Simonside Cairns Fell Race, 15th December 2024

Chris Jones brave enough to venture back into the countryside after the previous day’s NE Cross-Country Championships, this time up in the Northumberland hills. Here is his report of the Simosnside Cairns race:

Simonside Cairns is one of those races that says it’s nearly Christmas, like the Saltwell 10k. You might have seen article about the Christmas tree on the local BBC news app. This year’s event was moved from last weekend due to the storm, making a doubleheader with the North East XC which often used to coincide back in the early 2000s and was fun when I was 20 years younger! It was mildly boggy and quite an effort running into the wind out of Rothbury and round the back of Simonside, then quite cold and misty over the top. A kind, heroic and presumably frozen marshall took my photo at the summit tree, which amazingly still had decorations attached! I’m too timid on the greasy slabs and rocky steps down to be a proper fell runner, and lost about 5 places and many minutes. 1hr 59 is my slowest time ever over the 11 mile course but it’s always a fun race.