The Trigger – Richard Mackie

The Trigger – A view from the middle of the pack

Richard Mackie

Crossing the stile in style!

The Trigger was to be a journey into the unknown, the longest Fell race I’d done by a fair way. Fortunately I wasn’t planning on running solo – Steve Stead and I had agreed that running together at least gave us a reasonable chance of completion. The Trigger being an A->B route needs a little more logistical planning and as I drove over to Edale to on the night before the race to meet Steve in a poorly lit car park to drop off a car, I wasn’t completely convinced I was ready – but at least it would be an adventure, right?

It was an early alarm clock on race day and tip-toeing round for breakfast and last minute bits of kit, trying to not wake the family, then over to Marsden picking up Steve on the way. The forecast snow had not arrived and the day was looking like it would be reasonably bright and clear. I always find the trickiest bits of nav to be finding the registration, and Marsden Cricket Club proved no exception. I must have been there 3 or 4 times now but still managed a couple of wrong turns before arriving. Oh well – navigating on featureless fells in the winter would surely be easier.

Registration and kit check went smoothly so there were now no excuses we were going to have to do it… (Except for me dropping my compass on the floor at kit check and not noticing – a few minutes later and a walk of shame as I responded to the shout of ‘who’s lost a compass’)

Plenty of familiar faces milling round the start with a good turnout of PFRAC’ers  – some looking more confident than others (Simon Rippon and Mark Pearce had already run from Edale to Marsden and were ready for the return journey – makes the logistics easier I suppose ;) )  A few words from Andy Plummer and we were off.

We started towards the back of the field, I was ultra keen to start off slowly to try and leave something in the tank for the second half. Obviously nobody had reccied the first 200 yards and  as the leaders went straight on past the right turn and the rest of us missed a fairly obvious short cut. The run up the Wessenden valley was easy under foot and the scenery beautiful but all to soon it was over and through the first calf deep bog as we hit the open fell on the way up to the main road. From there it was a steady ascent up to the first check point at Black Hill. On the way up it was looking slightly ominous as the mist sat on the tops, but the hard work was rewarded with the sun breaking through the mist with the ridge in the foreground.

 Trig Point on Black Hill

Photograph by kind permission of Ray Green - Saddleworth Runner

 Feeling pretty good at Black Hill we headed off on the fantastically marked route change which led on to the descent to Crowden. This descent always seems to be longer than I remember and it was the same again today. We seemed to be going pretty well and overtook a few folk on the way down including James Pierce in his trademark sunglasses. On the run through Crowden it was a great feeling to get a bit of support from Theresa W – it’s always much appreciated to see a friendly face.

Up until now it had pretty much been a case of follow the leader but the ascent up to Bleaklow offers a few alternatives. We’d reccied the Wildboar Clough route the weekend before and decided we should go with what we knew. So, as the rest of the field disappeared left and directly up to Lawrence Edge, we ploughed a lone furrow up Wildboar Clough. It doesn’t appear that there’s much in it though as we arrived at the top with pretty much the same people that had disappeared off 25 minutes earlier. By now we’d been out for over 2 hrs and the fatigue was starting to kick in – oh well only another 2 or 3 hrs to go.

We continued up on Bleaklow without incident before heading off to the checkpoint at the Trig. On our reccie we’d gone too far left and ending up hacking across bogs to find the trig – this time though there we managed to rectify the mistake by going too far right and ending up hacking across bogs to find the trig – 3^rd time lucky? By the time we were coming off Bleaklow and down towards the Snake Pass I was starting to go through a bad patch but managed to get some food and a gel down which seemed to at least prolong the collapse if not totally put it off. Again Theresa was there to cheer us on as we crossed the Snake and headed towards Kinder. Steve and I had again decided to take the soft option here and instead of just heading straight up the side of Kinder (and from what I could tell it certainly looks straight up) we headed along the P/W to Mill Hill and onto the edge of Kinder. This route choice probably adds a couple of miles but is balanced by a much easier climb. I was pretty much running on empty by this point and Steve was managing to drag me along – at least I had a crossing of Kinder to look forward to…

We cracked onto the checkpoint at Kinder Trig and then onto the downfall – tempted to join the picnickers but Steve was having none of it. We managed to pick up a decent grough for the first part of the Kinder crossing but then made the mistake of following someone who looked like he knew where he was going. To be fair he was heading on a fairly direct bearing but unfortunately it involved crossing much more bog than we probably needed to – we overhauled him and carried on heading for the far edge trying to pick up some solid ground on the way. I don’t think I’ve ever been as pleased to see a footpath as I was when we picked up the Pennine Way just before Grindslow Knoll. We were almost done. Needless to say every silver lining has a cloud and on the way up to the knoll I managed to catch a stone and fall full length and let out a girly scream as spasms of cramp went through both my calf muscles. Fortunately Steve came to my rescue again and pulled me up and the cramp subsided. Somehow managed to get over the top and then got a second wind to fly down the other side as we chased a sub 4:30 finish. Hit the tarmac and was very grateful that we were only going as far as the campsite rather than down to the Village Hall – I think it may have been just 400 yards too far. We rolled in around 4:28 ish which was certainly beyond my expectations at the start of the trip into the unknown.

A big thanks to Nicky and the Mountain Rescue folk who organise such a cracking event – it certainly felt like an adventure and a thoroughly enjoyable day out. Congratulations to all the other folk who made it round (even bigger Kudos to those who did the double!!)