Once a year, Innerleithen, a small tranquil town in the Scottish boarders plays host to the Mighty Deerstalker Race.  Since signing up for the event many months ago, I had received several conflicting descriptions of what the race actually entailed.  Firstly, my friends at bootcamp (who persuaded me to do it) described it as a 10k night run with a beer tent at the end.  I was sold, obviously.  Then I consulted the website, where it was pitched as a trail run of “around” 10km and “probably” the hardest off-road-Tweed-clad-headtorch-wearing run that exists.  Ok, a slight discrepancy, but still manageable.  The third description came a couple of weeks before the race in the ‘race info pack’ which described the distance as “quite a lot longer than 10k but not a half marathon”…  I also noticed that they were going to enforce a cut off time – “runners will have 3 hours to get to the start of the second hill”.  WHAT?!  They were giving us 3 hours to run up the first one – what was it – a mountain?!!  Oh dear I thought (excuse the pun), what have I let myself in for.

The race began at 6.15pm with a nice downhill stretch on a lovely tarmac road.  It was still light at this point, spirits were good and the scenery was beautiful.  Then the “lovelyness” abruptly stopped.  We entered a field that was so muddy it made the notorious Aykley Heads XC seem tame.  Within minutes I was absolutely caked in mud up to my knees.  The weight of the mud on my trail shoes made it feel like I was running with lumps of lead on my feet.  This was not a good way to be feeling only five minutes in…  Luckily, at the end of the field there was a knee deep river crossing which soon dealt with the mud.  My feet were now cold and wet but the water drained out of my trail shoes pretty quickly and I felt relieved.

I had been running for about 10 minutes when the first hill began… We headed skyward zigzagging up a mountain bike track.  It was steep.  I was still “running” but there was some serious heavy breathing going on.  Just as the gradient started to ease, the arrows pointed away from the track into the forest, completely off anything that resembled an actual route.  I thought the track was steep but this was something else.  Quickly the woodland became very dense.  I switched my headtorch on and literally pushed my way through the trees.  It went on and on.  I was thankful that I had opted for long sleeves and leggings at this point otherwise I would have been cut to shreds.  Somehow we ended up back on the track.  Instead of doing a zigzag I think we had just took the “as the crow flies” option.  Running on the track didn’t last long.  Once again the arrows pointed back off the track up a steep rocky gully, heading upwards across a clear-felled moor.  Footing was distinctly dodgy here, weather beaten out-crops of heather, roots, rocks, tree stumps.  Light was fading fast.  More climbing, more dense forest and then the darkness came.  It was eerily dark.  The forest was still and silent apart from the sound of heavy breathing and the footsteps of runners trying to concentrate on their little patches of light.  Eventually we reached the top only to be greeted by obstacles – balance beams and cargo nets should have been easy, but by this point my legs were on fire and in no fit state for any tasks requiring co-ordination.  I scrambled through them and continued running.  Suddenly we emerged in a clearing and the view was incredible.  After all that climbing this was the first time I could actually see what I had achieved.  It was dark now and the lights of the town shone in the distance below.  We were high.  I would have loved to have stopped for a moment to take it all in, but after a couple of minutes on the flat the descent had begun!  And boy was it the mother of all descents!!  It was very steep, narrow and densely wooded.  I had no control of my legs I was careering recklessly at full pelt trying to grab on to trees to slow down and avoid hitting the sensible people that had chosen to walk.   It scared the living daylight out of me.  Those who know me well, know that when I get nervous I start to laugh uncontrollably.  Therefore, much to the amusement of the lads I was running with, I was in hysterics, squealing and giggling to myself whilst legging it down the hill.  How I managed to get down without a twisted ankle is beyond me.

