"I don't know where he came from"...
Rob at Langdale 2009
If my (very sketchy) calculations are right, Rob Hope‘s second place at Coniston over the weekend has put him in the lead of the 2010 English Fell Running Championships, after two rounds. The Pudsey and Bramley man was pleased with his run on Saturday…
However, he was also astounded at the rate of Ian Holmes’ descent off the last hill, giving MST his race reaction Rob explains:
It was my first race back after the first British Champs counter in Ireland on 9 April as I was keen to getting a bit of training under my belt after a stop start early season with various illnesses and injuries.
I’m still carrying an Achilles problem but it’s not really hampering my efforts. Anyway, the weather was kind for the start of the race and I had high expectations of a good result after several reasonable placings in previous races even when when not firing on all cylinders. Dan (my bro) and I knew that if we tucked in well on the climbs we’d have a good chance for a high placing on the long technical descent.
At Slieve Bearnagh, 2009
As it panned out Rob Jebb, Morgan Donnelly and Ben Bardsley pushed the pace early on but we didn’t lose too much ground. After running up Wetherlam and over to Coniston, I was just off the pace but knew victory could be in sight. All was going to plan as Dan and I hurtled of the summit and passed the leaders with high hopes of a Hope 1-2.
Unfortunately, the past master and 8 times winner of the race, Ian Holmes, flew past us all (I’m still scratching my head now as I don’t know where he came from). Dan and I gambled on an alternative route halfway down the descent but it didn’t pay off as we probably lost a little bit of ground and Ian went on to win the race.
I managed to take 2nd and Dan 4th after just losing out 3rd spot to Morgan. It was a funny old race as Brit champs rd 1 winner Andy Symonds had one of those completely unexplainable, legs competely dead, runs and finished 27th after his blistering run and victory in Ireland. I’m sure he’ll be back on the podium next time. Roll on the next race…
Rob Hope
