Guisborough Moors Fell Race

Dave Wotton writes about an orienteering event on Boxing Day followed by the Guisborough Moors fell race the day after. Sounds like the perfect way to burn off those festive calories!

So it’s Boxing Day I set off to Durham University still stuffed with Christmas pud for an orienteering event hosted by Northern Navigators. The event itself was a 60 minute score event with 25 controls using emit touch free electronic system. The event started off I went picked up the first couple of controls then decided to head off into the woods. I started collecting controls in the woods and suddenly realised it was going to be a lot tougher than I’d anticipated. The course was quite physically demanding and technical for the amateur but I did manage to get some idea of how to read the map and managed to collect 21 controls and get back just 30 seconds late. These events are really good variation to running and would recommend giving them ago.

So now off home for some rest and more festive spoils before I head off to Guisborough the next morning for more punishment and so it ensued. After registration I found out the course had been changed because of all the rain and they had added another 1.3 miles to bump it up to just under 7 miles, two laps; one of 3 miles the second just under 4. So off we went, me placed nicely at the rear. Almost the whole of the first mile was a lung bursting climb and then it eased with the next two mildly undulating back to the start. Yes another mile on the up. I hit the top and think yes nice and steady back to the start but I’m wrong an unexpected turn to the left and more uphill and then onto the moor for a mile across and up to the top of it before heading back down to the finish. Thoroughly enjoyed it later on. there is some really nice running to be done on the North York Moors and plenty of races which can be found on Esk Valley Fell Runners or the FRA web sites.

Great stuff Dave. I’ve done a couple of orienteering events and I agree, they are quite fun. Although if like me, you have no sense of direction and can’t tell the difference between a contour line and a road on a map, they can be quite daunting.