LEEDS LIVERPOOL CANAL BETWEEN SALTERFORTH & FOULRIDGE
Sunday 8.00. a.m. No sign of a thaw overnight; several inches of snow still lingering on our side of the valley. The snowfall, widespread in the east , is the earliest since 1993 and already causing problems. Getting in a daily run being the least of them! A return to bed to consider the options for today's planned 12 mile steady run. Some local roads will have been gritted but this will mean battling against often irate motorists, reluctant to share restricted roads with us runners. Popular off road routes will no doubt today be trails of compacted ice, created by yesterday's walkers. Similarly the canal on this side of the Pennines. Could be treacherous.
Solution? Head west into Lancashire which has not "suffered" to the same extent as eastern parts. Finishing at the Nelson shop will give us a chance to do some chores, a bit of shopping, and a nice lunch on the way back. Sounds like a plan!
Pat forced me out of the warmth of the car into bright but near freezing conditions and the chilling air immediately started to bite into the lungs, making the first few miles quite uncomfortable. But the bright late morning sunshine and the solitude of the canal provided ample compensation. As anticipated, underfoot conditions were reasonable.After 4 miles I spy a group of 3 in front and as is inevitable my speed increases almost inperceptably and the gap closes. As one of them has a "pit stop" we form a group of 4 and I enjoy a bit of company for a change over the next 6 miles which helps a great deal.
Thanks to Lorna Balmer, Gary Balmer and Pendle Grand Prix winner Gary Shaw of Clayton le Moors!
Spot on 12.5 as I reach the Nelson Complete Runner branch; so mission accomplished. 46 miles on the week, maintaining the average.
A task which will be more difficult next as when driving back east into Yorkshire we are greeted by a blizzard. But a task of little importance compared to the problems of so many people on Monday morning as just getting out of the drive and into work will pose problems for the majority.
Even swans are finding it difficult getting to the shops in this weather...............
Commiserations, finally, to those who had entered the postponed (?) Thirsk 10.
I say postponed as opposed to cancelled ...... perhaps they will find another date ?
Reference Thirsk 10. There is a meeting at the club on Wednesday to discuss what will be happening. I'm sure some runners don't realise the high costs of putting on an event and getting voluteers. There is still the cost of toilets, venue, traffic management, etc etc that still has to be paid even though the race is cancelled. Canceling a race is a very hard descision and even worse if the weather can change any moment. I'm sure the race will be rescheduled.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading some of the comments left by unhappy runners today I can't imagine who in the right mind would ever want to be a race organiser/director and even more so for free.
Thanks Gary.
ReplyDeleteWhen I originally wrote "query postponed" I wasn't querying whether the race should not have been run this morning or not, only that I didn't know whether to write cancelled entirely or postponed to a later date.
I would like to think on reflection that those runners making negative comments will regret their knee jerk remarks. But then again....! Have a good week! Terry