busy weekend for fell running
Well there was a little bit of stuff going on this weekend including so many fell trial races, junior uphill, world junior selection and the intercounties at Sedbergh. Despite us having a very well supported Devon trial on the day we only had a solo runner in the men’s race. The course although not too technical is steep and super fast and 14k and 700+ m of climb with kit!
All credit to Sam Deller , who won the Devon champs and has been a keen supporter of the Dartmoor fell series, for a sterling performance in a top class field which also featured teams from NI, Scotland and Wales.
Sam’s account
‘Standing behind the calibre of Fell runners at the inter-counties this year was sure to make the 1100ft climb in front of us become a mammoth of a challenge, the pace was blistering from the offset. Taking on Arant Haw at 606 metres followed by a steep ramp up to Winder at 473 metres. The descent of Winder could easily be described as one for track runners, it was by no means technical meaning that you could go that much faster. My legs allowed me to cover 0.90 of a mile in 4 minutes & 50 seconds, only to later read that first place ran the same descent in 3 minutes & 59 seconds. Speed kills. After the descent I was more than happy for the race to finish – it did not. The death march began as I went for the second loop. To see men on all fours as their bodies no longer allowed them to climb the second time around set a scene of chaos that un-folded out there. It was a great race & all of the support was fantastic on the day. 28th out of 91 males will do this time around.’
results
The impact of the laps at the intercounties are legendary as the pace is so intense. Plus although we have hills to be proud of – the length of climbs and gradients of descent will really test local training. A super result well done Sam.!
See you dashing around in the series!