Photo by Astrid van Wesenbeeck

This is a lovely course, the views are spectacular but there’s a few hills
ERNIE’S STORY
I’ve been nervous about this all week, mainly because of a knee niggle that I’ve rested for a week or so, but I needed to do it so much, as a psychological boost to my marathon training. I decided to race it and go for a sub 1hr 40min time, and if there was ANY pain I’d stop. Fortunately , despite a faint tightness, everything was fine and I felt quite strong. A proper warm up and I was ready to go.

The race announcer told us to watch out for vehicles, pot holes, and that there was ice on the road eeek. We ran a circuit of Bampton village before heading out along Haweswater. This was really beautiful and I made a mental note to come back here for a day out.

On the uphills I just kept a steady pace without pushing it and I used my arms to help. On the downhills I just relaxed my arms and let the momentum quicken my pace. I passed a lot of people this way, apart from one girl who kept passing me on the uphills and it would be a cat and mouse game until the last mile when she flew past and stayed there.

I reached 8 miles at about 62 minutes (slightly slower than planned, but I was feeling good so decided to pick up the pace and hold on as long as possible. By mile 11 I was wishing it was mile 12 but fortunately there is a nice downhill at this point. Note my downhills had become mad sprints for the last 2 miles which probably took a bit out of me, but it was fun.

As I finished I stopped my own watch a few seconds below 1:40 which was a great result. Collected my souvenir mug, banana, and NB Voucher, did some stretching, then got a free cuppa in my mug and bought a baked potato. I’ve been on a high ever since.
MY FINISHING POSITION
I was 182nd in 1:39:50 (7:37 pace average).

MORE RESULTS
1st Male = 1:14:07, 1st Female = 1:26:21, 1st Male 40 = 1:19:15, 1st Female 40 = 1:26:21
There were 517 finishers. Last person did it in 2:46:04. This was the 9th year of the event.
A VERY SHORT VIDEO TAKEN AT THE START:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyNL7_ew-9E

Well organised, and well supported. Thanks especially to the 3 women on the final bend who screamed encouragement to every finisher.

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