Jarrett's Jaunt fell race 2019
On an unseasonably mild Saturday in February I parked up in Wath Brow, just beside the River Ehen. I followed a stream of runners to the race HQ; a horsebox at the side of road. Two friendly chaps gave me my race number and took my £4 entry fee. Jarrett's Jaunt is a handicap race; the handicap having been worked out in the weeks prior and based on performance in recent fell races. For me this was tricky as this was my first fell race and so my handicap was calculated based on my parkrun times. Writing my start time on the back of my hand, I realised I was in the final few batches of runners... no pressure then. After a short warm-up run, I made my way to the race start. The race start was wonderfully unceremonious; due to the handicap, myself and two other runners waiting for the clock to reach 1.11pm and 30 seconds and off we went. The route climbs quickly along Nannycatch Road and then up onto Flat Fell. It's a climb of around 750ft over about a mile. I took it st...