The Wadsworth Trog is a 20mile race that starts at The Old Town Cricket Club nr Hebden Bridge and basically does a very odd shaped route visiting loads of different places that unless your a local its best not to try and remember them.
The route is a funny shape indeed.
Last year this was run in deep snow and I remember it hurting. This year it was a bog and very misty with the clag right down so visibility was not good meaning navigation was going to be difficult.
I just managed to keep with the second group behind the leaders but we still went astray even with a couple of locals being with us. After about 12miles I was feeling it badly. I crammed a couple of gels down to try and give me some energy and only just managed to stay with a local Calder Valley runner who it seemed knew the route so I stuck like glue to him. The others from our group had disappeared into the mist ahead.
There are a couple of key route choices on the way back and with the aid of the local lad we managed to get a few good lines and just nearly managed to catch the other runners near the finish.
Trouble is the final mile is uphill, very very steep and it drags after 19miles of hard running. I stuck with it but had nothing left in myself and although I came tenth I should have done better.
Its hard to get back into running at race pace and a coach would probably look aghast at doing such a distance early in the season. But we are fellrunners and that's our sport.
So the day finished with an offering of soup, sarnies and flapjack. A brilliant set up by the organisers and a good race to start the year.
As I write this my legs are still not working but within a few days that will all be forgotten and it will be onto the next one.
One good note was that I only fell once in the bog. Bad news is that my left leg and lower back is very painfull.
So I just did a steady 25mile bike ride today to try and ease it a little. That did nothing so I'm now just about to apply some deep heat and hot gel to see if that sorts it.
This is the point the front lads started to up the pace and I'm thinking damm that chocolate croissant that I ate for breakfast. It always takes me a few miles to warm up and often I am left on my own only to catch the others when we get to a very technical descent.
Start venue. A lovely cricket club
Route map and elevation of the course. Just a few ups and downs really. Oh and lots of checkpoints. We had a fancy dibber system on this race that gave us a printout of how long each section of the race took us. Basically that shows you whereabouts the wheels started to fall off.
Hebden Bridge, Im told its famous for its women but it has a nice canal as well.
There are some nice little coffee shops and bars here and to be honest if I ever wanted to live on a narrowboat this would be a nice place to tie up and well just stay forever. Quaint is the word.
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