Newbiggin On Lune was the venue for the latest round of the English Championships. The Weasdale Horseshoe was not going to be an easy affair as it was devoid of any rocky terrain which is my favourite. After seeing the Ladies set off and come back covered in mud I knew that this was going to be a tough cross country style race and I was not to be dissapointed. The mens race as usual went off at a million miles per hour after hearing everyone on the start line to a man say that they were taking it steady for the first bit. I have heard all that before.
Anyway blast down the field and right on the road then into the boggy section of pasture land before the fell starts proper. I was struggling getting going in the boggy part but the championship is run over a variety of routes so that everyone comes across some type of terrain that they are either good or bad at. It evens itself out in the end.
A tough damp, spongy runnable climb up the fell which zapped me and I was struggling to hang on at one point and the checkpoints seemed to take ages to come. By checkpoint 3 though I picked up a little bit and recovered slightly on the long grassy run back to the start. The final section over the bog again and then just a run back UP the field to the finish funnel.
I collapsed on the ground in a daze.
Not my favourite route but on a dryer day it would be better I suppose.
There is one race left up in the Kielder Forest and that will be the championship done. Hopefully I will have done okay.
Back to rock now I think.
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