SUNDAY 28th NOVEMBER
DAVID STAFF MEMORIAL FELL RACE
5.1m/1200ft
DARWEN

This is another race I have been an ever-present at in my five years on the fells. It's a cracking little route up and over Darwen Moor from Sunnyhurst Woods with fast going underfoot and is a good little tester at this time of year. The race is in memory of whom it is named after and all proceeds are donated to Cardiac Risk In The Young.
I've finished well up in this race in previous years until last year when I had a nightmare and just couldn't get going, spitting my dummy, kicking tussocks and going straight home afterwards like a big sulky cry-baby.
Today though, I had no reason to fear a repeat of that and if anything was half expecting to beat my previous best time that I set in 2008 and thus keep my toys firmly inside the pram.
Once the climbing begins up to Darwen Tower, my fellow Blackburner's Ben Fish and Josh Tighe had already sewn up 1st and 2nd places respectively. I had my old Chorley friend Dominic Raby for company just ahead and a Pudsey & Bramley man just behind. Whilst I didn't fancy my chances of getting anywhere near to beating Dom, I was concentrating on finishing as near to him as possible but he started to pull away as we neared the tower. After the descent of Aggie's Staircase and the climb up Jacob's Ladder (as these things are colloquially known to the Darwen Dashers of this world) the race really speeds up off the top of the moor and I had seen off the challenger behind and kept Dominic in sight so it was really a case of holding my position and putting it in with the hope of nailing another course best. Well, these are good times for me at the moment as far as running is concerned and I sure enough knocked 19 seconds off my record and trailed Dom by just a respectable half a minute. 
Two things missing this year though - the cast iron windowed section at the top of Darwen Tower, which astonishingly blew off in recent hurricane force gusts - and the lady ringing the cow bells half way up Darwen Hill. I hope they will both be back in place next year.
Time: 35:39   Pos: 4th/140



FRIDAY 26th NOVEMBER
A pretty rough week, for various reasons best omitted from these pages, was cheered a little by a tip-off that I really ought to make an appearance at the Harriers' awards evening because a little something was coming my way. I was in hermit mode and selfishly really wasn't in the mood for any sort of social occasion, but I was persuaded and in the end was glad I made the trip. I got the club fell running award, not particularly for any outstanding results as they have been few and far between, but for splashing the Blackburn Harriers brand around different little corners of the country on my fell racing travels since joining the club two years ago. I thought it was a nice gesture. Blackburn Harriers don't have to look much beyond their own ranks to find a top class athlete to present the awards and this time around it was the club's pole vaulting star Holly Bleasdale who this year won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Canada and also bettered the UK Under 20's record of which she was already the holder.