Orienteering bonanza: Night street league, Spunch, and a Peak Raid Mini Mountain Marathon

 Orienteering in my life is apparently like buses: you don't do much and then you do a load all in one week! Its not that these events haven't been on to be fair, its just I don't make it schedule wise very often. So when the opportunities to do these events presented itself, I got on an did them. It is just a shame it was all in one week! 

Night Street Leage was one of my first orienteering exposures, as it used to be incredibly popular with my club. It seems to have fallen out of fashion again but it is still a well attended event, especially when it is held in the lovely suburb of Chorlton. Sadly it was held at the dog unfriendly Wetherspoons (The Sedge Lynn) but Martin came with me so he held the dog whilst we registered. MDOC now run their night street via MapRun but you still get a dibber for start and finish. Alongside Martin, I had invited my friend from work Naomi along, as her first orienteering event. We headed to the back of the pub for our maps and dibbed out on to the main road. 

Now I had forgotten the rule set for this event: my head was in spunch mode as I had forgotten each point was worth different amounts. So we didn't have the most productive evening. But we did get to see some bits of Chorlton I hadn't visited, startle random people and get excited about telephone posts. We also had a dash across the dark and slightly  misty park for some added adventure. At some point, the dibber fell off my finger and though I tried to go back and look for it, I couldn't find it. We arrived back at the pub having run over 5 miles and with 10 minutes to spare (but Martin was adament he was done so that is fine). I think Naomi enjoyed it. We headed over to the Beagle for a celebratory drink (dog frinedly). 

So having come quite near the bottom due to not getting the scoring system right, I was determined to do a bit better on Saturday's Spunch. The event was based out of the Northumberland Pub in Compstall, which is a community owned pub. Martin was on call so it was just Oscar and I, It was quiet when we arrived and I was second person off on the course. I had selected the 2 hour course, having run parkrun in the morning and knowing I had an event on Sunday, but there was a 60 minute and 3 hour option too. The Spunch is all MapRun based but you do get a paper map; and what a map! it was A3 in size with over 90 points to visit. So many options. 

As I had never been to Etherow country park, I had already decided I would head there. This is always my downfall in Spunches- I go where I am interested without really thinking about loops and optimising points. But at least all hits are the same points which helps my little brain. But attached to a dog it always makes things more interesting. So Oscar and I headed off, stopping off to hit a few extra points (that in hindsight I should have left until the end) and arriving at the housing area next to Etherow. I spent a short time clearing the controls in the ginnels here, much to Oscar's disgust before we finally broke out in to the woods. 

It was a grey but as we ran along a a path on one side of the valley, we could see the last reds and golds on the far side. It was lovely swooping up and down on the paths and tracks, and pretty runnable. We passed the two houses in the wood, creating a loop then passing over the river to Etherow woods and another loop. 

Then I planned to head to Brabyn's park but realised I was already tired. So we trotted off. Oscar had a tantrum at one point and we managed to get a chunk of points here. But there was no alternative route out the park so we had to go back over the controls we had already punched. Oh well. This is where my early punching fell foul as there was now nothing near by and we had to climb a steep field to get a last few points. Oscar was not happy! We came back early (10 minutes) but then lost five minutes trying to find the finish (which was actually at the back of the pub). We had covered around 9 miles and celebrated in the pub with a quick tonic water. Sadly I am on a health kick but the pizzas from the van looked awesome. 
 

When I woke up very early on Sunday morning I felt pretty tired, a bit sore and also with an absolute sense of dread. It was hammering down large freezing rain droplets and part of me didn't want to go. I knew the weather was set to improve, so I piled myself back in to the car and did the drive to Edale. Peak Raid always think through their events, and I always like the early slot, so I got parked easily in the charities car park they had organised (£700 raised for the local school and charity apparently). It was really cold and in the short walk from the car park to the village hall, I felt I had gotten cold to my core despite my layers. It was however, clear in the valley, with only clouds on the tops. 

I was still feeling quite nervous, and paced a bit around th ehall after kit check. But soon it was time to go, and I was second out on the course. I had already said to myself 'I am not going to Kinder'; Kinder is my navigation boogey and running (its technical so maybe walking) around in the cloud did not appeal. So I was trotting south whilst I looked at my map and planned. It was not high scoring course; the points were few and far between with big hills. I was not feeling fit. But I got the first point quite quickly and then was off up the hill to Hollins Cross. I felt naff and walked up more of this than I should have but got to the control (a whole 25 points, a lot of people didn't both). As I headed towards Mam Tor I found a mini mars bar in my vest and decided that it wasn't too early for that level of chocolate and sugar. It worked and by the time I hit the next control I felt better. I was also over taken by someone who I then managed to over take again with a nice little short cut. However, my shortcut went to waste as from here on in, I was rubbish. 

