Duddon, the short course  

It's been a number of years since I last managed to complete the long course Duddon Fell race, being timed out at various places  and for the last three  years I have run the short course, having the distinction of scoring a hat  trick of last places. 

Twelve months ago TF was good enough to guide me round in  3 hrs 21 mins and on Saturday, as TF has indicated, I volunteered to do the same for Botters who was making his debut in the event which has a course which can be tricky in poor visibility.

One problem when the cloud base is high is that one's position relative to others is plain to see and can be discouraging if those ahead disappear from sight.

Botters made a good start  pulling away from me initially until we regrouped on the first climb slowly gaining on a trio of ladies from Todmorden.  Once the route levelled they were away and were never again to be more than dots on the horizon.  And that left the two of us to bring up the rear for the rest of the race.

On the long climb up to Dow I pulled out  a short lead on Botters who quickly caught me on the traverse  to the  Walna Scar track showing better pace over the rocky sections.  By this time the lead runners on the long course were catching us and flying past at impressive speed.

From White Pike there are two routes off, the first being loose scree and more direct and the second option  to  the right  down  a wide grassy gulley which as Botters remarked at the time adds quite  bit of distance.

Last year TF had guided me down the shorter path  while on Saturday I showed Botters the wimps way. Interestingly TF's choice last year got  us to the final checkpoint on Caw in 43 min 37sec while Botters and I on Saturday were two minutes faster.  Interesting.

On the final descent we both confessed to have nothing left in our legs and progress was painfully slow as the long course field sped past providing a guide to the route.  In the last half mile I dropped back and trundled in to record a time of 3hr 25min  - four minutes slower than last year and a couple of minutes behind Botters   who admitted that after the first tortuous climb he had  enjoyed his outing.

Just before the start I had discovered that Pete Bland had some Oroc Innovates in my size and agreed to put them on one side for me try on later.  As I have been trying to find a pair at a sensible (heavily discounted) price for a couple of years these were a snip at £50 and as I was the only runner in the over 70 age group I picked up a Pete Bland    voucher for £10 which made the Orocs  even cheaper. No sooner had I completed the purchase  than TF ran in with  her impressive time  and looking  as though she had  given her all.  Well done.

We await EtU's  account.