Original Mountain Marathon 24th/25th October

At the fourth attempt Steve Moss and Frank Reddington finally completed an Original Mountain Marathon on the weekend of 24th/25th October.

The two day event was held in the Elan Valley, just north of Builth Wells in Wales. Steve and Frank completed the B Class finishing 134th of 201 finishing pairs with a further 27 pairs not finishing the course.

After last years infamous storm and world wide media coverage the event quickly filled up with those who are attracted by adventure and a wish to be 'unaccounted for'! Last year Steve and Frank completed the first day before the race was abandoned. The previous year Steve pulled out when he was hospitalised with an infection in his knee, although Frank did complete the score class with another partner. In our first attempt we punched above our weight entering the Elite Class and floundered in the rain, mist and heather of the Galloway Hills.

Wind and rain were forecast again this year and although it was windy throughout the weekend temperatures were mild and we never had any really long periods of rain. With only seven checkpoints to find on the first day our prospects looked good and we ran well to finish 116th. The overnight camp in a farm field was as comfortable as it can be when travelling ultra light. Reveille was at 6 am although people in the tents near us were woken at 5.30 with Steve's trumpet call! Twelve check points on the second day gave us some concern but it was a clear day and the first six were found OK. However we turned of our brains off at that point and went way off course looking for the seventh point, taking nearly 80 minutes where runners around us took 40mins to find the same mark. The sun came out at the end of the day and we successfully completed the rest of the course although some steep hills caused Frank to hobble down the final descent with Steve threatening to throw him in the beck if he let any more runners overtake him!

Steve and Frank were not the only Spen runners taking part. Ace navigator Steve Hemingway with a partner Mark Frain completed the medium score and finished 80th of 271 finishers. Steve and Mark were 59th after the first day but were 107th on the second day.

West Yorkshire League XC Halifax

The opening cross country of the season began with the West Yorkshire League at Roils Head, Halifax.

Previous events at this course had told us it wasn't a place to be in adverse weather conditions being situated on exposed moorland. Yet again we weren't to be disappointed with a very strong wind whipping across the course.

The Spen men were hopeful of finishing a team as a big effort had been made to get as many people as possible pre entered. Something which had not happened for the last few seasons.

On the day 7 runners turned up, so barring a disaster a team finish was going to happen.

The sun was shining as the race started. It was to be a 4 lapper, so as long as you could count there should have been no problems!!

On his first outing in a senior XC Ryan Dransfield got off to a quick start, time would tell if his stamina would hold out or not. He was followed not far behind by 'race machine' Kevin Ogden, still nursing a back injury and not on his favourite surface. The other team members - Chris Jones, Jeff Hornby, Edward Wilkinson, Gerard Skippings, Dean Pearce ( the last two also making their debut at XC ) all decided on a more conservative start.

As the race progressed Kevin slowly hauled in Ryan as his stamina began to fade. From his usual steady start Jeff made progress throughout the race. Chris Jones suffering from a knee injury was going to be in for a long hard afternoon as a shake of the head at the end of lap one clearly indicated he wasn't going to have one of his best races.

Gerard and Dean were running good solid races, backed up by Edward who was still recovering from a nasty chest cold.

There was drama at the end of the race when leading by a substancial margin, Andrew Pearson missed the turn into the finish and ended up doing five laps instead of four. Some how he has been awarded provisonal first place even though he never completed the correct course or passed through the finish - comments please.

Final Spen positions were :

Kevin Ogden 65th 35:00
Ryan Dransfield 73rd 35:36
Jeff Hornby 117th 37:35
Gerard Skippings 127th 38:21
Chris Jones 156th 40:09
Dean Pearce 161st 40:37
Edward Wilkinson 182nd 44:48

194 Finishers

Team Position 14th

Overall a promising start to the season with more runners being able to participate in the next race the future is begining to look a little more rosey. thanks to all who took part.

Helwith Bridge Duathlon

I'm clearly better at running than cycling

I was pursuaded to do this by some colleagues at work. 'Its only a low key event!' I was told. So when I turned up to be confronted by men and women in skinsuits and with carbon rims all over the place (and thats not counting the bike wheels) I knew it was more serious than I had expected.

The event is 4 miles run, 23 miles cycle and then another 4 miles run.

I started the run steadily knowing it was going to be a long grind and was pleasantly surprised when the miles seemed to pass quickly and was soon back the transition.

Heading out on the bike (modified cross/time trial creation)was feeling quite fast until the carbon rims started flying past. After 10 miles (of rolling hills) I began to tire and more passed me. Coming back to the transition though I was not feeling too bad.

Then you start to run and, as anyone who had done triathlon/duathlon will tell you this is when the trouble starts. My legs were like lead. The short undulating 4 miles became an endless roller coaster of mountainous climbs. Cramp started to threaten but as the first 2 miles went by I passed through the cramps and ran OK. Very tired and only passed one other runner.

Came 42nd overall (of 106 and some of those were teams) but with 25th and 22nd on the run and 52nd on the bike its easy to see where improvement is needed.

Good event though and recommended for those who want to change from the normal running events or someone with a deep profile carbon rim!