The Trigger 2015

Brave Mountain Rescue Souls manning a check point (credit Shaun Priestley)

Back for another Trigger (number 4 now!). Bit different this year as it it part of my preparation for my BG attempt this year. I had done a lot of work in the autumn (possibly too much), including The Tour of Pendle that went pretty well despite having a slightly dodgy left ankle. Just missed the top half (again) by about 12 minutes, I found my self loosing places on the descents due to the ankle. The ankle continue to effect me after that but I just kept going as it was not too bad. I was in Tesco on Friday and I just happen to see the ankle supports below. Not cheap at £20 quid but cheaper than new ankles so I got a couple of them to see how I got on.

Got struck down by the Lurgy in early December to be followed by pre-Christmas lethargy and Christmas in the flatlands in the middle of Ireland meant that I went a month with virtually no climbing but a few decent flat runs. So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that the day arrived. I reckoned I would be OK as I just done so much work up to the early part of December. The weather forecast was pretty appaling with driving westerly winds. I did not mind this because of having to fit my training in around a young family I am well used to heading out at unsociable times and ropy conditions. With this experience I would probably handle the difficult conditions better than a lot of people.

It was the usual early start to get to New Mills for the Pennine bus and then the drive to Marsden. They brought the start forward to 8:30 to allow the back-markers more time to get back before darkness set in. This meant it is was black-dark when we arrived in Marsden. As I said last year Marsden CC is a great place to start a race from. It is just about big enough to squeeze us all in. So it resembles a bit of organized chaos as people mill around and try to work their way through to kit check. I took my camera with me and took a couple of photos before the start.

The Pennine members who heard me shout PENNINE PHOTO

Me on the left below with my brand new 300s.
Just a few quick announcements and they let us go. Nothing special about the beginning of this race the usual run up to the the Isle of Skye. The conditions at the CC were not bad at all, but we all expected it to get considerably worse. No real issues up to the Isle of Skye but then it was those flags up to Black Hill. The were not great and I heard about a couple of crashes. They were very wet and covered in slushing snow as we neared the top. The weather forecast came true then with the expected wind hitting us straight in the face.

Battling the head wind up onto Black Hill

Over the top and the necessary hassle of showing my number. Having numbers on your chest/belly does not really work when wearing an over jacket and chest straps on your rucksack, and I was not sticking pins into my good waterproof to have it on the outside. I caught up with my team mate Duncan and we spent the descent off Black Hill trading places. My trademark bum-slide down the grassy slope to Crowden Brook once again gained me a few places as the queue of runners descended down the rocky path. Now this was the bit I was worried about. The run-in to Crowden is pretty fast and if my ankle was going to object it would be here. But I was reasonably OK, I knew then I was going to have a good day.

There was a gentle bollocking on the Pennine blog a few years ago about discussing "secret shortcuts" on the Edale Skyline. Lawrence Edge would have been one of the secret routes in Tanky's Trog days, but those days are long gone with so much discussions on forums/blogs, etc. Basically most people take Lawrence Edge now. I timed myself and it took 20 minutes from leaving the tack to getting onto flat ground above the little scramble.

Lawrence Edge

The compass out and a combination of heading south, following groughs, following foot prints and following other runners (until I overtook them) led me spot on to a style over the fence and the established route to the Pennine Way.  From here it was basically follow the queue of people the whole way to Higher Shelf Stones. From there I took IanDarkPeak's suggestion to cross Crooked Clough a bit lower than the waterfall. It is shorter but involves a bit of assent to get onto the footpath. Don't know if it is any faster or slower.

Now the flags to mill hill. I was on my own here with nobody to be seen in front or behind. Once again they were not great but could have been much worse. Before the race it was my intention to head down Within Clough, but I decided to just play it safe and stay on the flags. But after a couple of Km (just before Glead Hill) I was looking over at the approx. location of CP5 and I thought to myself it does not look that far away and with a rush of blood to my head I veered off the flags to head in a straight line to it. I was just winging it and it was pretty rough going. Quite a few time I regretted doing it and by the time I got to the top of the climb I was convinced that I must have been slower. I was surprised to see another runner also climbing about 50 metres to my left.

