Report written by Guy Whitmarsh
Just as the body can repair nasty wounds, so I find my memory can lessen the pain and horror of certain fell races. I don’t get nightmares, like some, but the reality when I return to the scene of a fell race is often quite a shock – the hills are higher and steeper, the descents more precipitous than in my well meaning memory. So it was with the Ragleth race. I seem to remember drawing level with Gary last year on the first climb and suggesting, Steve Redgrave like, that if he saw me running that race ever again he should shoot me. Fortunately he either didn’t hear me, or decided he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life behind bars. So it was that he, Saffi, Tim, Flora and I set off on the 4.4km Ragleth race, which includes 390m of climb. The first descent down to the Callow stream was, unsurprisingly, even more treacherous than I remembered, though Tim found time to practice his dance moves on his way down. I on the other hand had to make use of a gorse bunch when my brakes failed. Because of the drought conditions, soil was loose and grass was in short supply, so getting a good grip was an ongoing problem, going up or down, but at least the streams were low, or even dried up. The final descent from the Callow summit was longer than I remembered (surprise, surprise) but being one of the tail enders I was not forced into a competitive breakneck run down to the finish. Each year though the tail end gets closer, till one day soon I will be that tail end. Saffi distinguished herself by being the first U15 girl, a minute ahead of Tim and the first Croft runner too.
