From the fell-britain.co.uk archives: Trakke Banana review

As soon as I heard about the Trakke Banana bag, I was intrigued. I’d already come across Trakke as friends who I’ve cycled with in Scotland were raving about their courier bags. I was intrigued to see if these “adventure carry” bags could make it off the bike and on to the fell. After some internet trawling, I discovered that I’d been beaten to it: the Trakke Krukke has been taken deep into the wilds and high into the Alps.

I decided it was time to get in touch with Trakke to see if they had any fell / hill / mountain runners looking at the Banana as a way of carrying kit. Alec at Trakke hadn’t had any runners interested yet - the Banana was a brand new product at the time - but didn’t think there would be a problem. He also recommended that instead of the waxed cotton version on the website, I might be better off with a ventile cotton version instead. On explaining that the ventile fabric is used by the British Antarctic Survey, I was totally won over as polar science and exploration are professional and personal passions of mine. I had a couple of worries before ordering, which Alec was quick to alleviate. The first was the length of the waist strap (I’m skinny and often can’t get them short enough) and the second was a way to compress the bag if I wasn’t using it full. One of the great things about dealing with companies manufacturing in the UK is that they can sort things like this out: Alec sorted a custom length of belt and added an adjustable strap to the top of the bag to compress it and stabilise the load when necessary.

When the bag arrived I had mixed reactions. The positive was the incredible build quality, which can only be enhanced by the lengths Trakke have gone to in sourcing their materials: buckles and sliders are stamped from sheet metal in Wales; zips are brought in from Leicestershire; and the webbing is woven in Derbyshire. However, I was initially worried that I wouldn’t be able to fit full fell running kit into the bag. I needn’t have worried at all, the Banana bag swallowed a waterproof jacket and trousers, compass, whistle, hat and gloves. So there wasn’t much room to spare, but it was doing the job. Now to test it out.

On Saturday 14th September, I was in Rossendale for the first running of the Turbine Tangle: a fell / orienteering event with the idea to visit each of the 26 wind turbines at the Scout Moor wind farm. On registering, I was told full kit was required. I’d taken my old bumbag with me, but was desperate to try the Trakke out so in went my kit, with the addition of my mobile and car key. I went for a quick warm up jog and everything seemed fine, so decided that I’d made the right call. And after two hours of the event, all I can say is I hardly noticed the bag was there - which is a ringing endorsement. I didn’t have any issues with it bouncing on the descents - a problem I’ve always had in the past - and it seemed very stable. The only problem was due to packing my car key next to my back and getting a small rub from it, but I won’t do that again.

At the time of writing the ventile version isn’t on the Trakke website, but head over there or to @TrakkeBasecamp on Twitter and get in touch if you want to take a handmade in Glasgow adventure carry bag on your next trip into the fells. it comes highly recommended.

From the fell-britain.co.uk archives: Rock + Run Hipsac Superlite review

There’s already been one fell running bag featured on the pages of Fell Britain, the Trakke Banana. But sometimes, just a bit more kit is needed (particularly in Winter, or on longer solo runs). Where the Banana is a beautiful piece of kit, the Hipsac scores by carrying a bit more: all the kit that would fit in the Trakke plus a space blanket and some extra food. Rock + Run have the Hipsac Superlite, and the not quite so Superlite, handmade in Aviemore (as proudly stated on a tab on the bag itself) so it fits the Fell Britain ethos perfectly.

Once the Hipsac Superlite arrived through the post, it was incredibly easy to see how it acquired its name. In fact, I initially thought the envelope would be empty. But opening it up there were the (claimed) 64g of running bag. It was incredibly easy to adjust to the right size, and I’ve found there to be no unwanted slackening of the waist belt at any time.

I’ve used the Hipsac Superlite in several different situations now, from carrying full kit at races to holding warm and waterproof tops while marking the course for the Cheshire county cross country championships on a chilly January morning. Each time, it’s been very easy to forget that I’m carrying a bag at all. The side compression straps keep the load nicely in place, and loosening them on the run to spin the bag around to gain access is really easy. As I said above, I’ve carried varying loads in the Hipsac and it handles both empty and full with ease and without any bounce. If it wasn’t for the need for carrying both full kit and hydration, I’d be tempted to take this out on the Calderdale Way ultra in June.

A highly recommended piece of kit which might not last as long as the Trakke undoubtedly will but has its own advantages, and is a go to choice for either winter or long solo days.

In the interests of full disclosure, it should be noted that Rock+Run supplied the Hipsac Superlite for review. Photos on this page are from the Rock + Run website.

The Hipsac Superlite is available from Rock + Run and costs £24.00.

From the Athenry A.C. archives: Lakeland Trails 55km 2016

"What am I doing this for?"

Despite the number of times that question had popped into my head over the last few weeks, the only time on the day of the Ultimate Trails 55km that it crossed my mind was standing on the start line in the rain. I've been fearful of running long distances in wet weather after becoming close to hypothermic at the end of the legendary 2012 edition of the Greater Manchester Marathon and the thought of many hours in Lake District rain didn't fill me with much enthusiasm. That feeling was made even worse by the race director ending his safety briefing by telling us the course was actually more like 58km.

"Am I fit enough? Have I done enough hill work?"

