A well-honed team of athletes were raring to go on what turned out to be a perfect day for runners! 12 members, fledgling members and guests assembled prior to the start with each watching the others nervously.

KMC Athletes:  Mark Garrod, Michelle Harvie, Colin Maddison, Jim Symon, Dave Wylie, Al Metelko, Sheena Hendrie, James Hoyle, Kasai Hoyle, Jack Hoyle.

Guest Athletes:  Liam Brady, Iain Bell.

The route as advertised was a meander through the countryside just to the south of Haslingden Grane, with the added spice for those seriously navigationally challenged to end up on the Holcombe moor shooting range side of Bull hill. I was confident in the prowess of the members attending that this would be avoided.

A number elected to be considered as walkers, but were just keen to get on with it, and left on time at 10:00 am.

The running contingency were getting restless as the 10:30 start approached, and they were off… setting a furious pace from the word go, Colin surprised everybody (possibly even himself) by arriving at Checkpoint 1 first.  This was manned by Duncan, Vicky and Kieran… who was eerily quiet (Kieran was pretty quiet as well).

Unfortunately Colin’s supremacy was short-lived, as arriving at the first navigational choice he found himself unsure and decided to split the difference and go in between the 2 obvious routes, he was not seen for some considerable time after this decision… obviously enjoying himself he decided to stay out longer. 
The rest split between the route choices.

The race was close at check point 2 at the top of Bull Hill with the top 4 (Mark, Liam, Michelle & Iain) being within 5 minutes of each other and Jim only being 2 minutes behind them.

The race was on from this point, could Liam or Michelle overhaul Mark, could Jim fight his way back to contention… Surely he wasn’t going to let Liam beat him!

I was watching the road with some interest to see who would appear first, it was a very close run thing with Liam ‘sprinting’ up the road and Mark only seconds behind.

Mark won the 1^st KMC place position with Michelle 2^nd KMC and first Lady.

Sheena won the handicap cup.

Point to point distance: 11.4Km with 460m ascent.

Thanks to the Check point teams, Chris Thickett, Vicky, Duncan & Kieran and to all that turned out to make it another successful meet… see you for the 2015 Fell race.

A start point and preliminary route have been decided for the 2014 70th Anniversary KMC fell race on the 19th of October.

The start point is from the Clough Head, Visitor Centre Car Park near Haslingden Grane. Grid Reference SD 750 231. There is a cafe here so good place for a bacon butty and a pint of tea.....

It will be a gentle trot around the rolling countryside in the vicinty, the race is open to all comers and will have a walkers / slower runners start (it is very difficult to tell the difference!) at 10.00am and the remainder leaving at 10.30am.

If we have a dry day it is even possible to have an afternoon climb at the very close by Troy Quarry, so put your climbing gear in if you are interested.

I am looking for a few check point marshall volunteers, so please let me know if you are available.