Eventually we reached the flat of the village.  By now normal flat running felt very strange.  Not to worry, the running was soon replaced by wading, waist deep, against the current, in glorious Scottish river water (i.e. bloody freezing).  At this point of the course all the local folk had lined the river and were cheering everyone on.  This helped me to block out the messages from my brain asking my body what on earth it was doing.  After about 5-10min of wading (any concept of time had become pretty blurred by this point) we climbed out the river straight onto another horrible steep slope.  At this point my body had a total melt down.  My legs were frozen from the river and didn’t feel like my own.  I just couldn’t run.  As much as I tried I could only manage a strange sort of stagger so I decided it was better to walk this hill.  And I NEVER stop and walk…ever!!  I had my emergency gel that I’d brought just in case and then off I went again, up and up, roots, rocks, trees.  I felt better now, the second hill couldn’t be much worse than the first could it?!  I was wrong.  Very wrong.

I had overheard other runners talking about “the scree” during registration… And now here it was in front of me.  The only way to describe this part of the course would be “the straight up” bit, there’s no other way to describe it, you have to see it to believe it. I estimate about 550 – 650 ft of hands and feet, vertical ascent, climbing over scree of all sizes (from stones as big as golf balls to massive boulders, all loose and it moved, constantly!).  Oh and did I mention it was pitch black!?  I think it was at this point that I could see the full extent of what lay ahead as the head torches of the runners illuminated the mountain above – staggeringly beautiful, but intimidating at the same time, the sheer steepness of the trail of little lights draped over the mountain cannot be described or photographed, it can only be experienced.  I have no idea how long it took.  It felt like forever.  At one point I looked back over my shoulder – I didn’t dare do it again!  It was truly, ridiculously steep, it made me feel sick, but then I was also weirdly enjoying it – not quite worked that one out!  People were cheering when they reached the top.  Me and the lads had a group hug to celebrate that we were still alive and then you guess it – descent number two began!  By this point I felt amazing!!  I went fast – down and down, reckless abandon, laughing my head off, hoping that my head torch would pick out suitable spots of ground in time for my feet to land.  Suddenly we were forced to an abrupt halt, in front was a steep overhang.  Ropes had been tied to trees above us that we were supposed to hang onto and go down in an abseil-like fashion.  All fine, apart from the rope I ended up with was tied to a tree that was much too high for me to reach.  I took a leap of faith and jumped off the edge to grab the rope.  I had all good intentions of turning around to abseil, apart from when I grabbed the rope my gloves were so slippy that I ended up flying down it like a zip wire doing a weird Tarzan impression.  It’s a good job there was no one below me or I would have wiped them clean out.  Off I went again, hysterical, uncontrolled, arm flinging madness down the hill, apart from this time it became very slippy and before long my feet had been replaced by my backside and I was sliding my way down.  By this point I didn’t care, I think I was delirious.

Eventually I was back on the flat.  I can categorically tell you that I was pretty relieved at this stage, knowing that I would now be heading back through the town to the finish, although there was the small matter of another river crossing, some fences, mud and a storm water tunnel.  Throughout the race the marshals took great joy in not revealing any distances.  I kept asking each marshal “How much further?” to get a typical response of (in my best Scottish accent) “Just a wee dip in the river and a romantic stroll through the woods”.  Not funny.  Eventually I could see the finish – another hill to climb but this hill was worth every last ounce of energy I had left, as at the top was a giant water slide to the finish line!  I ran, took a dive and flew over the line feeling like superwoman in a time of 2h15.  I was exhausted but elated and I felt massively proud of myself.

I can definitely say that this was physically the hardest race I have done, it was brutal but it was a total adventure and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who likes things that are a bit on the wild side!  Notes for the record: (1) My Garmin recorded the actual distance as 9.16miles with an elevation gain of 1946ft.  (2) Doing three long runs on the Quayside and one run around Chopwell woods does not pass as suitable deerstalker training. (3) I look far too happy and clean on the photos to reflect the pain that I actually endured!!

Below is the race report from Kathryn Lawson after a windy outing yesterday…..

Run Northumberland ‘Big 10’ – 10 mile road race starting and finishing at Kirkley Hall.

Having convinced Nicola Matthews to sign up with me for the Big 10 just a few weeks ago, we arrived at Kirkley Hall and were greeted by battering winds, rain, hail stones and a bitterly cold temperature. Great!

