Great Westmorland Trail Race 2018

As the Great Westmorland Trail Race was part of my son's junior club championship we fired up the Sat Nav and went for a drive into the Yorkshire Dales. After an accidental detour via Kirkby Stephen we reached the village of Crosby Garrett which was the start line for the races organised by Howgill Harriers:

Once my son had registered we attempted to walk the course... After a slightly heated discussion with my son I was proved right that the juniors headed out under the railway viaduct before heading up the fell. It was a there and back again route so I found a spot to film the first race and sent my son back to the start:

To save time and marshals they combined the under 9 and under 13 races by setting the younger runners off first with an advanced start line. The turning points for the races were at different points so some of the under 9s were coming back down before all the under 13s had passed me:

My son finished 3rd boy (4th overall) which was his best finish position for a couple of years. He won £2 and moves to the top of the club championship with only 1 race to go!

Next up it was the under 11s and under 15s/17s, there weren't enough under 17s for their own race. I moved further up the track as the under 11 turn was higher up:

There were more good performances from my son's club Helm Hill:

There was a bit of a break before the senior race to allow for the prize giving and to give marshals time to get into position. There were 138 runners, including an elephant, who set off on the 13 km race:

It was a great range of runners from some of the current top UK fell runners Carl Bell and Sharon Taylor to folks just trying to see if they could get round. The last 3 runners won a bottle of beer which was a nice touch! I am wondering if I can fit enough to try it next year?