Bolton by Bowland Fell Race. 8 miles 800ft. (Real Cross Country).

Posted on by

If you want mud, you’ve got it, at the Bolton by Bowland Fell race although, fell race is stretching the description a bit. It’s more like cross country, i.e. real cross country, for those who consider (normal) cross country to be a bit tame or sometimes, to be honest, just plain boring.
Most of the 800ft climb is completed within the first mile or so and thereafter, it’s pretty flat, with no fell race type climbs or descents. There are even a couple of long road sections to add variety but then, there is the mud. Not the namby pamby mud of Red Rose or Mid Lancs races but real mud. Mile after mile of glutinous scum and the devil’s own bottomless quagmire. It really is the stuff of nightmares, where you dream you are running harder and harder but going slower and slower as you sink deeper and deeper into a muddy hell, and I love it. Real cross country.

Given the conditions, Ian Holmes’ winning time 47:30 was very impressive.
Horwich mud larks flailing around behind him were :-

Graham Schofield 9th (2nd V50) 54:27, Karl Ward 19th 56:10, Paul Boardman 30th 58:21, Albert Sunter 47th 62:53, Pete Leighton 53rd 63:34 and Tony Varley 86th 68:43.

164 finishers.