast.

Last Sunday's Tigger Tor race was one of the few exceptions. Mrs Noel did it for the first time, and there were loads of ladies there. So I felt very helpful doing the maths and pointing out that she was in the top 10% of the ladies' field (5th out of 67) and of the lady-vets' field (2nd out of 27).

I stayed at home as our youngest was a bit ill, so I have no photos of the day. However, I can show the marmalade that was part of the prize. I realise I've done quite a few photos of jars of conserves, so am trying to make them more interesting with unusual camera angles. What do you think?

Edale Country Day

I've lost count of the number of times I've said 'this is one of my favourite fell races'. But, I'd be lying if I said otherwise. Edale is short enough to be enjoyable and steep enough to be challenging. It also has a fun boulder hopping bit in the middle where you can pick your speed up.

I'm not one to drop names (apart from when I do), but occasionally I'm genuinely amazed by who I end up running next to. I was chatting to Simon Patton before the race. He was saying he's been doing loads of training for the Bob Graham round (72 miles, and 42 Lakes summits in 24 hours!) So consequently he has lots of stamina but no leg speed. And for a while I was ahead of him. Then after about 3 miles, he warmed up and left me in a cloud of dust.

Here's me looking like I'm jogging down the fields towards the end of the race. I thought I was going pretty quickly here, but the camera doesn't lie. It could explain why I lose places on descents.

I now have a new watch, so although the results aren't out yet, I can tell you that I beat last year's time and finished in about 38 minutes 33 seconds. Mrs Noel also did well and got a prize from the nice people at Accelerate, who sponsor this event and the others that make up the Gritstone Series.

Plums

Again, it was a day of recovery followed by a full-on session. This time it was a race – Padfield Plum Fair Scamper. I did this last year and was reasonably confident of beating last year's time, but wasn't sure if my monster hill rep session would be still in my legs.

Mrs Noel was also keen to do better in this year's race after she got a stitch in last year's race and had to stop for about a minute at the summit. She also was keen to maintain her record, of about the past 7 races, of winning something in every race.

Although I should be sensible and run my own race. It's always nice to be higher in the field. Before every race, I look round to see who will beat me. My hope is that one day all the good runners will not turn up and I'll win. The law of averages tells me that this is unlikely, but I'm still hoping. Yesterday I didn't have to worry for long about what I would do when I crossed the line in first place - Andi Jones winner of the Snowdon race for the last three years turned up.

For about ten yards I was third. I joked with the guy who was second that he should catch up with 'that guy' ahead (Andi Jones), but he was having none of it. This race has a very clear course, that seems to get slightly steeper as you near the summit. The good thing about this is that you can see everyone in-front of you. It's rare that I'll do a race where I can say I could see Andi Jones at the summit. Mrs Noel was in the same boat and later commented to me "you looked like you were just jogging".

I was seventh at the summit but had designs on sixth. Unfortunately, Mark Ollerenshaw, of Glossopdale Harriers, had other ideas and left me for dead on the descent. I think, in hindsight, it might have been my hard Friday night session catching up with me. Either that or I'm rubbish at descending, which is also quite likely. I managed to keep seventh place, 25 seconds slower than last year (maybe my legs hadn't recovered). Mrs Noel was third lady and received a nice running top and an energy bar.

We didn't stay long enough to take part in the coal race. This entails carrying a 25kg bag of coal and running up a hill. I toyed with the idea of showing an interest, but I think I'll wait until I'm a big, strapping, 13 stone farmer-type before I try this one.

Bunsall Classic Fell Race

For those non-fell runners, Burnsall Classic is about 1.5 miles long and goes straight up and down the fell-side next to Burnsall, a picturesque village on the River Wharfe. It's one of the oldest fell races and has a great tradition. The record is under 13 minutes, I think. It always attracts a few big-name fell runners, such as Ian Holmes who won it last year. It's part of Burnsall Sport Feast, which includes a 10-mile road race and lots of kid's races. It's also a bit of a fete, with bouncy slides and the like for the kids.

I did this fell race last year but didn't have time for a warm up, and Mrs Noel missed the race completely because we arrived so late. I have secretly been aiming for a top-ten finish in this year's race since then. However, I've mainly been concentrating on cycling for a few weeks, so didn't think my top-ten dreams were realistic.

We warmed up well this year and I remembered what I learnt from last year - it's hard to overtake on the way down, so it's best to reach the summit in the position where you'd like to finish. I did this pretty well this year and was only overtaken by a few people on the descent, and overtook someone who was a slightly slower descender than me.

With about a quarter of a mile to go (just as this photo was taken) I passed my sister who was looking after the kids. Although I hadn't told her of my top-ten aspirations, she said "you're eleventh". This led to a testosterone-fuelled sprint on the final road section to overtake the guy in-front of me (you can just see his heels in the photo). For once, the sprint worked, and I caught him about 20 yards before the start of the funnel. It's amazing how much sprint you can have left when it really means something. So I can tick another of this year's ambitions.

It was then my job to count the ladies in. First was quite a long way clear of the female pack, but second was only just ahead of Mrs Noel. She later explained she had fallen entering the final field otherwise she was might have taken second. Mrs Noel was also first LV40, so won two prizes. She's getting used to all this prize winning now, but she claims to be mentally preparing for the day when she comes home empty-handed. Perhaps I should suggest some championship races.

We stayed to compete in the egg throwing competition. This involves teams of two people throwing an egg to each other over increasing distances. If you break or drop the egg, you're out. My brother-in-law and I managed three successful throws and catches until I aimed one high and wide and he was only able to deflect it to smash on some child's leg. Luckily, the child didn't seem overly concerned. Here's a picture of the early stages of one of the heats. If you look closely, you may be able to see an airborne egg.

Mrs Noel does Eccles Pike

Mrs Noel did this last year, and as I'm supposed to be cycling training at the moment, it seemed fair for her to do it again. It's nice and short and steep (3 miles, 817 feet of ascent). Mrs Noel has been nursing sore feet for a few weeks and seeing a physioterrorist, so wasn't sure how she would do in her comeback race. She needn't have worried - as usual she did pretty well and finished 3rd lady. She was waving her bottle of wine and voucher about very proudly when she got back.

This is her training for Burnsall Classic at the weekend. I'll have to see how good cycling is as training for short fast fell races. I suspect it's not very good - Mrs Noel may end up beating me.