‘Michael Page’ NWFPAC 2021 Championship – Race 3: Beat the Train: Bury to Rawtenstall

The race premise, for those who haven’t done it, is to set off from Bury train station heading up the Irwell valley all the way to Rawtenstall, over a distance which the organisers vaguely threatened was ‘about ten and a half miles’. The objective is to get to Rawtenstall before a steam train that sets off from Bury Station at the same time as the race starts. To give the runners more of chance, the train sets off in the wrong direction, before turning round and heading to Rawtenstall.

This race was in the NWFPAC calendar in 2019 and it would not be an exaggeration to say it nearly finished me! At the time I put this down to a lack of core fitness after an injury and not enough fluids, so I re-entered for 2020 and vowed to come back fitter and better prepared to have another go.

And so, after a brief hiatus for a pandemic, two years later we were back on and heading to Bury. Whilst the weather had cooled off after the heatwave we have experienced in recent days, temperatures in the early twenties was still plenty warm enough for a 10 mile trail race. On arrival, I caught up with Davids Chambers and Simmons for a pre-race debrief on the station platform and then, after a few jealous glances at my Karrimor hydra-backpak (an unused 2019 Xmas present), we headed to the station car park start line, where Adrian also appeared.

The train arrived on the platform and on the station masters whistle we were off. The course kicks off with a deceptively easy downhill (and quick) first kilometre, before hitting the river path to begin the relentless grind uphill to the finish. The course then twisted and turned following the river, up and down steps, across fields, over bridges, through overgrown brambly paths, up one horribly long cobbled hill and one flooded road. All the while getting hotter and hotter…

At one point, I turned a corner to be confronted by three shire* horses sheltering from the sun under the arch of a bridge, through which the race trail was supposed to pass. Unfortunately the arch was about the same width as one and a half horses, which didn’t leave many options for getting past. Without stopping to think it through, I opted for what appeared to be a small man sized gap between two ample rear ends and a wall, which seemed like a bad idea in real time although the jeopardy of risking a whack off a hoof did add some mid-race excitement.

I hadn’t seen David C or Adrian since the very early stages, so for the last 5K or so, with my head getting hotter and my legs getting tireder, the plan was to just keep plodding along and avoid blowing up, hoping that I’d managed to put enough distance between myself and Dave S, who had been talking a good pre-race game.

Having mentally prepared for the race to be at least 17K, I could barely contain my delight when just short of 16K I turned a corner and ahead of me was the glorious sight of the Rawtenstall West signal box, which I recalled was only a stone’s throw from the finish. This gave me the boost required to put on a token sprint down the home straight to impress my family** waiting at the finish line.

After crossing the finish line I had just enough of my wits about me to stumble into the station pub in time to see David (Chambers) and Adrian getting served at the bar. I gave the signal and we were soon sat outside for some post-race analysis with a well-earned pint. In the end it was somewhere between 16.2 and 16.4 kilometres depending on whose Garmin you believed.

NWFPAC results wise, David Chambers secured a very impressive top 10 finish in 9th, with Adrian Rogers not far behind in 12th. Then came me, Sam, and Dave who all comfortably beat the train. Nicola and Adam finished off the NWFPAC finishers, quite possibly after the train had arrived. There’s always next year.

Overall, a good day out and a scenic course, although I have concluded that running uphill for 10 miles in July is hard work, and there is a very slim chance that I’ll be doing it a third time.

* they may not have been Shire horses although it was very unexpected and I was beginning to get quite hot. There may even have been four of them now I think of it.

** they weren’t there, they were late.