I guess, these were the underlying questions. I'd run 50km before, twice, but on loops around basically flat courses in Irish forest parks. Ahead of me was a distance I didn't know if I could complete plus climbs to Kirkstone Pass, Grisedale Hause, Silver How, Blea Tarn and Loughrigg. As it turned out the climbing was fine, but my nemesis continues to be rocky descents. Having sprained my left ankle in both 2014 and 2015 on this kind of terrain I was determined to finish and paid for tentative, unpractised off road downhill running by losing places and time.

"What am I doing this for?"

Why would I risk this kind of terrain again? Ever since discovering that there was such a thing as mountain ultra running while working alongside Lizzy Hawker, the five time Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc winner (go and read her book "Runner" for some inspiration) I've wanted to see if I could do one. One of my dream races is the UTMB's little sister, the Courmayeur-Champex-Chamomix race. And on the start line in Ambleside there was the promise of qualifying points awaiting at the finish.

And how was the race?

The weather never managed to make its mind and I ran changing in and out of my waterproof all day. The climb to Kirkstone was entirely runnable thanks to numerous repeats of Letteragh Road in the weeks before the race. I even briefly found myself running in the top ten, before the technical descents started and I slipped back in the field. I had a bad, tired patch at about 20km just before the second check point. But the sandwiches and coke at the feed zone helped me through and on to the biggest climb of the day. Again, a few places lost on the technical portion of the descent but most of them were made up between check points three and four on a beautiful loop of Lansdale with some of the best views that England has to offer, even in the rain. I took some time at the final feed zone to make sure I'd eaten and drunk enough to get to the line. Yet even in the final 10km I was able to move strongly across the two climbs along the way back to Ambleside. About a mile from home, with only a steep tarmac descent left the noise of the finish line was obvious and I could push on to get in in 29th place from 449 runners in 7:06:27.

Would I do it again? Yes. Am I still dreaming of the CCC? Absolutely!

From the Athenry A.C. archives - London Marathon 2016

The London Marathon was the reason I first ran a marathon. I remember watching in 2008 and finally thinking "yes, I'm going to do this." I promptly entered the ballot for 2009, didn't get in, and went to Edinburgh instead. I vowed then if I was going to do London, I'd get in on the good for age which I got in 2013 at Chester. With moving to Oranmore in 2015 I ended up deferring my entry until this year.

We flew out to London on the Friday before the race but didn't have time to get to the Expo until the Saturday. It wasn't the mad scramble that I'd heard (and feared) it might be, but my tip to anyone going from Athenry would be to fly to London City airport as that would make registration on your way into the city. The Expo was great and I stocked up on gels for the race and souvenirs for after (including a "My dad ran London" t-shirt for our elder daughter!)

On to race day, and my usual pre-race panic mode plus having to get from the far north of London to Greenwich meant I ended up at the start area with over an hour to spare on a chilly morning, But the assembly area was fantastic with tea, coffee and tents for changing. The atmosphere was beginning to build and over the PA system we could hear the Paralympic athletes and then the elite women's race being started off.

Finally it was time to hit the starting pens where the PA announced the elite men and the start countdown was relayed from the International Space Station (allegedly). Being in the good for age pen meant I was over the start line 20 seconds after the gun, not the 15-20 minutes you sometimes hear stories of. It's then out onto the roads. The first few miles have a lot of road furniture and dodging the traffic islands in among the mass of runners was a little crazy. After the three starts converge (around three miles) things seemed to settle down until we came to the Cutty Sark at about 10km where the noise from the spectators lined six deep was deafening. I was grinning from ear-to-ear and thinking "this must be what riding the Tour de France is like."

The crowd didn't really drop at all from there to the finish and there were so many cheers of "Come On Athenry" it was incredible. I'd set out aiming for a big PB, but by 30km was tiring and the last 5km were really tough. But seeing my wife and daughters at about 23 miles gave me a big boost to push through the drag through Parliament Square and up to Buckingham Palace, And then it's all about waiting until the 200m to go sign and digging in for the line.

One huge race ticked off my bucket list in 2:57:43.

From the fell-britain.co.uk archives: Patience

Back in 2013-14 I was involved in the Fell Britain project. I'm going to migrate as much of the content that the associated blog (fell-britain.co.uk) had as possible back to here. This post is originally from December 2013.

On the running front, things have been a little bit quiet for me recently.

At the beginning of November I played a game of squash with a work colleague, and two days later I pulled up in agony a few hundred metres into a run. The cause: a shooting pain in my left knee that it was impossible to run through. After a week, I tried to run again to no avail. It’s now more than six weeks since that first damage to my knee. I’ve seen a GP and a physio, one of whom told me there was nothing wrong while the other told me it was likely a torn meniscus and I’d probably need surgery.

In the meantime I’m learning patience: and Andy Jones-Wilkins has written a fabulous piece about that skill for ultra-runners over on iRunFar.

I managed a 5km, flat road run today - so things are looking up. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting into watching the cross-country ski world cup, and have even invested in some Nordic skates as a new challenge and a new cross training tool. And patience (and my obsessive nature) have led me to discover some great video resources on training for cross-country skiing, and I’ve found the strength training video from the Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre especially helpful. It’s shared below.