Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile

[15-Nov-2014]

So, to wear just the vest on my top half or wimp out and wear an additional base layer, that was the question on my mind at 8 am on Sunday morning.

It was a rather chilly morning so I decided to pack the base layer just in case and jogged down to the pickup point near Northburn where I met up with the old masters Ralph and Dave B and the young pup Mark N.

No sooner had I arrived than our purple people eater sprinter van turned up with the rest of the gang, so on we jumped and off to Brampton we went !

Twas a jolly trip over to Brampton, through the fog, past the tractors and before we knew it we had arrived at the School start point with plenty of time to spare, almost an hour in fact, saying that I would much rather be early than late !

As we got off the bus it didn't feel too cold so I just donned the vest with the addition of some gloves as a bit of a cop out.

We milled around in the school with the rest of the running bods and then nipped down the road for a warm up with the lads with many a toilet break.

Before long it was 11:25 and we got into our position on the hill outside the school all of us keen just to get started and no sooner had we gathered together when the starters pistol abruptly fired, gooooooooooo.

So we where off ! 12 Blyth bods of varying stature and gender off on our way to Carlisle once again. Conditions were perfect, quite cold, with no hint of wind, apart from Stevens arse of course!.

We all flew down the hill, a sharp right then a gradual climb out of Brampton trying to get our pacing right. All was going well for me, keeping a consistent pace, our first hill of the day came at mile 3-4 and was duly thrashed out, turned left at the top and downhill for a bit of a reprieve.

We all chased down the road to low Crosby dodging cars, bikes and our fellow runners as we went.

A gel was duly consumed at 6 mile along with some water then it was time to dig in.

By mile 7 I was starting to pull in some of those who went past me early on which was rather satisfying but then turned into worry as I needed to keep them behind me! At this point I saw Mal and Ian coming back to me a bit but I stuck to my plan and just kept the same pace going, getting ready for the hills ahead. The first of which is the little one over the M6 which was duly despatched with relative ease then it was along the main road dodging the cars towards the next one.

This one was a little steeper and longer and took a bit more effort, then it was downhill again then up again for the last time !

So, now downhill to the finish, picking it up as I went, I had been duelling with a lad for a few miles, he passed me on the down hills I got him on the up hills so here he came again, but this time I tucked in behind and as we reached the bridge I eased past him which he then took umbrage with and came straight past me but again I tucked in as he was going for it then I opened the taps and powered past him accelerating as I went then kept it up catching Ian B as I did, before I knew it we were over the bridge a quick turn left and a final blast to the finish, just behind Ian, a quick glance at the watch as I went over the line, 1:09, happy effing days, result !

There were some rather fantastic performances today by every Blyth bod but to name but 3, Jake Jansen 58:05 PB 2 mins off his previous PB, Steven French 65:13 another 2 min improvement, and Claire Mason improved her PB by 4 mins in 1:23:45.

So with weary legs we decamped to the pub and enjoyed a few cheeky beverages, job done.

30	117	Jake Jensen	U20	1	58:05:00
147	115	Steven French			01:05:13
206	111	Mal Darbyshire	V55	12	01:08:25
219	114	Ian Baxter			01:09:03
221	113	Steve Dobby	V40	38	01:09:05
265	110	David Bradley	V60	8	01:10:58
309	119	Mark Nicholson	U20	4	01:13:47
355	118	Terry McCabe	V65	4	01:16:08
382	123	Catherine Young	L55	4	01:17:37
488	122	Claire Mason	L	115	01:23:45
536	121	Louise Coultate	L	140	01:27:52
537	112	Ralph Dickinson	V60	21	01:27:53

Regards

Steve D