A Year of Trail and Fell Running

Another year of trail running and fell running and some great memories.

January gave some cold, crisp, blue sky winter days, probably my favourite running conditions.

my favourite running conditions

In February I organised a “navigation for fell runners” course. It was great to meet new people and pass on skills to help them gain confidence for more remote runs and races.

navigation for fell runners

March saw winter return with a vengeance, instead of spring sunshine it was deep drifts – exciting running adventures!

interesting running!

The snow stayed into April on the high moors. Where some people see bad weather, others see perfect conditions for practising navigation!

fantastic weather – for practising navigation!

In May I led a recce for runners who had entered the Dig Deep races including the Ultra Tour of the Peak District. When they did this section in the race they would be 55 miles in!

race familiarisation run

June, summer. Not the month you’d expect me to be testing a new waterproof! The Montane Minimus coped well with the horizontal hailstones, my legs not so well!

Ouch – me legs!

July, the Ultra Tour of the Peak District sponsored by Mammut, and here he is! Well done to all runners who undertook such a tough event on a scorching day.

The Mammut behind the UTPD

August, and much to the amusement of my friends a familiar face is seen on the cover of Trail Running magazine. A beautiful landscape shot spoiled!

cover star

In September the sun shone as I trained on the hills of the Peak District. I never tire of the fantastic views from my playground.

hill reps in the Peak District

October and more blue skies. Seen in green testing Mammut’s trail running range, available at Outside, Hathersage.

going green with Mammut

November, and still the sun shone. Chill, crisp autumn days and enjoyable running.

crisp autumn sunshine

Finally December and before the storms we had more blue skies. I was found enjoying a photo shoot with the excellent Summit Fever Photography here capturing my favourite Inov-8 Roclites in action.

getting to grips with gritstone

So that was the year. Thank you to those who have helped including;

Inov-8 (Roclites and Mudclaws have been my shoes of choice throughout the year) Montane, Mammut and LED Lenser. Also to Summit Fever for their brilliant photographs and video clips.

Finally thanks to everyone who has used Fell Running Guide this year, for coaching, navigation training, race preparation and guided running. Hope to see you again next year.

Best wishes, Dave

Mammut MTR 201 Micro Jacket

The Mammut MTR 201 Micro Jacket is a very lightweight windproof top.

First off, I was really impressed by its weight – or lack of it – the small clocking up only 81 grams on the scales!

Mammut MTR 201 – very light!

The jacket features a full length zip with a small chest pocket, (a feature I really like for stowing compass, cut down map, gloves etc.) The pocket has an internal hole for headphones (so that you can take your “multi media device” with you to the hills and listen to man made sounds rather than birdsong, the wind in the trees, the tinkling stream etc!) There are elastane mesh panels below each armpit to assist breathe-ability (I think these will be good whilst running but a compromise to the jacket’s wind proofing and thus not so good if using the jacket whilst standing around), a hem draw cord and something called finger gaiters in the cuffs (basically an extra bit of material that might, at a pinch, keep your fingers warm although I can’t see how these would do the job of a pair of gloves!) It is DWR treated to make it shower as well as wind proof and time will tell how long lasting and effective this proves to be. Reflective lettering and logo give a little bit of increased visibility at night. The jacket easily fits into its own chest pocket for storage.

I tested it out whilst trail running on a breezy but sunny October day. In action the jacket was very comfortable and whilst the close fit of the small wouldn’t allow it to be worn over bulky layers, as a running wind proof over a long sleeved base layer the fit was excellent.

Mine is a fetching bright green which matches the MTR 141 trail shoe although it should also be available in black.

MTR 201 – very green!

Overall I was very impressed with the jacket, it fits well (I usually find small men’s size to be a bit big!) and is ideal for wearing on a chilly day when you know it isn’t going to rain. It looks good too – if you like green!

Dig Deep

Here’s a little taste of what you can expect to see on this year’s Dig Deep races!

Whether you choose the full 60 miles Ultra Tour of the Peak District or just the 10k – we can’t guarantee sunshine (or snow!) but we can guarantee some fantastic Peak District scenery.