As I headed up Rushup Edge (slowly, I was still feeling tired) the fog came in. I made a poor decision to cut cross country to a sheep fold which I subsequently overshot quite badly. I eventually found it having cut across some tussocky and boggy ground very slowly. Then it got worse as I couldn't really see the edge to find the cairn which was worth 50 points on Horsehill Tor. I found the wall that was the indicator but staggered around in the fog with no idea of distance for a long while before a slight let up let me see where some other people were coming from. HAving secured the much needed points, it took me a while to find the flagged path again, before heading off in to the fog again to find a boulder in the mist, again slightly cheating by seeing others over there in patches of the fog. I then took a slightly wrong bearing to overshoot the trig and head back on to the path- slowly. I was getting a bit stressed out. I now had about an hour to get back to Edale; how had I frittered away two hours!? I was tired despite more snacks and decided to sack off the last point I had hoped for on Swine's back and take the Pennine Way all the way back. 

I took Jacob's ladder and it was slow going. It was slippy and I was tired and there were plenty of people heading up. I hit the packhorse bridge grateful for my decision. I stopped for a 50 pointer on a narrow bridge and was annoyed to pinned in by a group who stopped me re crossing the bridge. They were on the way out and this seemed unnecessarily rude. Back on the Pennine Way, I got a jog on worrying about time as it rises across some fields, though I managed to run more of these than I thought. I picked up a 20 pointer and then ploughed on to Edale, now dodging a number of groups heading up the way. Luckily the ground was harder enough to run on the field rather than the flags so I made good time. I grabbed abouther 10 points as I swung past the Nags Head and realised I was going to be fine. I ran down through Edale, surprisingly glad to be off the hill and on the way back. I was ready for tea and flapjack! 

I dibbed in with about 7 minutes to spare, which is good for me. Shortly behind me was a lady I had been lost in the fog with and it was nice to chat route options and lament fog together, alongwith an older chap who had joined us on the last jog down. I enjoyed warm dry clothes and the well earned tea, and waiting for others to finish. 

I didn't do amazingly well at any of these events, but I had fun. I recommend them all, but for beginners the Spunch and NSL are very accessible. Peak Raid put on fab events and if you are looking to up your nav, I thoroughly recommend. 

Shepherd's Skyline Race Report

Winter officially started last weekend (depending on your sources) when the clocks went back in the UK. A week later and my body is still confused by the timing and the unseasonally mild weather if a charming surprise, though its still damp. Still, I was pleased to only have to wear one layer to race today, even if I then wore a tonne of layers to walk up and down the hill to the start. 

Shepherd's skyline is a bit of an 'on the tin' race: you run the skyline visible from the Shepherd's rest pub. But rather than be an out and back, it does a charming loop of dropping down the front of Stoodley Pike, then throwing in another climb ' for the stout legged'. I am stout, but alas, not of leg (just in all the wrong places). I am also apparently quite disorganised as there had been a plan to train to Todmorden and walk up but we ended up in the car after I was too late home from parkrun to get to the train in time. Oh well, at least we avoided the parking chaos on the road by the pub (its on a bus route and its narrow). Also, we finally got to Baked, the nice bakery in Todmorden, and cherry and rosemary foccacia is a relevation. 

We walked up the hill with Francis who gave us a bit of a low down on conditions. Not as muddy as you might think was the overall statement, but ultimately my shoe choice had been made when we left home so it was mudclaws or barefoot by this point. For once, it was actually a good shoes coice and I can't blame the shoes for my run today! 

Usual busy pub room registration on the day. But it was at least dry enough we could all go back outside after rather than crowd things even further. It was a good attendance by the feel of it: it felt busy. We all hopped across the road to the start line, and were counted in to the funnel. I ended up near the back but to be honest, I felt a bit tired and I'd already done 20000 steps that day so wasn't expecting miracles. 

Photo by Sam Hartley

The first climb was chaotic but more runnable than i had feared. With the race well attended there was a lot of gentle jostling and use of side paths to try get rhythms going. It was rocky in places, and muddy in others, and I picked my way up fairly steadily, not fighting to over take, rather managing my effort a bit. It dipped up and down a tiny bit, but up was very much the direction as we headed for the skyline ridge. 

