Course du Sanglier

After last week's race, I was determined that this would be a better attempt at running a fell race. Last week, I set off too fast and paid the price in the second half of the race. Today was going to be an exercise in running at a consistent pace and feeling better for it. Simple plan, so did it work ?

We arrived at the race nice and early and Laurence, Christèle and I entered the event and changed into our running kit and waited for the rest of the club to appear. We were 8 from the club in total: Philippe and Catherine, Pascale, Christelle, Christiane and us three. I talked to Philippe before the race, explained the race strategy and lined up beside him at the start. Things were looking good for the race though: sun was completely obscured by clouds, temperature was 13°C and the course was very dry. The cannon was fired and we were off.

545 runners were lined up at the start and the going was fast to begin with. The path headed off across some fields on a gentle slope downhill. Despite my race plan, I ran the first kilometre in 3:58 and the second too for that matter. Nevertheless, I felt comfortable at this pace and was in a large group of 10 or so runners. The group soon stretched out as we went up the first hill and then doubled back on ourselves to cut back to where we had run 6 minutes earlier. I eased off down the hill in order to save my right knee from to many shocks as I didn't want it to weaken on me from the start.

The path left the fields after about 4 kilometres and headed into the woods. There were a series of hills up and down an escarpment that the path followed alternately going down to the bottom before pulling back up and then repeating the process. Each hill, seven in total, was numbered so that it was easy to recognise how many hills still had to be climbed. A little sign at the foot of each hill indicated the number assigned, the length of the hill and its steepness in %. This meant that in theory that you could judge the effort necessary and adjust your speed accordingly. In practice, I just kept my head down and grit my teeth, determined to run up each one. The advantage that I gained over those walking was minor.

At 5.5 km the path turned right for the 21km race while the 11km race went straight on. This was a shame since I'd been picking off the back runners from the 11 km race and it was helping my motivation no end. Nothing for it now, but to concentrate on the runners around me and to try and stay with them. This is what happened over a large part of the race since there wasn't much movement in the groups that had formed. Some runners were faster up the hills, other down them. I excelled on the flat and was able to pull back a few places every time the path flattened out a little.

The course was excellent: well marshalled, interesting terrain and countryside, through woods and fields, and plenty of up and downhill to break your rhythm. I ran steadily throughout. My slowest kilometre was 5:53 up the last hill of the course and the fastest 3:47 down a long hill with a tarmac section.

Final results can be seen on the '>official website. I finshed in 64 place in a time of 1:37 dead. This is an average of 4:34 per km for a total height gain of 432m over the course. I'm reconciled with fell running again and happy with my race.

Laurence struggled to finish in 2:18, suffering from a sore knee and a stitch. The pain in her knee still hasn't disappeared, despite a rest this week. We're both concerned that the symptoms today may imply a lot more time off. Visit to the sports specialist on Tuesday for the final verdict.
Thanks to Castor Fou for the photos from last year's race. Race is run in opposite directions from one year to the next, so uphills seen here are the downhills we ran today. I far prefer the course in this year's direction: next year will be a lot harder !