Stevie Climbing to CP5

 It was funny at CP5 as the MR guys were not in the right place and one of them had to come running over to the style when he saw the two of us climbing over. He told me that only about 5 people had come that way and I know 3  (plus me so 4) of them are from Pennine. I was convinced it must be slower but from looking at Strava plots for some guys that finished in similar times to me it looks as it was actually a bit faster.

Off the cuff route finding!

Once we came over the crest of the hill to CP5 the full force of the wind hit us, yet again, in the face. It was to be like that for the full  length of Kinder. I was starting to feel pretty rough so I walked for quite a bit while I piled every last bit of food I had on me into my mouth. This consisted of a hand full of Jelly Babies that were great and three Aldi mars bars thingies. They were tough getting down because they were frozen solid - took ages! I sacrificed that Km because my thinking was by the time I get to Kinder Low End I would be feeling the benefit of the food so I could get in a strong finish.  Not often I have seen Kinder as challenging, with being tired, the driving wind in our face and the snow on the ground made for a difficult trip.

Bleaklow - me running!

Kinder Downfall was spectacular the wind was driving the water fall back upstream again to force us to travel through the spray. What was less spectacular was the spray freezing when it hit the rocks making it treacherous crossing them. Why does it have to be so far from Kinder Downfall to Red Brook? I know Kinder well but that bit always seems to go on forever, but once I got to Red Brook, and having been passed by a few people, I knew the last checkpoint was close as I just about managed to hang on behind the group of 5 who had just overtaken me. Showed my number and then head east to Noe Stool. Quite a bit of discussion about this at Pennine. Quite a few guys were intending on staying high, with one of the main reasons being that it is more in keeping with the spirit of a fell race. I was inclined to do the same. But while crossing Kinder I was thinking that trying to find that line around the wool packs is not what I really wanted to be doing now, so I decided to take the safe option and took a straight line from Noe Stool to the base of Jacob's Ladder. I had done this a couple of times before so I knew it was pretty easy ground. Unknowns to me, there was a team mate just behind me at this stage and he saw me veer off down the hill, he stayed up and I got back about 8 minutes ahead of him. The criticism of this option related to the climb out of Upper Booth on the Pennine way (about 80m, I was told). This could be avoided by taking the lower path to Barber Booth. I could not face that because it would mean coming down the station road then having to run up the slight hill to the campsite while all the people who had already finished would be walking down. Stupid reason but Pennine Way it was. In actual fact it was not a bad climb out of Upper Booth I ran 3/4 of it. Once I reached the top it was then a slow downhill all the way to the finish on lovely soft ground. I looked at my [daughter's] watch at one stage and saw I had 12 minutes to get back in under 5:30. That was a target so I found a new gear from somewhere and I was off. The last Km turned out to be the fastest of the race!

Gentle downhill into Edale alongside the flagstones

I eventually got home in 5:24, which gave me position 117/190 finishers. It was actually an improvement on my result at Pendle as at that race I missed the top half by 12 minutes, here it was 10!! Can't say I am not reasonably consistent. I said to my brother after Pendle that the Trigger would seem easy after this and it was. I definitly finished much stronger on this race than Pendle, that long road runout at Pendle was very hard.

What else can I say I loved it really enjoyable day out!

EDIT;
In Irish (IMRA) races they give a bit of additional information in the results, i.e. percentage of finish time. I had a quick calculation of my results over the past 4 years have been very consistent, with the exception of last year where I went wrong crossing Kinder.

2012 150%;
2013 152%
2014 157%;
2015 150%;

Even though my percentage is fairly consistant I finished lower down the field each year. Just a testominy to the standard improving as people get familar with the route I assume.