This was hard, perhaps not the best fell race for my first one however the fact it was so steep meant some walking was allowed!

The race started with a mile or so on the road – my favourite terrain! – Wearing fell shoes made it a little more difficult then usually though, I made up a lot of places at this point just to be over taken when the incline started!

The up was tough especially the last climb up to the summit, the strong winds had me clinging to the rocks as I scrambled up to the top. The hardest part was across the tops where the wind was at its worse, I felt that I was getting blown off course and at points blown off my feet!

The downhill was fun, but not knowing the route and not having anybody still insight in front of me meant I had to concentrate and be aware of the markers, rather than being able to open up as much as I’d like, luckily there were markers or I’d probably still be up there!

The marshals did a great job of directing me and keeping me on course (and shouting at me when I took my hat off because if was blowing off in the wind – Safety first!)

As soon as I recognised the route back down to Horton I started to open up and flew down the last part of the downhill before re-joining the road back round to the race field and finally the long awaited finish line!

This was a really tough race and I was probably a little out of my depth, there were points at which I would have turned back if I hadn’t decided it was probably safer and easier to keep going forward! I would recommend it but perhaps not to the more inexperienced fell runner! – But then again, I made it round so why not give it a go!

It just £4 to enter there are isn't any swag or memento, just the achievement of running 5 miles up and down a mountain :) There are also no aid stations - It's only 5.5 miles! But there are lots of marshals on the route to ensure runners safety

See you there next year?

www.runhelenrun.co.uk