My Triathlon Journey

2022’s English Schools Fell Running Championships were held at Giggleswick Schools in Settle. I was in the Year 10/11 category so was one of the youngest there, as a younger Year 10. I had 5.6km, so my longest race yet, and 250m of elevation gain. This was my second ever fell race after doing my first at Grasmere Sports Show.

The first part of the course was cross country style (very hilly cross country style), going into a long gradual hill before turning and running down a short singletrack gorge path then going over a river crossing and up an incredibly steep and short hill. It was then into the next field where there was a ‘boulder climb’ and it was continuous steep up and down. After returning to the field, where the first part of the course went, it was a downhill. The next bit was the main part – the climb up to the quarry on top of the fell. I went through a woodland climb then was on open fell. It flattened out briefly along the wall next to the quarry and then began the next nit of incline which was rocky. Here the rain and wind was really strong and battered quite hard, making the rocks pretty wet and slippery. It then reached the cairn at the top (the turn around point) and it was all back downhill on pretty much the same route.

I got away well at the start and was at the front. By the river crossing, the race had strung out a bit. Into the next field I stayed at the front with just 2 of us with a bit of a gap now. By the start of the climb to the quarry I was in 2nd and there was a gap to first. I got to the top well – not losing much time and descended well. The wind and rain was really strong at the top of the quarry and as we had the same route on the way down as coming up I had to keep making quick decisions of which line to take, through the rock section, due to runners coming up. I came across the line 2nd, I was and I am really happy with my result as a younger year and my second ever fell race, and loved the race a lot – it was really tough and the longest race I’ve done but the course was exciting and it was worth the long journey.

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