‘This is all your fault!!!’ Nicola said as we walked to the start line. We told ourselves how pleased we’d be at the end and that the t shirt would definitely be worth it.  We spotted fellow club member Miv Chahal in the crowd at the start line and wished each other luck. The gun sounded and off we went, out through the grounds of Kirkley Hall and into the countryside.

The first couple of miles quickly went by and a tough climb in the 4th mile lead us into Whalton. The cold, rain and wind hadn’t bothered me too much until we passed through Whalton and then the wind seemed to really pick up. The strong head winds were relentless for the next two miles and I was very relieved when the route finally changed direction. At the 7 mile marker the route once again changed direction and this time the wind was right behind me, just what I needed at this point! With the thought of less than a parkrun to go, the last 3 miles didn’t seem quite as difficult as the earlier miles and soon enough I saw Nicola cheering me on at the finish line.

Just as predicted, we certainly were very pleased once it was all over and we easily managed a smile for the photo. Unfortunately we didn’t see Miv at the end to get a full team photo, he was probably already home and eating his lunch before Nicola and I arrived back at Kirkley Hall.

Chip time results were as follows: Miv Chahal 01:20:59; Nicola Matthews 01:36:57 and Kathryn Lawson 01:41:44.

It was a challenging race but the scenic views and sense of achievement at the end made it all worth it, definitely one for the race diary next year. The only real mishap of the day was Nicola being mistakenly announced as the second placed female, maybe next time Nicola!

Pont Runners do Cross Country, At blowy Druridge Bay,

Jon Parkin pitched the tent with pride, Gateshead’s blew away!

First time at this venue, A new one for this season,

What would the terrain be like? Tough beyond good reason!

U11 girls ran first, Abigail, Freya & Nina,

Finished high up in the field, Faster, stronger, leaner!

U15 Boys were next, Fin our sole Pont vest,

Third run of this season, But definitely his best!

And so the girls were next to run, Full strength and looking healthy,

Spikes on tight and numbers pinned, Just time for one last ‘selfie’!

They ran with pace, they ran with power, Two tough laps to endure,

And finished with exhaustion, That only cake can cure!

And finally the senior men, ‘Bang’, and off we charge,

Mud is flying everywhere, So ‘elbows out’ and barge!

The course was well chewed up by now, Wet and somewhat nippy,

Three gruelling laps of sticky mud, Always thick and slippy!

And so to the sprint finish, Cheered on by voice and bell,

The girls’ support was brilliant, They brought us home so well!

And now the best bit to enjoy, Sweet cake and savoury pastry,

They’d surely win the ‘Bake Off’ For being so light and tasty!

We survived the brutal weather, With horizontal rain,

The Town Moor for the next one, To do it all again!

Fresh from the mud, hills and snow of the latest North East Harrier League cross country race, survivor Mark Reynolds sends in this report, plus a first timer report from Mark Kelly afterwards.

No matter how many times I checked the weather forecast it kept saying the same thing – cold, wet, icy, cold, windy, snow and cold.  Did I mention it was cold?  Deciding that there was no harm in being prepared I crammed 13 different layers into my bag and headed off for the North Pole Durham.

Driving down with Matty Bell, Chris Kenyon and Peter Bartholomew talk quickly descended into terrifying experiences on the A1, with Bart’s car-catching-fire story beating Matty’s account of his tyre-blowing-out-at-70mph. Which was really comforting.

We arrived at Durham County Hall and found the handily placed car park before following the crowds to the course.  At this point I realised that despite all my plans I was the only one not wearing a giant bobble hat in team colours.  Not having run at Aykley Heads before I was keen to check out the potential obstacles and it wasn’t long before we saw an imposing incline with the U17 lasses working their way up through a quagmire of churned earth. We walked to the top and I’m not embarrassed to admit that I was mildly out of breath at the top.  Oh dear.

Arriving at the temporary campsite, where team tents werehuddled closer together than normal for warmth, we caught up with events of the morning.  Daniel proudly informed us of his excellent 5^th position in the U15 boy’s race representing Blaydon Harriers with Finlay only a minute behind for Pont.  The U11 girls saw three competitors take on the course for PR with excellent finishes for Abigail, Freya and Nina all well up the field in tough conditions.

