Moffat Chase Hill Race

Having ran Wasdale last week I was either going to be knackered or energised for the return of the "old" long Moffat Chase race (16 miles & 1720 metres), first ran by me way back in 1988, and it turned out to be both! I started out at not too bad a pace up through the forest for the first mile, but then felt it was a bit too fast, eased off a bit and then started to feel a bit wobbly on the first climb, the old negative thoughts forcing their way to the fore as I cursed Wasdale. Captainess Cat eased by me at this point as I started to contemplate a nice long but hard saunter round, taking in the views and watching everyone pass me. The legs were simply dead and the runnable part from the first checkpoint was hard going as I tried to hang on to Hamilton who had also caught me up. I soon started to feel a bit better on the contour round to the col near Hart Fell, gaining the minute of deficit on Cat by getting a better lower line. We chatted away the climb up to Hart Fell where I found my descending legs to then ungentlemanly leave her to chase after Louise Burt and Tosh Brannan who were just ahead. I caught them up near Hartfell Rig and then caught a few more on the fantastic ridge run along to Saddle Yoke. From there I enjoyed somehow the steep grassy descent down to the landrover at Blackhope Burn, zig-zagging my way down while trying not to think about what lay ahead at the bottom. The climb up to Black Craig was a dire trudge of slow footstep after slow footstep, trying to convince myself that everyone else must be feeling at least as bad. Ronnie gave out some welcome water before the final trudge up to Nether Coomb Craig, where I passed Murdo, giving me some renewed energy. I shot off the wrong way from the checkpoint, only to be called back by the marshalls. There was a good heathery descent to the forest near Auldton Fell, where the frontrunners had left some convenient trods in the long grass. The pressure of Murdo following behind kept me pushing on and on the climb up to Greygill Head (the 1st CP also) I managed to reel in a few more bodies that were wilting in the heat. I was a great relief to know that it was more or less all down hill from here and I passed a few more on the stony/heathery/muddy descent that I had struggled up 3 hours earlier. I was a great relief to get back into the cool shady forest for the final mile of the race which was probably the best part of the race. I was well chuffed to finish 24th (76 starters), if 15 min down on my time in 1988. The showers back at the rugby club put a bit of life back into me and afterwards Cat, Chris, David and me wandered back into Moffat for an ice cream and a listen to the Langholm Town Band blast out a few tunes. Various Westies arrived back in assorted states but all did extremely well, especially Luke and Manny up front, the Westies Wummin and Jason manfully bringing up the rear. A great race in a lovely part of the country, see you all next year?! More reports and photos on the Westies website. Results here

Having Monday off work I did a fantastic 100 mile cycle from Langholm to Eskdalemuir, Hawick, Newcastleton and back. Tremendous weather, quiet roads and amazing scenery.