So I turned up not really expecting much, thinking a Lancashire man and a few pigeons and maybe the odd whippet and a few runners running over the pike.
Well I was surprised for after following a tough foggy drive parking was very much restricted. And then there must have been 500+ runners getting ready to go. I met up with a couple of Burnden runners and a few other runners I knew to discuss the route. It was quite simple really, a very hard first 2 miles followed by a mixture.
With all being checked in and with me opting to start at the back we set off. A lap of the school field started the race before we headed up on a monstrous climb up towards the Rivington Pike. This climb was in itself a real killer with it being run over an old very rough cobbled track. This sort of trail running was technical and brutal with the climb being so long and steep. Eventually we reached the top of the climb and although we started to descend the road down were still very rocky.
As the race unfolded we started to see some separating in the pack. The race remained pretty much on trail for the whole affair. Up and down, tricky trail, bits of mud and pretty much everything that constitutes a trail race. There were a great mixture of runners in this race with some being your proper competitive runners, the standard club Hobby runner and the charity/fun runners
The route was really really nice, gorgeous scenery other than the odd gel wrapper (why do people do this) tough terrain, great company and some great organisation couple with a moderate goody bag no medal but a nice Tshirt.
Paul N.