As usual I turned up at Endcliffe Park without having a clue about the race I was taking part in, I seem to be making a habit of that – note to self, must do homework in future!

But today wasn’t about me, it was about Claire who had taken on her toughest challenge yet on what turned out to be a difficult off road route with plenty of hills, mud, obstacles etc. For those who don’t know Claire is visually impaired and needs a guide to be able to take part in the sport she loves – which is running, and she had chosen myself to help her get around this brilliant bit difficult hilly Sheffield course today.

After taking care of the formalities we settled at the back of the pack at the start and straight from the off it was a mud fest, with a loop of Endcliffe Park to start with in pretty much 3″ of mud which constantly threatened to pull your shoes off but Claire was determined to throw herself fully into this race and was good to her word.

I had been given brief Instructions on where to position myself and how to hold the tether etc and after never having guided before was a tiny bit nervous, especially knowing now that it was a tricky course – but I needn’t have worried as Claire was brilliant company and made it quite clear what I needed to do and how.

Once out of the park we headed up the road and soon turned the corner towards what was described as ‘the hill’ by marshal’s. Now I didn’t even realise I’d said it but Claire picked up on it. As soon as I saw the hill I must have uttered the words “oh dear”, what I saw was a wall of grass with people clambering, sliding, crawling, and the odd one walking – but nobody running – up the hill. It was a slithery mess of mud and grass which looked a bit worrying to be honest, but as I said Claire threw herself into this race so we picked our way around the casualties and plowed onwards and upwards.

The rest of the 5k loop, which we did twice, was a mix of wooded trails with plenty of roots, rocks, branches etc to trip us up and with steep slopes and lots of streams and waterfall’s alongside the trails. The route takes on part of the RSR route which is a very pretty route through Sheff and this was no different.

I was convinced that one or both of us would go over at some point and we were both kind of expecting it but apart from a slight stumble …. by me ?, we escaped unscathed and before we knew it were skirting through the park again onto our 2nd loop.

We had both anticipated the worst in terms of weather and had layered up beforehand but the gods had been kind so we both overheated slightly and had to adjust our pace accordingly on the 2nd loop but to be fair we still kept up a fair pace and completed the 2nd loop and approached the finish in a respectable 1hr 25min. I even joked that we should go for a sprint finish once we saw a few friendly DAC faces lining the finish straight – so she bloody well did and dragged me over the line in a decent 1:26:00 for a pretty testing trail 10k.

For anybody who might feel a bit nervous about stepping out of the comfort zone and helping somebody in Claire’s position, all I can say is don’t be. All I was there for was to point out any potential hazards, Claire did the hard work and is amazing in the fact that she pushes the boundaries constantly, despite living with ailments that would sit most of us on our backsides and make us give in and feel sorry for ourselves.
I loved today’s experience and will definitely be repeating it, if Claire will have me that is, at the upcoming XC series!

Horsing around in Elsecar

Sometimes slow and steady wins the race, but not always how you expect.

Five Harriers ran in the eighth of this year’s KMR races. This one is dedicated to the much-loved late Rotherham runner Stan Bagshaw, who would always hand out toffees after races.

Series stalwart Michael Plant was there of course, and Andrew Finch who came with me and Dave Langford, perturbed at Simon Rayner for turning up, as it meant he’d have to run hard. I wanted to save myself for the Supermile the next day so thought I’d take it easy. Maybe I’d just keep behind Finch and see how it went.

The start was an old railway line. Two furlongs along and we turned onto a road and started climbing. Plant was just in sight, and Finch had also pulled away from me. I stayed disciplined, saving energy.

The road up the hill was long. Then, an urgent shout from behind. Something wrong? No, probably just someone cheering.

Seconds later, the lead runners came hurtling back down. They’d gone the wrong way, and weren’t happy:

“There should have been a marshall!”

“For flip’s sake!”

“What’s the point now?”

Quite a lot of point for me! I’d gone from back Danum marker to leader. Time to get a move on!

I had no right to be there, running with the leaders back down the road and into the woods, where we should have turned before.

People previously far behind had also turned, getting in the way on the narrow trail. I pretended to be a fast runner and overtook whoever I could in the woodland mêlée.

I felt like Foinavon in the Grand National 1967, catapulted into the lead as nearly all horses fell and unseated their riders at the 23rd fence. In fact, loose horses would feature in this race too, but luckily again I missed any of that hindrance.

I leapfrogged a few steady-paced runners just before a stile. That was bound to slow more fasties down as they battled to get past.

Then, a long slog up a steep field with more stiles and a turnaround at the top.

I put in some effort, and near the top the leaders came charging back down. After I turned back I expected the likes of Langford, Rayner and Plant to be on my heels. But no, I was able to run down toward a fence and duck under it, with ascending runners queuing to climb over the stile, and then past the other Harriers coming up, about to spook some horses.

The rest of the race I just ran swiftly. A few runners passed me. I was just happy to be among the top twenty or so. Another wrong turn by some people in front of me meant I caught up more places.

Then the finish was in sight, and I finished the four-and-a-bit mile race as first Harrier with an amazing 35:30. We were all rewarded with a bag of toffees!