Malhamdale

Malhamdale on Sat 31st Dec 2011

Possibly the last running of the Malham race had perhaps one of the best line ups with several top orienteers threatening Al Wards record of 61.53.  There were a few worried faces eyeing up the women’s contingent too and a young Michael Adams looking every bit as fit as his dad who perhaps knew something we didn’t and wasn’t running.  The weather had been really bad recently and the limestone was slimy with large areas of mud in places and a fast flowing, but crossable, Gordale Scar and a deeper than normal Cove outlet..
 
The run over Great Close Hill saw the leading contenders - Rob, Oli, Pete and Neil - edging in front of the veterans but they failed to veer right after the walled copse and an error looked on the cards – or had they found a better route?  I stuck to my line and ran hard to the Cove descending the scree to the left of Malham Cove and plunged into the river to touch the Cove foot checkpoint with no one else in sight. Climbing the steps the other side I met Neil coming the other way (he regained the route but had lost lots of time) and spotted Richard P coming up the steps behind – no time to ease off now.  A poor route over the limestone pavement and a heavy fall amongst the clints and grikes let Richard through and into a 10m lead. I managed to catch Richard again as we descended to the road below Gordale Scar where we realised we were in the lead and the young guns hadn’t found a sneaky route after all.  The race was on between the vets but the overall record was well out of reach by this time.
 
Richard climbed well up the waterfall and pulled away up the steps – still no sign of anyone behind – we raced on.  As we climbed Great Close Hill to the final checkpoint Richard had gained a 75m lead.  And then the youngsters passed me - £$%^!  And Rob even had the gall to pass Richard just before the finish!  Richard was well pleased with his 2nd and despite coming 5th I still managed a new over 50 record by 10seconds which was some consolation considering the conditions.  Michael Adams (only 15 years old) ran superbly to finish in 76 mins, embarrassing some more seasoned runners behind him, but the threat to the Women’s record of 71.25 never materialised.
 
In the junior race – up Great Close Hill and back – Aidan had a good lead at the summit but failed to retrace his steps when turning at the summit and let Alistair Pedley through to take the title.  And our youngest ever competitor, 7 year old William, made his debut fell race in wet and windy conditions – hope it didn’t put him off.
 
Tim

The Kids Race