I don’t even like running, I like the feeling of finishing so when Gary posed the question of running the Tour of Pendle followed up with, “Carl says it’s the worst race he’s ever done!”, I was tempted. The worse the run the better the feeling when you finish!
I knew it was going to be sh*t, that’s partly the point, but I was not expecting the depravities that unfolded. Clearly, the brainchild of a sadist with misanthropic tendencies, the Tour of Pendle is an 16.8 mile fell race on the open moors of Pendle Hill with an unnecessary 4833ft of climbing.
The climbs are the steepest and longest things I’ve ever seen and are an all fours kind of job! The descents are also disgusting, my trail shoes were woefully inadequate, which I suspected prior to the race but was too cheap to buy a suitable pair of fell shoes. I paid the price, hitting double digits in falls, 7 on the descents and 5 in the peat bogs on the tops which were literally everywhere!
I could waffle on about the many stream crossings, that had become rivers due to relentless rain, that almost washed poor Joe away but I’ll save that for another day!
All in all a fantastic day out and I highly recommend and expect to see a few more of you beauties joining us there next year! Oh, and it was a great feeling to finish, rounded off with a couple of pints in Pendle Inn! What’s not to love?
