2pm Tuesday afternoon and I see that it's 'The Beast' tonight. I'd said several months earlier that I'd enter it but then it was buried under a thousand other posts on the forum. Tied legs from the day befores hard 25 mile fell run didnt dampen my enthusiasm to give it a bash. I think I was still suffering the none competivness blues from Saturday!
So it was, four brave Spartans gathered the courage to face the Beast.
For a local fell race the entry was massive, the streets of Maeshafn were grid locked. We turned up an hour early but still had to park miles away (well at least 5 mins!)
Rain of Biblical proportions tried to thwart us before the event but we stood fast and took our baptism on the chin (and elsewhere).
Avo, Alex, Matt and myself stood proud amongst the sea of Helsby, Pensby, Tattenhall and many many other keen runners. SteveR and many other familiar faces were seen/noted.
No sooner had the rain eased off and we were off... These short races are fast man, very fast! Within the first 200 yards you claim your position and try to maintain it for the rest of the race! I did manage to take a couple of scalps but it just turned into 'run like your life depended on it' race.
The first hill was a true beast that kept on coming at you, a quick dash across the tops then down to be faced with the second hill, this was slightly shorter but steeper (think using hands and feet!). Another short dash and we were heading down and back towards the finish. No hanging about here, it was a full on headless chicken sprint for the last 1.5 miles. While I lost a few hundred meters too the guys in front of me on the steep down hill but I made good progress to catch them on the flat just as I was getting warmed up!
I crossed the finish line 42:58 (my watch) to be greated by Alex with a huge grin on his face (as usual). I removed my race number (as ordered) and headed back up the hill to see Paul and Matt in but no sooner had I turned the first corner I saw Avo belting down the hill, a quick shout of encouragement and he sprinted the last 200yards very nearly taking another place! Fantastic effort. Matt soon joined us, a quick change and we were in the pub swapping stories about our belt around Maeshafn.
This was a great little race that I'll be back for next year.