Bunny Run One 2013
Autumn picked me up at 6pm and we set off across the border to take part in Bunny Run One. Our first challenge would be to get there through the snow canyons on the herders road that had reduced the tarmac to single track with very few passing places and bullies driving the other way.
That managed, we arrived at the Old Sun Hotel in Howarth to register. The place was heaving! We paid our £2 entry fee and received our Cadbury Creme Eggs before we even ran, then joined the ginormous queue for the ladies. From where we were queuing we could see a veritable mountain of Easter Eggs and chocolate waiting to be won.
We walked up to the start in one of the quarries – it’s advertised as a five minute walk but takes longer. There were an awful lot of people hanging around at the start; all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some in fancy dress or bunny ears and others dressed like it was a balmy summer evening when in fact my toes were freezing off. In fairness, it was a lovely evening with the sun slowly going down in a clear sky, highlighting the beauty of the moors.
We set off, Autumn and I near the back off the pack. Even though I had given myself a good talking too beforehand I did my usual trick of setting off too fast. Two minutes in and Autumn comes breezing past as I am wheezing and struggling for breath.
The course follows a fast and furious small loop called the Egg Stage – which brings extra chocolate for the first man and lady past the hopping bunny sign – followed by a larger loop. Up the first hill it was very congested, dropping to almost single file in places due to the terrain with mud and snow still lying about. After the Egg Loop you drop down a steep muddy hill only to turn and come back up through a gully full of snow, then it’s off round the larger loop up an incline that is not tough but seems to drag.
Up here I managed to pick off a few of the runners that had passed me earlier. Once at the top it levels out for a short while before dropping steeply into a quarry and then back up and out the other side. Someone just behind me quipped “Where’s the bridge gone?!” This was the toughest section as there was still plenty of snow and it was back down to single file. We turned after the quarry and started to head back towards the finish.
There were plenty of photographers about, one shouted “Smile for the camera so you don’t look in pain!” Smile I thought, you can hear me wheezing and chuffing like an old steam boiler and my chest feels like it’s on fire, but I summoned a grin (or was it a grimace?) from somewhere.
The end of this loop is the same as the start, back down the steep muddy hill, which is now even muddier and I barely manage to stay on my feet and up the gully, turning left into the bottom of the quarry to finish. It was good to hear Autumn encouraging me for the last sprint.
It was a good evening out. We didn’t wait around for the free soup and roll or the chocolate throw out but headed back across the hills to see the sun setting in a fiery glow across Pendle Hill. Bunny Run Two is at 7.15p.m. next Tuesday (9th April).