By this time the lasses team had set off on their first of two 2-mile laps of the course and the lads lined up to cheer them on.  In compensation (or possibly punishment) for my lack of suitable club headgear I was handed one of the cowbells in order to encourage our team onwards and annoy passers-by.  It wasn’t long before Nichola Conlon came into sight having made up plenty of ground despite her 2 ½ minute handicap due to her medium pack status.  Next through was Alison Guadagno in an original PR vest.  Shortly afterwards a steady stream of runners in the blue and black of Ponteland came past with plenty of shouts of encouragement and noisy clanging.  Laura Rosby, Melanie Hurst and Sarah Kate Huntley were in close proximity ahead of the following pack.  In total a record breaking 13 lasses finished the race for Ponteland bringing home an excellent 7^th place on the day, of 31 teams, for Division 3.  Both Kelly Hymer and Tina Kelly took big chunks of time out of their 2014 performances on the same course.  Reports back on the course from the lasses confirmed the fairly obvious – it was hard going, hilly and now had the extra feature of being churned up by the 400 finishers for the ladies.

The fellas, having tried to keep as warm as possible in the icy wind, now prepared for battle over our 3 lap race.  Cross-country isn’t about times or distances it’s all about taking on the course on the day.  It’s also, uniquely, a team event with individual efforts counting towards the overall performance for the club.  Even those not in the leading pack can contribute to the score by overtaking opposing teams and pushing them down the ranks.

I nearly missed the start and had only just arrived at the back of the pack when the gun went off.  Quickly finding my feet I tried to keep alert as the massed ranks of 600 runners blazed a trail through the mud.  Concentrating on staying upright we quickly swerved and surged round corners and up inclines as the race proper got going.  I gave a quick word of encouragement to Mark Kelly and tried to settle into some kind of rhythm.  This was easier said than done on an undulating course comprised primarily of ankle deep mud with hairpin bends and 100’s of other runners.  Before long we were scrambling up a vertical mud bank and then sliding down a 50m hill with more than one runner taking a tumble as we slid round the course.

Before too long Aaron Hoyle came past me with a quick shout as he progressed through the field from the medium pack.  At this point we’d just tackled the sting in the tail at the end of the first lap where a double-dip hill took the final vestiges of energy out of the legs.  Somewhere up ahead James Leiper was leading the charge alongside Steve Allison, with James final reward being promotion to the medium pack for his efforts.  In close attendance Chris, Matty and Neil Ward made up the first 6 counters for the lads team.

Ploughing on I tried to maintain my position and not think too hard about the remaining distance.  I saw various runners lose shoes in the calf deep morass and vowed to keep my spikes safe.  On the final lap the shouts of encouragement from the lasses, the stewards and chief photographer Daniel helped maintain momentum.  Nichola smilingly informed me that there was only a brief stretch of mud and hills before the finish and I tried to pick up the pace.  Kicking for the finish I managed to grab a handful of places in the straight coming in 7^th for Ponteland and finishing in a time of 51:42 for the 6 mile course.

Cheering on David Buffham and Elliott Ward as they duelled for the line we headed back to the tent for tea, hot chocolate, cakes and more cakes.  Jon Parkin, Dave Legg and Chris Wright joined us before long as we compared experiences and congratulated everyone on a fine team performance.

Overall Pont Lads finished 4^th on the day, out of 30 teams, and moved up one place in Division 3 to 4^th position after two races.  Pont Lasses held onto 6^th place in the league overall.  Full results are now online at the NEHL website.

A great day out for the club and excellent individual and team performances all round.  If you fancy giving cross country a go then the next fixture is this Saturday 28^th November 2015 at Druridge Bay, Northumberland.  Talk to your group leader to get your race number or anyone mentioned above for more information.  All you need is a sense of adventure, a love of the great outdoors and preferably a blue bobble hat.

Mark Reynolds

and the report from Mr Kelly…..

