Kendal Winter League 2020: Event 1 Scout Scar, Kendal

Helm Hill Runners' 2020 Kendal Winter League (sponsored by Different Strokes Painting & Decorating Ltd and Pete Bland Sports ) kicked off on Scout Scar on January 5th. Unlike the last few years conditions were damp and muddy. This didn't seem to reduce the number of runners on the start line. Race 1: the under 13s were the first ones to tackle the Scar with a testing ascent followed by a race to the finish. For many their first ever fell race and for others a chance to settle scores from previous years.

A total of 112 runners aged 8-12 headed up the hill. It was quite a sight:

All emotions were on display from determination to tears but plenty of smiles too:

This is the full race video:

FRA Juniors 2019 - Sedbergh

On a very wet and overcast morning we arrived at the People's Hall in Sedbergh in advance of Helm Hill's hosting of the FRA Junior championship for 2019. At the time it was so cloudy that the tops of the hills weren't visible and it was a worry as to whether it would be safe for the under 19s to run their full route as it took in 3 summits (luckily the weather cleared in plenty of time!).

After my marshal briefing I walked the under 9 route with my son so I could find the best videoing spot. It was a challenging if not too long a route for them:

My son and his friend walked some more of their under 15 route whilst I set myself up to film just below the under 9 turn. There were 26 runners from 6-8 years in this race:

After they had gone I walked up along the descent route to capture the under 11s. This shows how steep some of the course was:

Kendal Winter League 2019: Race 1 Scout Scar

It was videoing the Kendal Winter League last year that really started the momentum going on my YouTube Channel. So with this year's competition starting last Sunday I am determined to:

1. Video all the races
2. Improve on my techniques and positioning for the films

I was combining videoing with being safety marshal on the gate at Scout Scar which meant that whilst I was close to the action (so close runners jostled me!), but it was quite tricky to film some of it! 

The first race was for the under 11s and under 13s which meant children from 8-12. This was a highly competitive and fast and furious race:

Once the 95 children had all finished it was time for the under 15s to take to the start line. This included my son as he had turned 12 before the New Year making him one of the youngest runners. They had a longer race of just over 2km and again there were some strong performances. My son was 13th out of 21 which was a great result for him:

The final junior race was the under 17s. Again some of these have only just moved up from the under 15 category but they all put in amazing runs: