The Fountain’s 10k was a race I stumbled across when I was browsing a list of races on RaceBest. When I read that there were guaranteed wet feet and a pork pie in the goody bag, I just couldn’t resist. Lots of people I spoke to about this race assumed that it takes place in the grounds of Fountain’s Abbey. This isn’t the case. It starts and finishes in Grantley, just outside of Ripon, and loops around the beautiful, undulating Nidderdale countryside.
The day before this race, I ran across a field on the way back from a GoodGym mission (good trail training) and went over on my ankle when a dog growled at me (not so good trail training). The dog then promptly ran away from me, but I’m still attributing blame! Fortunately it wasn’t serious. It felt a bit tender that evening, and a bit stiff in the morning, but didn’t seem to affect my running.
Race day
After a hearty breakfast of buttermilk pancakes topped with bacon and maple syrup I set out on my journey to the race which started at the very reasonable time of 11am. After waiting my turn for a parking spot along a country lane, I started the walk to race HQ (the earlier you get there, the closer to the start you get to park – I wasn’t early!) Everyone seemed friendly and I chatted to a fellow runner as we made our way. She too had been attracted by the promised pork pie in the goody bag, but was less enthused about the wet feet thing.
Down at Grantley Village Hall, everything was really well organised, with race bib, timing chip and safety pins packaged up in a sealed envelope ready for collection. From there, it was just a short walk to the start where a brass band was set up under a blossoming tree, their music adding to the lovely community atmosphere. It was a cool and breezy 8 degrees with dark grey clouds in the sky, contrasting beautifully with the many greens of the surrounding countryside. As the race director briefed us, we were assured that ‘The Puddle’ had been filled up that morning and was looking nice and deep. I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not!
The first km of the race took us uphill on a country lane and past all of the parked cars. The road was narrow, making it a tad difficult to pass people who were not yet spread out enough to make the space.
We turned off onto a trail just before the 2km marker and headed out onto the moor, via ‘The Puddle’ which was clearly signposted and nestled itself behind an open gate. It consisted of a short section of ankle deep bog. The relatively steep and rocky downhill section which led down to The Puddle was approached with caution by many of the runners, forcing me to slow down behind them. Most of the runners in the area were also taking a cautious, yet slower route around the outside of The Puddle and I joined the queue to minimise the need to clean my trainers later, while a few others splashed on straight through. On the other side, there was an equally steep, yet short rocky uphill section which I ran half way up before walking the last few metres. That achieved, the trail opened up and took us across the moor.
Just after 3km an extremely enthusiastic marshall was making the noise of at least 5 cheerleaders, doing an awesome job of cheering everyone through another gate and we continued across the moor which narrowed onto another trail. As I slowed to the pace of the runners in front of me, I took the opportunity to have a look around and caught glimpse of a body of water somewhere to the right, complementing the stunning views across the moors.
After completing 4km the trail took us back out onto the road where we turned onto a glorious downhill section as the sunshine poked it’s head from behind the parting clouds. I relaxed into it, overtaking lots of runners as I sped down the hill.
The 5km marker appeared, seemingly at the blink of an eye. It was indeed my fastest km, taking just 04:38.
By the time we reached 6km, the runners I’d passed on the way down had mostly overtaken me again on the next uphill section. There was a water station just before the 6km marker, which I considered passing without taking a drink, but on seeing the road start to rise up ahead of me again, I grabbed a cup and walked through the water station, coughing as I gulped down the cold liquid, and hearing others do the same all around me.
In the 7th km a passing runner asked if I’d done the race before. It was her first time too and she was wondering where the ‘Hill of Pain’ would rear it’s head. I couldn’t say for sure, but I drove up a hill on the way in that looked like it could be it, so I recommended that she expect it in the last km. By now the sun had hidden itself away again and was replaced by a very welcome cool and gusty breeze.
At 8km I glanced down at my watch to work out how fast I’d need to be to keep it under an hour. It read 42 minutes something, which told me that I was very comfortably under an hour. A nearby man asked if my watch was reading a bit short (it was) and warned that it could mean that there was a ‘long’ km coming up if the distance measurement discrepancy was due to the km marker placement rather than any of that satellite tracking malarkey.
By the time I passed the 9th km marker the Hill of Pain still hadn’t appeared, which pleased me no end. At least now I knew that it wouldn’t be a whole km long! Of course, the big sign advertising it didn’t take long to rear it’s head and we set off on our slog uphill. It was steep, and wound itself around a few corners, making it difficult to know when it was going to end. As I tackled the first part, GoodGym Paul, who runs these things in around 38 minutes came running and cheering down the hill as he looked out for Pauline. He obviously enjoyed the hill so much, he was willing to tackle it a second time when he ran with her to the finish! I briefly considered walking, but noticed that noone else was yet, which was all the motivation I needed to keep on going. When they did start walking, I managed to carry on. Around a corner and, though we were still travelling uphill, the gradient softened, allowing me to get my breath back. One more curve in the road and I spied one final steeper bit, but I could also hear cheers from the village, accompanied by the sound of the brass band – I was nearly at the top of the hill. As I ran over the crest and past the 400m to go sign, I could hear spectators calling out that it was all downhill from here. And it was. Around a corner and into the school grounds I went with spectator noise increasing all the time. The final stretch was a full lap of the admittedly small school field, making it seem like I was running in a big circle, and the finish posts appeared out of nowhere at the last minute. The official timer was still on 54 minutes something as I went through, meaning that I definitely had a respectable time! My official finishing time was 00:54:12.
In the finishing funnel, there was music playing, school children available to cut the timing chips from our trainers and the race director congratulating and shaking the hands of everyone who went through. It led us round to a gazebo where volunteers were handing out goody bags which contained a plethora of goodies including a 3D printed medal, and of course, the all important pork pie.
Goody Bag haul
All in all, a fantastic race and one I’ll certainly return to.
Pacially Challenged 