Slightly less Novice View of the Edale Skyline! March 2012

The day was promising to be fantastic, sun in the sky by the time we set off to get to the start. Coming up to the turn off to Mam Nic before dropping down into Edale there was an amazing cloud inversion, with the Hope valley being buried under a layer of cloud while the top of the hills were in glorious sunshine. The start was as it always is, a kit check, general banter, nervousness and a repack of the bag as the perfect weather meant the waterproofs requirement was lifted.

With the lessons learned from the Trigger I just had to put them in place again. The Edale Skyline race description said 22 miles and Dave Ward suggested to me a 4 hr target which I was a bit shocked about, but it was a target. This would necessitate 11 minute miles.
Bad start the phone would not get a satellite lock and I was there mucking about with it while the rest of the field was storming towards Ringing Rodger. So in dead last place (yep that is me in very last place, in the photo, trying to stick my phone into its little holder) I was finally off on my skyline aventure.

Startng from the back!

Obviously I am a fast walker as I must have overtaken 1/4 of the field by the time I got to the top of Ringing Rodger then off on the easy bit to Win Hill. Passed various penniners and got over taken by others (Ron, et al) Couple of miles into the race my pace maker was not talking to me so I had to stop to check it out, turning the volume up makes all the difference! Rob Taylor went by just before Win Hill. He passed on the useful hint to just take it easy, very true Rob that is exactly what I intend on doing. I felt privileged to have been in front of somebody of that calibre for so long. The little out and back on Win Hill gave the opportunity for a quick hello to Tim and others. Then the long decent to the road by which time I was below the required 11 min/mile average. The climb up Lose hill put paid to that. Last year I ran/walked this climb. On the Pennine Rely I ran the whole lot but today I walked 95% of it. (take it easy Rob said). I enjoyed the cow bells and I was even happier to know that they did not mean that I was just starting the last lap:). On the approach to Mam Nick, Mark had the courtesy to shout before snapping so I had the chance to get my head up and smile!
Got chatting to a lady on the last section of the walk to Mam Tor. When I saw what seemed like hundreds of people up on the Mam Tor summit I suggest we can not be seen walking through that lot so heads up, smile and run until we were past the crowds.

A plan is born!

Over the top and she disappeared off in front of me as I kept too far to the right on the decent and felt like I was running over big moguls. Crossing Mam Nick, despite my conscious decision to keep things under control I was still 10 minutes faster than last year. I am about 10Kg lighter so it shows the effect weight has. The phone had me at 11:30 min/mile so I was well down on my target. But in my stupid optimism I decided that there is less climbing from now on so I may make some of this time up. The "old hands" say that this is where the Edale Skyline really starts. The going does get considerably more difficult form this point on.
The long slow climb then the first of the short cuts.  I rejoined the main field but had to stop to transfer some chocolate bars from my rucksack into my pockets. At this stage a Pennine runner in yellow shorts (who is he) passed me. He had over taken me earlier in the race so it clearly showed the advantage of that route. A lightly built lady who I recognized from much earlier in the race when she overtook me before Win Hill also overtook me while I was stopped. It is a slog to Brown Knoll but keeping your head up and seeing what the runners ahead of you are having to do to avoid the softer bits really pays off. On a number of occasions I was able to drift to the right or left of the muddy trod in plenty of time to avoid particular soft sections. I was starting to suffer a bit here and decided I needed to get some food into me. Now there is a scam I had two posh gels that cost £1 each and a pack of Aldi Mars bar copies (Titan bars – somebody at Aldi knows their Greek Gods or is it Roman:) – I don’t) They are less than 15 pence each, about 2/3 the size of a mars bar and have more calories than the gels!!
Passed Jacobs Ladder and the food I had earlier was paying off now I felt perfectly OK so decided to go for the contour. On Thursday night I ran from Hayfield up to Edale Cross then done the contour to Pym chair. By staying very high on this contour there is a very good trod which I picked up and got around it pretty OK. When I started it I could see a runner ahead of me doing the contour. He was just passing Noe Stool but I caught him by Pym Chair. I asked him if he thought it was worth it (he did not)?. I have not done any timings so I can not say if it saves any time but at least (unlike last year) it probably did not cost me any time. Got to the edge foot path before Pym Chair and went straight across. I done this for the first time on Thursday night and got drawn towards the rocks by Crowden Tower. Today I done the opposite I went too straight and my satellite plot showed a definite hard turn when I joined the grough. I probably should not have joined it for another 50 metres to the right. Going along it a darkpeaker appeared out of nowhere and I ended up doing most of the rest of the race fairly close to him. He had the worst breathing I have ever heard, he was telling me that years of smoking followed by 4 years of running is the cause! I must say the cut around the back of the wool packs is one of the most enjoyable sections of the race.
Back onto the main path to rejoin my fellow skyline runners and got to Grindlow Knoll very quickly. On the Trigger this was pretty much the end, not so today, plus my timings were going in the wrong direction with each mile my average pace was slipping more and more. I was now heading towards 12 minute mile. Bit disappointed with this as it meant I as looking at close on 4:30 which would only be 10 minutes faster that last year's Edale Skyline result. After Grindlow a slightly build lady caught up with me. This was not lost on either of us I commented that she needs to work on her lines as she is clearly a faster runner than me (this is the third time she passed me) but she is missing all of the quicker lines. She slowly drew away from me and I caught up with another runner. He had 4:10 Skyline result from last year and was on for a similar time. This was a surprise to me as I thought I was looking at closer to 4:30. It was quite obvious that the race cannot be 22 miles. This gave me some hope for a significant reduction on last year’s time. Geoff’s little hint on Thursday to find the trod after the stream crossing proved very useful as a lot of people were missing it.
There is something very strange about the landscape in this area as Ringing Rodger just does not seem to get any closer especially when the out crop of rocks you decide is Ringing Rodger is not it. Keep pushing I continue to overtake people as I have done since Brown Knoll and eventually the real Ringing Rodger appears. Some better lines along this trod allows me to overtake a couple of people and still feeling “Okish” just go for it on the decent, through the gate and there is a lady half way between me and the finish.

It's all over - Finished the Edale Skyline for the second time!

Can I catch her? flat out down through the field I catch her 30 meters from the line. To come home in 12:03 min/mile. My phone gave the distance as 20.77 miles giving me a time of 4:10:20. 35 minutes faster than last year so very happy with that.
Very interesting to see the results with such a large group of Pennine finishers crowded into the half hour between 3:45 and 4:15, felt good to be part of it.