HARRIERS DESCEND ON WENSLEYDALE 15/11/15

We (Mandy, Janice, Linda-driving, Kadi co-pilot and myself) set off for Wensleydale the day before the famous Wensleydale Wedge, staying at Grinton Lodge youth hostel meeting up there with Ali and Matty who had ran the race before and had some top tips for us novices…never once did they say don’t do it! …tho they did mention the ground may be a little boggy due to the weather we’d had over the last few days!

Sunday morning we left the hostel around 6:30am to make our way to Askrigg where the race started. As we stepped out of the hostel door a gust of wind caught us and hurled us in the direction of the car park…as we turned the corner to the car park someone threw a bucket of water over us…ah no that was a little shower of rain/sleet and hail mixed into one! With some trepidation we set off for Askrigg- seeing water running off the land onto the roads as we drove over….At the Village Hall it was good to see some other Harriers there too Shirley, Adrian, Janet, Ann, and her hubby( sorry i forgot your name)

After a final briefing we were cast out into the stormy day to begin our race…23 miles of mainly trail…what a day…the wind was strong, 50-60mph gusts on the tops, the rain persistent, and as Matty and Ali had said, the going boggy…with some wading through water on some of the footpaths, however we kept each other going, I started the run with Mandy and Janice, and joined up with Adrian and Janet at the Thoralby Hall checkpoint…Adrian kept our pack together, I think we all had points where we struggled in the poor weather but lifted each other to tough it out and finish.

Highlights for me were, as always, running with and representing the harriers…the stunning scenery (on the occasions the rain stopped and the mist lifted), and the fantastic banter with my weekend buddies…we laughed a lot! At the finish it was great to hear some of the tremendous results the Harriers had achieved in the poor conditions….wonderful….will I give it a go next year?…..of course I will, I would recommend it….Big thanks to Linda for driving…especially on the way back…tough going with diversions……