The Prestwich Challenge is a 8 mile running race with some obstacles, such as a tunnel, some scramble nets, loads of steep nadgery valleys and a really dodgy bridge over a lake made out of pallets.

I started right at the front. I was passed by a few people early on but figured that at least some of them would start to fade eventually and I’d pass them again. The route immediately went off-road along the slippery cobbles and across the motorway bridge, down into Mere Clough and into the stream. Great. I’m going to get soaked only 5 minutes from the start. It’s probably about a kilometre long, this stream and it’s criss-crossed by fallen trees that you’ve got to go over or under then a tunnel at the end…..well, it’s a concrete pipe only big enough to crawl through, 40 feet long with a couple of bends in it. Most of it is therefore in total darkness. Near the end it gets narrower, starts to angle downwards and gets a bit sketchy as the water and the slippery surface tries to shoot you out of the end of the pipe a bit faster than you would like. Out of this, into a pool then a scramble up a muddy bank onto the trail (thank God I’m wearing fell shoes). Then it’s mostly trail running with more tunnels (dry ones), some really steep climbs where I was able to grab some places back (3 Peaks training paying off there!) and plenty more running along streams. 

Near the end, at the top of another climb, just after a scramble net, I’m handed a car tyre to carry for the next half mile. Cheers. After running with this I’m allowed to drop it then run down another muddy slope covered in fallen trees. This one’s so steep I’m surfing down it on my arse, into a stream at the bottom then a climb up an equally steep slope at the other side. Under a scramble net then I’m handed my tyre back to carry for the final half mile. The marshall offered me a bloody great big 255 that was off a Mercedes or something – I therefore ignored him and grabbed my trusty 155 off a Mini 😉

Almost at the end, I seem to have opened up a gap on the young lad I passed on the last climb and I’ve got to negotiate the crappy bridge/pontoon thing I mentioned earlier. I fell in almost immediately and had to swim across the lake still carrying my tyre on my shoulder. A crowd of spectators were predictably watching and cheering at the other side of the lake. After being allowed to leave the tyre on the floor all I had to do was negotiate a climb up and over a steel container (with ropes on it), a huge pile of straw bales, a skip, a scaffolding shimmy along on your hands and shins thing, a scaffolding thing you had to climb over and a run around the perimeter of the rugby pitch.

The guy who was behind me had closed the gap a bit by now. This had been a recurring theme for the last hour and a bit – I was picking people off in the long running sections then I was losing time because I’m a bit crapper than some at stupid obstacles. I’m not a bleedin’ monkey. Anyway, all I had to do now was run as fast as I could around this rugby pitch with someone trying to get past. Ouch.

He didn’t get past though and I crossed the line in 5th place. Apparently there were 190-something people taking part, although some were taking part in the team event (and had to do canoeing and carrying a team member on a stretcher). Quite pleased with that result, despite being extensively cut and bruised.

…the “Winter Sprinter Bicycle Assault Course”. It’s pencilled in for February. It’s going to be much smaller-scale than the “regular” HtN but seeing as we’re not doing a big one next year we’re going to do this sprint race instead.

5 laps or so, open to all types of bikes (although our expectation is that that people will race on either mountain bikes or cyclocross bikes), no camping, no showers, no beer tent, cheap entry fees, pie and peas for dinner and a big vat of mulled wine. Perhaps.

Andrew and I rode a lap yesterday. We’re going to use some footpaths that haven’t seen the feet or wheels of mankind for years and there are a couple of flights of steps to run up. We’ll also have a couple of cyclocross style obstacles that will force a dismount for those that can’t do really big bunny hops…

After the recce ride I took Rachael out in the trailer and finally taught Michael how to ride with clipless pedals. He got it in about 10 minutes! Ace.

We also went to Manchester yesterday to sort out Deb’s birthday present and to drop off my knackered mobile at the shop. We stopped off at Costa Coffee and Eleanor, who was sat on my lap, pulled a whole Grande Latte all over me, making it look like I’d wet myself. She got splashed a bit too so screamed the place down. She was ok, thankfully. The staff were great, gave me another brew on the house but I still had to walk around the busy city centre looking like I’d lost control of my bladder sometime earlier.

I’ve got a cold. It started off mildly enough, so I binned a training ride to allow it to pass. It’s got worse anyway though, so now I’ve done nothing for the last 2 days (I had a century planned for today), I’m back at work tomorrow and I’m feeling very sorry for myself. Oh, and I’ve scraped the skin off my nose from the constant snot wiping. Bah.

I’ve got to get rid of it sharpish though so I’m resisting the urge to go out running or biking until I know I’m 100% again. I’ve trained with a cold before and ended up feeling like a zombie for 4 days afterwards.

I was watching Dave Haygarth’s star 3 Peaks turn on Countryfile again earlier. If you’re doing the race or you’re remotely interested and you’ve not seen it, it’s worth a gander. Simon’s got a bit part in it too 😉

Out on the CX bike this morning in the rain again. I do know that the new studs I’ve screwed into my cycling shoes work really well on steep wet hill scrambles whilst carrying a bike, so that’s good. The rain got heavier and heavier until I got about a mile from home where it just stopped suddenly. According to Deb there had been no bad weather in Prestwich for at least 2 hours. Grrrr.

After I’d dried off a bit we went up to Horton in Ribblesdale for a pint mug of tea and a comedy double pushchair er…push up Pen Y Ghent. We got part of the way up the bridleway before the girls started to complain about the bumpiness and I started to get bored of pushing the bloody thing.

We drove back kind of around Ingleborough and I can confirm that it’s really, really steep and BIG. I have to admit I felt a bit worried. It can’t be as hard as the Cristalp though. Can it?

Me, Michael and Phil went down to Cannock Chase last night for a ride with Phil’s Cannock-based mate Greame. His house literally backs onto the Chase and he’s got a very large driveway for faffing and parking.

We rode up a bit, down a bit, along, up again, down, then joined the “Follow the Dog” trail. That’s a very nice trail actually. Very twisty and narrow in places. Michael hit 2 trees in total, the first one was a mid-air collision – a result of me riding behind him shouting “encouragement” and youthful exhuberance when he saw a jump. It was quite an experience, seeing your firstborn flying through the air headed for a large birch. He was ok, thankfully!

Sadly, the main feature of the ride was the weather. Again. It rained almost constantly apart from the last hour or so where the sky cleared, the moon shone and a herd of deer crossed our path. Ace.