British Fell Relays 2024 – Race report by Egg Cameron
Macclesfield Harriers started with three teams on a truly glorious day to be running around the Yorkshire Dales in the sunshine. In those teams, we had a mix of vets, last minute draft-ins and a few who were attending the British Fell Relays for the very first time. A championship where 1,000 of the UK’s best fell runners hammer it out as a team of 6 across 4 different courses.
Approaching the assembly field in Appletreewick, some team tents – and indeed the kit check tent, – were pitched precariously at what must have been a 45 degree angle: a taster of the steep start and finish that awaited us.
That start and finish was a proper spectacle, with some impressively fearless descending on display. The photo’s do not give the terrain justice. While the hills may not have had the scale of the Lakes, the rapid ups and downs and ridiculous gradient was not to be laughed at.
The race terrain included a bit of everything, from tussocks and heather to bogs, river valleys, woodland, greasy flagstones and climbs so steep that hands and knees were required.
“I didn’t know that a rope was in the compulsory kit!” – James
The Leg 1 solo runners came in from their 5-miles and 3 hills route with everyone nailing the ‘tag and dib’ instruction. The times alone were enough to know that this was going to be a tough day out.
Leg 2 runners headed out for a 9-mile route which included an ascent of Simon’s Seat, and a choice between slimy, slippery flagstones or a hidden heather trail to head back down the hill, before a brutal series of leg-wrenching up and downs which culminated in travelling through the Hell Hole.
Two tough legs with oodles to punish the legs and lungs, but Leg 3 is where the drama began.
The stream of coloured flags going off with the four winds, proved a distraction to some of our runners who were fully expecting to navigate on an unflagged course.
The route led one of our pairs to what they described as a ‘near death experience’, with Matt dropping their dibber whilst using the well-documented ‘mudslide on arse’ technique. Cheeky!
Another pair had some drama with mixing up some checkpoints, which ultimately resulted in a disqualification, but this is to be contended with a lot of discussion about the accuracy of the map and several teams making the same error thanks to directions from a misguided marshal.
Whilst many of the earlier runners basked in the sunshine enjoying free chilli, drinking copious volumes of tea and munching through the vast range of available cake, the Leg 4 runners headed out after their patient waits.
Unfortunately one runner was returned to the finish in a Mountain Rescue Land-Rover, but in surprisingly good spirits. The next team challenge was who would be willing to drive her car back home! It later transpired that they had fractured their ankle in 2 places. Hopefully a speedy recovery will be made.
So all in all a beautiful but brutal day out, with only one Macc team officially having finished successfully. But most important a great team outing with loads of great support and encouragement on display.