On the ridge we turned right, and in this first section crossed a few streams with muddy rocks either side. This slowed things down a bit and I was worried I felt tired as we faced a gentle climb. I consigned myself to a bit of a slog for the rest of the race and had a nice chat with a chap from Northowram who has gotten in to fell racing at the age of 65, which is ver admirable. I was glad of the next shorter descent and the views at this point, though the path was pitted, rocky and muddy, so you had to keep your eyes on the floor. I lost and gained places in fairly equal measure here. Stoodley Pike seemed a long way away. 

We hopped through puddles, the odd bog (mercifully not deep), and over large grey slabs and stones. Sometimes the path was obvious and at other times runners scattered more broadly across the 10 meters or so where the path might have been. As got nearer the Pike, we saw walkers who were mostly pleasantly bemused by a few hundred mad runners splashing along the path. The slabs get more prominent as you get towards the pike but I felt I moved fairly well through this bit, keeping pace with a lady who looked a fair bit fitter than me. We may have been on the Pennine Way at this point but I couldn't honestly say. 

Stoodley Pike was eventually reacched, with people cheering from the balcony (I get too creeped out by the dark stairs to go up to this point!), and legs turned to the descent. I was immediately over taken but a chap much older than me. I must say, I didn't think I was making hard work of this descent but I struggled to over take and got over taken a few times. It is steep, and again rocky and loose in places with mud in others, but the mudclaws held, as did my quads. Strava reckons it was my fastest descent but everyone around me was definitely faster. Just before the London 'road' track at the bottom, one guys was pulled up rubbing his quads with cramp which is very understandable given the steepness!  

When I recce'd the Calderdale Way relays in 2022, I remember thinking London Road was the point to put some work in, and today I was just doing that when around the corner appeared a very muddy, a bit distressed, Leeds uni runner with a hole in her knee. Poor thing had taken quite the tumble and was now looking a bit shocked walking back up the course to the marshal. She looked so shocked I decided to offer to walk her back up to the marshal (you can do this without it being creepy when you are a mumsy looking woman of a certain age). She'd done the classic of falling on the non-technical bit; some of my worst injuries have occurred like this. 

Having left her with the marshals, I set off back down the London Road for second time, making very sure to pick my feet up. There was no way I was going to catch any other Chorlton Runners now but I decided to get a jiffy on so that Martin didn't get too worried at the pub. Around the corner I could see the climb back up to the skyline ridge and no one was running it... 

It wasn't as muddy as I had feared but it was steep and a bit laborious on tired legs. It too was typically Pennine in its rockiness and muddiness. I was behind a group for a while, and we did get stuck behind thenfamous Antonio of Otley for a bit but he promptly let us pass. The group were going a bit slow for me as we approached to top and I decided to over take.... I think I caused a bit of offence and they all seemed to make a concerted effort as we pushed on to the edge to re-overtake me when it got a bit more runnable again. Ah well. 

My back was niggling now. I knew I didn't have much longer before it would spasm but I reckoned I could do the last bit in 10 minutes. We were back near the stream crossing and I was chasing down a chap who over took me on the downs and then I over took on the flats (he was quite chatty so it was nice an amicable). I could see the the descent and wondered if my legs would let me go down it fast...

The descent of the now quite churned up path back to the bottom was actually magical. My legs mostly did what i wanted, finding little ridges to run along and not skidding too much on the rocks. My reliable mud claws also bit in to the muddier sections. I soon caught up a person or two, but I find over taking down hill quite hard. The descent went on for nearly a mile I think! It was fantastic but I was a bit scared I would run out of steam or concentration..... or go arse over tit in front of everyone in view of the finish line....

I like to think I made the last 100 meters look good but I suspect most people just saw a chubby woman moving at speed and got well clear..... I was last Chorlton runner back and Martin did remark I was a bit further behind Brian than normal (clearly he was aware something might have happened). I was soon assured the young lady from Leeds was back in the pub with her friends and a marshal handed my first aid kit back which was nice. I had enjoyed the race, even if I hadn't set the world alight. It has amazinf views over Calder Valley even if you don't get much time to enjoy them between picking out paths, but that two adds an element of fun and jeopardy. On a wet day it might have been a slog but the nice weather made it a charming afternoon out.