Having retired form rugby (due to a shoulder injury so that shouldn’t stop me running!), I needed a new hobby to keep me entertained/excuse to have a beer on a Saturday. My very generous/evil wife signed me up for the NEHL Aykley Heads cross country run. I was given a very warm welcome by Ponteland Runners and it was needed on a bitterly cold day. Ponteland were well represented with several youth entrants and 13 ladies and 12 men taking part on the day. My nervousness of taking part in my first cross country run in over 20 years was not diminished by the youth section shaking their heads and saying how hard/hilly/muddy it was. This was then repeated by incumbent whippet Nicola Conlan. The ladies all lined up for the start and wanting to help I said I would collect their hoodies from them just before the start. This proved to be wise as the ladies stood at the start for 20 minutes before starting. I then stumbled back to the tent with what appeared to be 26 hoodies. Being the gentleman I am, I stood on a nice dry patch on the flat to take glamorous photos of the ladies as they completed their two laps. It was then time for the senior men to start, I went to the start line with some trepidation wishing I was back on a rugby field and not on a very cold windswept hill. At the start it was as if the cross country god wanted to make me feel welcome as it felt like a scrum and then a poor unfortunate chap fell at the start and was ‘rucked’ by several competitors (not intentionally I should add) as they scrambled to get a flying start. (I hope the gentleman in question was ok and secretly hope he didn’t subsequently overtake me; although I do feel this was the case). I stupidly went off far too fast on the first lap and felt it on the hills on the end of the lap, where the ladies had decided to set up base to encourage and take photos! No glamourous photos for me then as I cursed my way up the hill thanking Tina under my breath. The second lap was a lot slower and I managed a grimace as I went up the dreaded hills for a second time secretly wishing I was a lady and able to finish. The third lap I may even have mentioned to Tina that I wanted a divorce as I struggled up that hill for the final time. The finish could not come quick enough, my shoulder was in agony but I was in ecstasy at having found another bunch of nutters that I could spend a cold afternoon doing stupid stuff with! Getting back to the tent (like a quote form jaws, ‘I think we need a bigger tent!’) it was crammed with very muddy people and lots of cakes all with smiles on their faces (that’s the people not the cakes). I have been told that it is the hardest race of the season and I definitely hope so! I am looking forward to next week’s race and the camaraderie of the running club that makes retiring from rugby that bit easier.

Mark Kelly

Most people in Ponteland Runners who know me are aware of my fondness for hills! I often receive gentle teasing and I’ve even been sent videos, mid race, of the ‘using your elbows’ technique J! So it may not have been a shock to my fellow runners when they heard that I’d signed up to the ‘Dirty Double Lakeland Trails’! It comprises of the 15K Helvellyn Trail on the Saturday followed by a 14K Ullswater Trail on the Sunday. For those who know me even better it was even less of a shock that I signed up to do both because there was a discount if you did so, I’m a sucker for a bargain! So with family in tow and the promise of an evening in our favourite Lake District haunt, Ambleside, we set off early on Saturday morning for a weekend of rain, gale winds and running!

I had registered for the Helvellyn Challenge, to be completed in under 3 hours, rather than the Helvellyn Race to be completed in 2 hours as I was a little unsure how I would cope with the terrain. The race started at noon and the first 4 km were straight uphill, nothing like a nice gentle start?! The cold that I’d had the previous week and was still fighting to get rid of was causing me to sound like an ancient set of bellows, I think people next to me were running just to get away from the horrendous noise I was making and from the possibility that they would have to give me mouth to mouth if I collapsed! Once we got up into the hills and started to contour round the trail the terrain was a gentle downward slope, but the ground underfoot though was boggy, rocky and we had to wade through streams every 100 metres or so. It was great fun, but really difficult to traverse. There was lots of stopping and starting, slipping and splashing! Everyone was in great spirits though, likeminded nutters can have fun together! Finally after a couple more kilometres we rounded the corner to the other side of the hill. A lovely, narrow but less rocky track – I was just thinking to myself how much easier this section was when I suddenly ended up flat on my face! A lapse of concentration is pretty lethal on the trails! Several fellow runners helped me up, found my trainer, which had flown off and helped me back to my feet! I’d bashed my chin and my knee quite badly, but I knew it wasn’t damaged and I also knew I had to get straight back on it before I either started to cry or worse my knee seized up! So with my face covered in mud I carried on running, suddenly I saw the photographer right in front of me! How do they manage to hide so well and choose the perfect spot for snapping you unawares? We were deep in the hills at this point and the weather started to turn, the wind and icy rain lashed down – for once I didn’t have to take my top off (thank goodness you all say!) and actually considered putting on my coat, but you don’t really have a chance to stop on the trails and I could see a sheltered section coming up so I kept going. By now we knew we were more than half way and heading back to civilisation. The next few km passed in a bit of a blur, all I could think about was making sure I lifted my feet up enough to avoid falling again, but then farms, roads and civilisation started to come into sight, yes we were nearly at the end! Catching sight of my family waiting near the end I managed a very choked and emotional dash across the finish line in an official time of 1h 46m 40s.

