The Wray Caton Moor fell race is a category B (less than 25 metres climb per kilometre with no more than 30% of the route on road), short (10 kilometres or less) fell race and it's everything a proper fell race should be... you pay your fiver and you run!
Required kit? None. Ace. Simple.
I ran it last year and thoroughly enjoyed it but all I could remember was that it was a long, long steady climb up to Caton Moor trig and a long, long fast descent back down... with a hop over a wall before a short sprint to the finish line! Oh, and I also remembered carrying, in hand, a 500ml soft flask full of water for the entire race... I did not take a single sip, I was far too busy gasping for breathe!
We assembled on Main Street at 7pm, just West of the bridge over the River Roeburn... the Race Organiser called us to order and we observed a minute of silence to honour those no longer with us... in particular, we remembered Darren Kay, a regular at previous runnings of the race who had sadly gone missing whilst running on the island of Madeira in December 2022. It was a respectful, sobering moment and a great way to pay tribute to a very gifted fell runner. Moments later, we were off...
I wanted to push hard and see if I could better my time of 54:27. I shuffled close to the front of the pack at the start line and made good progress on the tarmac during the first half-mile, getting into a good position before striding out onto the fields and by the time I reached the boggy sections, I was puffing like a steam train and longing for the trig to come into view!
Legs like jelly, I exhaled a feeble "thank you, marshal" at the trig and set off for home... I had the sense that I must have made some progress in downhill speed over the previous twelve months but I was surprised when I actually caught and passed a few runners... granted, one poor chap had had his shoe sucked clean off his foot by a bog and had elected to stop and retrieve it rather than continue half-hoofed but none-the-less, it felt good.
Despite pushing hard, despite improvements in downhill speed (actual or imagined) and despite all of that huffing and puffing... I finished in 55:06... 39 seconds slower than last year.
As always, a huge thank you to the organisers, marshals, volunteers and the people of Wray village for putting on a proper fell race.
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