Snow turning to Slush

Although the weather forecast hinted at the possibility of overnight snow, it was still a surprise to find so much when we woke up this morning, enough to justify a walk on the moor to take some photos and assess conditions for the race. Freezing feet was going to be the order of the day. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed the Chevin Chase as much as this year’s edition, over what was essentially 7 miles of slush!

I’ve not run the race for quite a few years, mainly because it gets sold out so quickly, way before it usually comes to my attention. With Forrest keen to run, we were on the ball this year. We managed to get our numbers within minutes of entries opening, by which time subscription was already up to 500. Within a few hours the maximum of 1,400 had been reached. Over a thousand turned up to run on the day. 

Jonny Brownlee turned out to run, as he often does, but was beaten into 2nd place. In fact, he had to bust a gut to beat two of my fellow Ilkley Harrier club members, Nathan and Tom, who finished 3rd and 4th respectively. Forrest had a cracking run to finish 37th in 46.57. He's come a very long way this year. I was happy with my run too, 245th in 57.46. 

Forrest was intrigued to compare his performance with mine of old. I’ve never really been much of one for dwelling on times and keeping any record of races, but they’ve become a lot more interesting now that my lad is chasing me down, the future hunting down the past, so to speak. As far as this event is concerned it's been hard to trace the results of any of those old races to discover my PB. There doesn’t seem to be much of an archive available. I did find results from 2001 and was amazed to find that I recorded exactly (to the second) the same time as Forrest recorded this year. The game is on.