Box Hill, Surrey
The traditional start of the Cambridge fell year, looking forward to another year on the fells and mountains around the UK. This tends to be one of our best attended races as of course it is relatively local and is an excellent, gentle introduction to the sport. Although classed as a fell race this is really a good cross country race with a couple of testing hills. This year various injuries meant some regulars were missing. This was the second year of the new course, next year a START banner would be useful as there was much confusion about where the exact start line was in the woods, although I don’t really see what difference a few yards makes in a fell race! The weather was dry, perfect conditions really with a liberal sprinkling of mud around the course especially on the descents to make things interesting. Just like last year it looks as if the 279 steps which occur just after the headlong dash from the start caught some newcomers out, runners who went storming up soon ran out of steam. The course is mainly through woods on good but sometimes narrow paths and over Headley Heath. Beside the steps the two long climbs tend to sort people out, the second one at about 6 miles seems to sap any remaining energy from the legs making the last mile or so a bit of a challenge (does for me anyway). Everyone managed to negotiate the course without mishap except Graham who took a tumble on those pesky steps back down to the finish and leaked a little claret. There seems to have been quite a good scrap between Alan, Graham and Clem. An excellent run from Alan who was 2nd V60 and bagged a prize. Clem seems to be regaining some form. POS TIME ATHLETE 018. 63:59 Christian 073. 73:45 Alan 080. 74:42 Graham 085. 75:06 Clem 127. 83:07 Ian 156. 89:56 Peter 182. 95:03 Mark There were 226 finishers.