Two NFRs David Johnson and Trevor Wakenshaw, travelled down to last Wednesday’s race on the North Yorkshire Moors. It has to be said that this race had a lot of road in it. The first mile and a bit was all on flat tarmac which allowed for a really fast start. This is followed by a long, steep climb onto the moor. Then comes a downhill mile and a bit on a good forest trail which will allow almost anyone to clock up a 5 minute mile or better!

As Wakenshaw had beaten me for the first time in ages at the Les Alcorn 10k I was out for revenge. In his day he was a decent road runner, or so he says, so I was worried about the first mile. The plan was to stick as close to him as possible on the first mile and then crucify him on the steep climb. This was duly accomplished and he was soon lost to sight and I settled down to enjoy the rest of the race. It was good to leave behind a couple of my Yorkshire rivals although I did leak a few places to some youngsters on the downhill mile through the forest. Then the course flattened out and seemed never ending, as indeed it was as the advertised 5.7 miles stretched out to 6.2 miles with another road section to finish with or as in my case, to finish you off.

I had a rude shock at the end as Wakenshaw appeared as if from nowhere and for a horrible moment I thought he had somehow gotten past me without my knowing. Thankfully he had sneaked over the line just after me as I had been looking over Dave Parry’s shoulder to try and see the results! He said he had been rapidly chasing me down, a likely story. About 120 runners took part with the pair of us finishing 62nd and 64th respectively.

Dave Johnson

results on Esk Valley Fell Club site