Some you Win – Some you Lose

Some you Win - Some you Lose on Wed 20th Jul 2016

A competitor's view of the race:

The heat wave of the previous two days was still with us for Jim Fulton's "Some you Win, Some you Lose" race which had been reintroduced for the DPFR 40@40 series. It seemed that the standard (bad) Wednesday evening weather was with us again as the heat had triggered some thunder and a few spots of rain. Concern over lightning strikes was expressed about the race route which involved climbing the highest local summits, twice to Win Hill and once to Lose Hill. However, by the time of the race start, lightning threats had disappeared leaving only the heat and three biggish climbs to contend with. In the absence of any marshalls, Jim had instead displayed pictures of critical points on the route. A fine innovation! At the start, on Fulwood Stile Road, there was the usual display of fell footwear though Pete G had gone for the more casual approach by wearing sandals (with socks). As Pete commented, "I'll test them on the first downhill and if they and my feet survive, I'll continue". He was seen on the last climb so the sandals clearly worked, a new trend perhaps?

The starts of DPFR fell races are varied, from the immediately challengingly steep (original Crookestone Crashout) to the disarmingly downhill (Nicky's Summer Series from The Dog and Partridge) but the start today was up a gradual and fiercely fast road climb which changed to chest high bracken and then to heather on the steep open country of Hope Brink. With relief, the main ridge track towards Win Hill was reached and other runners could still be seen ahead in the distance. However, my descent through the woods to the dam wall felt lonely, no one was in sight. On the dam wall, Eoin, Tom and Penny could be seen comfortably ahead so it was a bit of a surprise to meet them at Yorkshire Bridge, a meander perhaps?

There was no meandering up Parkin Clough which despite the shade was without any breeze so making it the hottest party of the route. Since Jim had declared on his race instructions that "it is of paramount importance that you run this part of the route up Parkin Clough", the four of us were potentially disqualified since little running was seen amongst us. The breeze at the summit of Win Hill was refreshing but there was no lingering as we set of towards Twitchill Farm. Penny kindly let me pass saying her hamstring was a bit delicate. This turned out to be a ruse!! From the farm there seemed to be an awful lot of road before we started the final climb to Lose Hill. Penny had now caught up as we went through the fields and, for entertainment and distraction, we counted the stiles. Also including the ones on the descent from Lose Hill, there were 23! Nearing the top of Lose Hill, we had the opportunity to see and encourage some of the other runners in full flight on their descent, Tim H, Dave H, Roy S, Fi F, Rob C. Again Penny offered to let me through on our descent and, repeating her ruse on the Win Hill descent, she sped off, only to be seen waiting for me at the finish!!

It seems to me that this race is quite a Dark Peak classic, with three significant climbs in a relatively short distance. Neil N set a high standard in 1 hour 14 minutes for any subsequent "Some you Win" races. Many thanks to Jim for reintroducing it.

Graham