2017 Trigger Race

17th January 2017 - Well I was gutted that with all the organising done for Trigger (without Steve this year) and the uncertainty about the weather as there was deep snow about on the Saturday when I put the flags out on Black Hill - but come Sunday morning my cough was still too bad and my chest very tight so I made the probably right decision not to race. The clag was well and truly down and there was heavy showers all day so I was very worried for the 191 runners that set off. Watching them through Crowden did nothing to alleviate my worries as half of the runners seemed to have no idea of where to go next. There were quite a few retirements there which were ferried back to Edale. I got to Edale and along with Charmian, Jude. Simon, Ian, Jeff and Andy we got the Finish sorted and just waited. The first runner Nic Barber came in in 3.59 hours (about 20 minutes slower than normal although the aircraft wreck CP addition would have taken longer to go to without the clag being down). Then we waited another 20 minutes and I was getting more and more worried about the whole field. The runners and the retirements trickled in until we had all 191 accounted for. 157 finished - however we have had to remove 6 runners from the results as they ran on the Out of Bounds area. 34 runners retired due to the very bad conditions (we usually have 5/8 retirements). Apparently the Snake top was bitterly cold. Well done to all the runners; there were a lot of people very glad to finish and we were very glad to see them. We raised over £5000 this year for WMRT !!

21st January 2017

On Sunday I wanted to run the Trigger route just to say I had done it. Steve agreed to run with me even though he's not run that distance for months and only got back from India last Tuesday! So Sunday morning we had cows to feed etc then a car to drop at Edale before driving to Marsden via a cafe for brunch and so we started at 12.10pm. My watch did about 2 miles and packed up so I was taking photos of us at the CP's until it got too dark and cold to do so. It seemed a mad idea to Crowden - where we had a stash of sandwiches, pies and coffee (and dog biscuits for Wisp). Then Lawrence edge finding our way well in the clag. Across Wain Stones, Hern Stones in thick clag and upwards to the wreck and Shelf Moor Trig. It was now 4pm and daylight was fading. We hoped to get to the wreck with some light and took a line down Withins straight to the wreck. Now 5pm and dark. We wrapped up warm and began the long trog round Kinder. It seemed to take ages but we climbed up onto the plateau. I wanted to go to the Trig but we couldn't see it so headed off in the right place and came across it. Heading back again we didn't know where we were on the path but headed off on our HPM bearing to try and hit the flags leading to East of Edale. We soon got into some odd ground so retraced our steps back to the big cairn. Off again and I heard a whistle - like someone whistling a dog. So we carried on and I heard it again, then a faint shout and a whistle. We shouted but no reply. Then a whistle again and a flash of torch. Not wanting to leave our line I stayed where I was and Steve went to investigate. He was ages and I was getting cold. He then came back leading a very cold lady and her dog. We discussed the best option. She (Nicki Love) had called MRT and they told her to stay put. But we didn't want to stay there and nobody knew where we were anyway. We agreed to head off and call them (on my phone as being a torch had killed Nicki's). Oh we stayed on that bloody bearing for what seemed like an hour. But after map checking etc decided we just had to stay on it. Eventually I saw the flags and we all cheered up. Steve fed and clothed Nicki, I lent her my spare head torch. We found East of Edale gate and headed down Jacob's Ladder. I turned my roaming stuff back on (I'd turned it off to save battery) and dialed 999, got through and explained what we were doing. It was a long slow walk down Jacob's Ladder and anyone that goes that way on the Trigger must be insane! Nicki had cheered up quite a lot; she had only expected to be out 2 hours max running (in shorts!!), but had packed walking waterproofs and over trousers which she had put on. No head torch and no compass. Halfway down we saw lights which were Edale MRT and so handed Nicki over. The warmth of the 4x4's was inviting but No we kept our resolve and ran off. We arrived at Edale at 8.20pm so did 8.10 hours which we're pleased with. Finding a good F&C's in Glossop and having a chip butty with curry sauce and two tins of coke finished the night off nicely. Wisp had our not so nice pork pies!