Ragleth fell race (Shrops summer series)

Race Reports

After recent downpours, it looked as if we might be in for more wet as we approached the cloud covered Long Mynd in steady rain; however the skies cleared and 98 of us set off on a fine summer’s evening. From the start there was a 100m dash along a lane, over a shallow stream, and another then onto the steady steep climb up towards the Callow. From the top we were blown right, northwards and down a short slope before a steady runnable climb that brought us to the top of a very steep drop down to Callow Hollow. The cameraman at the bottom missed all the action on the slope, where runners’ feet were taken from under them, regardless of the grip, and there seemed to be more prostrate, sliding bodies at any one time than upright runners. From there, having crossed the stream we made our way down a narrow, slippery sheep track cut into a slope, before immersing ourselves once more in the stream and clambering again up to the top of the Callow (making 460m of ascent) and clattering, or sliding, down the other side to the finish. The race was won by Tim Werrett in 29.28, and Mel Price (British champion) was 1st lady in 30.53, one place ahead of her younger rival, Emma Gould. Croft competitors were a little further back! Tom, having completed something like 60 races already in the last 11 months, still had the strength to get round in 47.24 (1st MV65), whereas I, having run in only 1 race in the last month, took 41.40, the only MV70, as is so often the case. We think Gary G won the MV65 series.

Comment on this article

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.