Hardmoors Farndale Marathon - Sunday 1 August
Report by Kim Holden
Last Sunday I took part in the HM Farndale Trail Marathon. My place was carried over from the cancelled event in 2020 and I was looking forward to it, having enjoyed the run so much in 2019. The circular 29.2 mile route, with approximately 4500 ft of elevation gain, starts and finishes in Hutton-le-Hole and weather conditions on the day were dry and fairly cool so all looked good.
This was the first race I have been to this year with a mass start, but they still took the very sensible precautions of wearing masks and hand sanitising on number collection and having a one way system through the village hall to help with social distancing. There was a great warm up session on the village green which was a lot of fun for us and I hope didn’t disturb the locals too much quite early on Sunday morning…
After leaving the village hall the route turns off onto a path signed Tabular Hills and follows a track across fields and through several gates and stiles, which of course caused a bit of a bottle neck so close to the start unless you’d got into gear quickly. However, I didn’t mind too much as I realised I’d messed up my watch and had time to stop and restart it without getting into a flap. The path ascends steeply climbing up to near Gillamoor and then turning along a narrow path through the trees and bushes until eventually reaching a road and CP1. After this there was a bit of fun between CP1 and 2 as the paths through the heather are not very clear and people kept going off in the wrong direction with other competitors kindly calling them back. The remainder of the run was a little less challenging navigation wise, ascending and descending along tracks, roads, through fields and woods and with a very pleasant flattish section along a river bank. Some areas were badly overgrown with bracken and other vegetation but the route was generally well marked and marshalled, the camaraderie great and the scenery very beautiful.
My main aim of the day was to try to beat my time of just under 7 hours from 2019. Everything was going as planned until about 25 miles in when, feeling under a bit of pressure to get out of the way on a narrow track through some bracken, I fell over and both my legs went into cramp meaning I couldn’t get up. Some very caring people stopped to help and get me upright again but it meant the end of the run was stressful for me and spoilt my time a bit. I eventually finished in 7:14, even somehow managing to have a run/stagger down the road to the village hall! Surprisingly, somehow, I was still 1st FV60, by a narrow margin, which I guess is some consolation for my now shredded legs :)
It was lovely to see Lena Conlin out marshalling on the course, despite still nursing some injuries from her encounter with the cows, and also Tony Carr at the final water station. Was it the sight of him in fancy dress that caused my fall?
Anyway, some positives and negatives on the day but certainly one that will live long in the memory!