The weather on Sunday morning for the Ullswater Race was so horrendous that they had to cancel the sailings for the 14K race. This was a great shame as we were due to be transported across to the start at Howtown on the Ullswater Steamer, whilst being serenaded to by a pub singer, you can’t say that’s something you experience with every race! As we registered we were told that an emergency contingency route had been invoked and we would be doing just 13K. As we congregated for the mass start at noon, rumours passed through the crowd that we were now only doing 10K! Several minutes later, whilst being held waiting in the torrential rain, we heard more rumours that the route was now just less than 9K – we all had a good chuckle at the rapidly decreasing distance and wondered if they held us for much longer at the start whether the route would be reduced to just running round the field! Finally we were off and skirted round the bottom of Ullswater lake and up into the hills through farmland on farm tracks. Finally getting into some proper trail terrain we turned a corner and we all had to stop and laugh at the long snake of bodies that we could see winding up a ridiculous hill (my strava profile showed an elevation of 100m in a distance of 400m?!). The whole field, apart from maybe the few elite people at the front and mountain goats, was trudging up a narrow trail, which was actually now a stream, in single file. I love moments like this though, the runner camaraderie really comes into play and you can laugh at all being in the same boat, or stream together! At the top of the hill the gale force winds and rain like needles in your face drove you on to get over the top as fast (and safely!) as possible. A lovely grassy stretch took us back down to the lake and on towards the end of the race. There was no family at the end today, I had left them all tucked up snuggly in a nearby hotel bar, so I made a quick dash through the finish line to complete the race in an official time of 1h 09m 09s and collect my tshirt souveneir.

It was a great weekend and I thoroughly loved every minute of it, ok maybe not the epic sprawling fall at the time, but I will definitely be back next year and I may even register for the Helvellyn Trail Race now I know I can do it in under 2 hours! So if you fancy a weekend of mud, rain and frolics have a look at the Lakeland Trails Facebook page or website, they have loads of races throughout the year. We may even manage to get a Pont Runners tour for the Dirty Double next year ….?

I knew I had been extremely fortunate when I got into the New York City Marathon through the ballot back in March. To be honest I had entered just for the crack and never dreamt I would actually get in so my initial reaction was how I was going to break it to wife about the $$$ that are coming out of our account! Fast forward nearly 8 months and I had convinced her to join me with the incentive of a relaxing trip to Arizona with friends tagged on the end so after many days planning the trip and even more hours training for it we were off to New York the Friday before the Marathon.

I would love to say that I stayed on UK time because that’s what the pro’s do however with a three year old it wasn’t that easy so with a bit of jet lag we headed to the expo.  After a relatively quick look around the anxiety was put at ease by the fact I had finally got my hands on my participant t-shirt and the all important race number.  We intended to do a little bit of sightseeing the day before and stretch the legs with a gentle jog around Central Park as the opportunity was too good to miss but I didn’t intend to walk 11k and having set out on a 2.5km warm up I ended up doing the worst starva doodle in Central Park and clocked up 6km run- legs definitely stretched.  Not really a great example of resting the day before but there again I wasn’t convinced dinner at Hard Rock Cafe and ice cream in the park was pre marathon nutrition but I was doing it all the same!