Report from the Hon. Handicapper:

This is a proper traditional fell race, no pre-entry, turn up at a field in the middle of nowhere, entry out of the back of a car, checkpoint marshals but no other route markers.  A fantastic horseshoe route on the Cheviot Hills, based around the source of the river Coquet, taking in the summit of Windy Gyle which is one of the final summits heading north on the Pennine Way and giving panoramic fantastic views on the day.  ( I did have thoughts of Sarah F’s climbing up to this near the end of ‘The Spine’ as I ran off the summit).

Thanks to the hospitality of Colin Best’s holiday let near Bamburgh, Colin, myself and Richard Hamer drove to the very remote start in the Coquet valley for this 8+ miles & 1800ft of ascent on a warm, (24 degrees), morning.   I found it hard going towards the end but was reasonably happy with an 11th place finish in 1:10:31.  Colin had the best run of the day finishing 2nd in his category in 1:31:43.  Richard also found it hard work but battled on to finish 75th in 2:04:27.

The best part of the day was the post race cool down in the river… John Butters NFR won in 1:04:25, Emma Holt, Morpeth was first lady in 16th. 1:13:16.  Full results on the NFR website.