Punk Panther Otley High Views, 2 July
Report by Matt Holt
Today (Saturday 2nd July) Punk Panther events offered up a race with 4 distances to choose from 13, 20, 34 or 50 miles. Jill Holt and I entered this event in late 2021, and we both opted for the 34-mile option.
Plenty of time for us both to prepare and plan for it, or so we thought. But as Mike Tyson once said “Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face”
With Jill away, brother in law David Allen stepped in as chauffeur, campanion, motivator and supreme consumer of Greggs sausage rolls (vegan, obvs).
It did feel a bit weird putting a race number on again, but I didn’t feel any pressure or nerves, I just thought “get as far as you can and do your best”. I’ve only ever run for the pure enjoyment if it, it’s not for the sponsorship deals, prize money, medals and endless interviews in Trail Running magazine – which is just as well when you’re me.
And I’ve always had the attitude that I’d rather “fail while trying” rather than “failing to try at all”. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?
With the race starting in Otley and going up the chevin, the first few miles were quite lumpy. At Checkpoint 1, 7 miles in, I felt ok, and left Dave showering himself in ready salted crisps while I walked on knowing he would soon catch me up. It was on the gradual ascent and then flatter section, that I started to move quite well. I was enjoying the running, over the moors and the flagged paths, that kept feet dry from the boggy wet lurking below.
At Checkpoint 2 about 13 miles in, still no sign of Dave, but I knew he’d soon be along, so I cracked on for a mile, until suddenly my left glute started causing shooting pains down my leg. It was so bad, I stopped, tried to stretch it out, keep going and get moving again. But it was no good. And I certainly wasn’t getting another 20 miles out of it. While having another stretch, Dave caught me up, with a thumb joint / palm of his hand the badly swollen. He’d taken a tumble on the flagged section, and done himself a nasty looking injury.
So after about 3 seconds thought, we trudged the mile back to CP2, and handed in our trackers. We were both a bit gutted but it was still a good 14-mile adventure, in lovely countryside, with plenty of laughs (at each other). And we got in 2,700 ft of uppy bits, so a decent lung workout too.
Not the finish we had both hoped for, but just glad to be able to have a go. Hopefully, stronger and a better conclusion next time.