Golden Cap Challenge

This weekend was the Charmouth to Golden Cap Challenge. It's a rather hilly race and held under fell race rules. How they differ I have no idea but they weren't kidding if they likened it to a fell race!
The start of the 8 mile race is through the back streets of Charmouth in Dorset then it takes to the rural lanes and immediately climbs a steep,narrow tarmac lane through a wood, and then just before the first mile is done, it gets onto looser surface. Pretty soon comes a water station and it is popular despite coming so soon. The Chippenham Harriers seem to have taken it over (following their success watering the Cotswold Relay last week)
There follows a more level section. It's an illusion of course, as soon we can see our fellow runners, the tearaways, up way ahead and more to the point, way above us.
Despite the heat and maybe because of the climb, it is cooler up here. Subsequent water stations get ignored by me.
Eventually though we are at the real top, only to be tormented again by the level of concentration and sheer effort of descending. No rest here at all, just a different sort of hard work! The surface is mostly grass but the gritty, worn patches are a bit scary as the stones cause you to slide. I choose grass where it is available as I feel I can slow myself a bit better here. I never forget my nick-name in the Harriers: Birdman. Am I going to go flying this time too? My luck seems to hold however, only one slight trip in the whole race.
Down to a boggy section under the trees. Nothing to worry those of us who have run Dursley or Sodbury. We start to climb to the highest point in the race. Moreover, Golden Cap is the highest point on the south coast of England. The path has been eroded in the past by heavy use as part of the South West Coast Path and has wooden steps built into it. These are a mixed blessing. Usually they are a help but of course this depends if they suit your leg length and stride. A shorter runner might prefer no steps. I suffer; we all do, but I make it to the top without walking. This really is my specialist subject so I can't walk this! The top is billiard table smooth but only for about 200 yards and then it's down, but down with a vengeance: more of those steps. On the way down they are treacherous. I am very wary of a trip or a twisted ankle. The steps had path material built up behind them once but now the steps themselves are worn and eroded and are a real tripping hazard. Somehow it all goes well and steps give way to open steep grassland and I am able to let myself go, somewhat recklessly. A level section allows me to look around and I realise that the last climb is almost as big as Golden Cap and in fact it is the hardest of the three hills. More Harriers shouting support at the top and I finally see tiny Charmouth down below me. The way is barred by a succession of stiles and gates and the path is 'improved' by more of those steps but I'm getting into my stride now. I'm passing more cautious, more sane, runners as I quick step and jive down through the steps and finally reach the narrow footbridge just before the finish. A final moment of worry as a toddler plays right into my path on the bridge but his guardian angel wisks him aside just in time.
In the school play-ground the Fire Brigade are spraying over-heated runners and many of us are showing signs of sunburn. It's true; the sun causes premature ageing. I feel a hundred years old...
I drink and I drink. One competitor is loaded into an ambulance, worried Axe Valley runners gathered around her. I think she is the runner who has been with me for the majority of the race. Thanking my luck that I seem to thrive in the heat.
Club-mates arrive in the finish funnel and I start to realise that I have done rather well and am 3rd Harrier and 2nd vet. My time is 1:10:39 giving me 73rd place. Great but 17 mins slower than the winner!

The weekend was spent camping at Seatown, an ambitiously named hamlet to the east of Golden Cap. The campsite is first class and so is the pub, the Anchor, which feels unimproved and historic but still seems to have everything in place for the 21st century patron. I love this sort of pub. Our first evening is spent on the front terrace of the pub, drinking a range of Palmer's Ales. Caution is thrown to the wind a little (a lot by some members of the club, though I remember that some of them are not racing the next day) I seem to be up all night for a succession of 'pees' and then before dawn I get up and walk to the top of the first hill to watch the sun appear. Back down from the hill I see the sun rise again - now that's a first for me! I have a walk on the beach towards Golden Cap and find a few fossils including a perfect 2" diameter Ammonite. Other fossils are visible, some I recognise from books I have read. Later we return and a man is chipping a dinosaur bone from the cliff face.

During the Golden Cap Challenge Lynne goes off with Lisa, and her friend Kirsty, to a donkey sanctuary near Seaton 25 miles to the west. They come back itching and sneezing. A donkey allergy? It sounds fun though, Lynne's sort of thing.

Later, after the race, we have a club barbecue which defies the smoke free regulations enforced last week by being more like a charcoal burners' convention. The food is good though and I have more than my fill, plus a bottle of red stuff.

Sunday is spent visiting Weymouth, though the rest of the club pack up and leave. We return to the camp-site in the afternoon and take the tent down ten minutes too late to avoid getting it wet in the only rain of the weekend...