The Trigger – A view from the middle of the pack
Richard Mackie
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| 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
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| 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 – 3rd 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!!)
