Race Reporting: Wolfs Pit 2011

Report By Trevor Watson, Steel City Striders.

Sunday saw another fine day for racing or so the weather forecasters had us believe on Saturday. Luckily, the showers they subsequently forecast on Sunday morning didn't really materialise into anything serious and only a keen wind hung around to remind us that it was the last day of winter, and wearing just a vest and shorts were not the order of the day for most of us* (more later on this).

After some difficult-to-hear public service announcements (the organisers really need to get a megaphone), the crowd gathered behind an invisible starting line, and with a toot on an air-horn the frantic rush across the field was on. Fortunately the field is wide enough to allow competitors to get organised without the usual shoulder-barging, tripping, kicking or biting typical of other local races.

Out of the field, there's a short run down a single-track lane before we ford a stream and then turn right to start the climb. At first, the climb is on road and fairly gentle, but after 100m or so, we turn right onto farmland and the real climbing starts. *Here I was passed with a guy who obviously thought summer had arrived and was running without a top (and no, it wasn't Andy Moore this time). Across two fields which gradually get steeper, then we're out onto rough pasture/moor for the climb up to the mast. As climbs go, this one is exceptionally tough, going near vertical in one place, and several people around me were using both hands and feet to make progress. This is where you really value a good pair of fell shoes! Thankfully, though, the extreme hill didn't last too long before we had a little more gentle slope, albeit a long one up to Shatton mast.

Finally we leave the field, cross the track and then... ...more climb up to the top of the moor! Fortunately, this was runnable, with some puffing and panting on my part and once over the hill, there was a relatively fast undulating run before a quick descent back to the track we crossed earlier.

The route follows the track uphill slightly and then around to Wolf's Pit. It then bears off to the left towards Offerton Moor, where a hurdle over the stile was taken by some competitors to avoid having to queue. The single-track nature of the first part of the path over the moor made it difficult to get past people. However, it did open up as we got further onto the moor and there was some changing of positions. It was here that I managed to elbow a couple of female runners out of the way and pushed a guy over into the heather to gain 3 places. Racing is tough, you know!

  Continued...

The writer himself, post race and looking far to fresh...

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