Until I recced and ran the Montane Cheviot Goat last year I had never spent any time in the Cheviot hills, but in a short space of time I have come to really enjoy running in this beautiful and very remote area. With limited road access into the hills and minimal human habitation or activity it genuinely is the last wilderness in England.
The Pendulum race (11 miles with 3900 feet of ascent) seemed a good excuse for another trip north at the right time in my running diary, a last race before my taper for the upcoming Northern Traverse, and a nice tempo change from all the slow recces I have been doing for the NT. The Pendulum was last held in 2017 and has been resurrected this year. Organised by Northern Fell Running and Cheviot Trail Events, and enthusiastically supported by the North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team (who supplied many of the marshals) it is a low key affair with a maximum of 150 entries (in fact only 114 ran), starting and finishing at Langleeford in the Harthope Valley, south of Wooler. One of the main reasons for keeping the event small is to avoid overwhelming the valley (with its single track pot-holed road, a ford, and limited parking) with too many cars.
I had first come to know the organisers Graeme and Lee from Northern Fell Running from their really helpful (and very funny!) recce YouTube videos for the Cheviot Goat. I watched these several times over whilst following the route on the map at the same time, which, as a supplement to my own recces on the ground, really helped me with the prep for the race. I then met them for real at registration for the Goat, and it was nice to see them again now, this time as RDs at their own race.
I had travelled up the day before to avoid having to make a very early start. I paid my first visit to the Montane Factory Shop in Ashington, where I managed to be very restrained and only bought what I had been looking for, a pair of 3/4 running tights (£13.75 down from £55 😁), replacing an old favourite pair which I have been wearing solidly since I first started running in 2007, and which almost had reached the stage of being more holes than fabric! Can’t grumble after 17 years. I resisted the temptation to purchase all sorts of items I don’t currently need, but there are definitely great bargains to be had including end of season items, samples, QC fails and repaired items. I then drove further north to Alnwick where I had booked a room in the Premier Inn, checked in and then took myself to Alnmouth for a short walk on the beach and around the golf course. I had seen the sea recently when we recced the last section of the Northern Traverse to Robin Hood’s Bay, but the weather then was so atrocious that I could barely look up from the mud of the cliff path and just had to put one weary foot in front of the other, head down into driving horizontal rain. So it was nice to actually enjoy the sight of the sea, in the sunshine, and take some photos.
I left the hotel at a civilized 7 am on the Sunday morning for the 50 minute drive to Langleeford. Most of the journey is on fast roads but once you turn off the A697 just south of Wooler progress becomes slow. The single track road into the Harthope valley is perfectly doable in a non 4×4 car like mine, but you do have to be careful of the giant potholes. There is also a quite significant ford to cross, it wasn’t too deep but the road surface underneath also has some holes to add to the jeopardy. Oh and there is a 20% hill along the way too. All fine, but I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole in winter conditions! I arrived nice and early for race registration, collected my number and stayed in the warmth of the car reading my book until 9 am when I did a mile warm-up along the road, just to loosen the legs after sitting in the car, ready for the 09:30 start. Milling around with the other runners a common theme of the chat was the quandary of how many layers to set out in. There was a fairly strong icy wind despite the sunshine, with the promise of it being stronger and icier on the tops of course, but you don’t want to overdress for the ascent either. There was a fairly even mix of jacket and non-jacket decisions as far as I could see. I saw a few runners with poles; in the pre-race video briefing there had been a message from Lee, relayed by Graeme, that anyone running with poles would face an as yet undisclosed punishment at the finish. Burpees were mentioned! This is the Northern Fell Running humour, there was a later post to state that no matter what Lee said, poles were allowed. Still, I didn’t bring mine, though in general I am quite keen on my poles I felt 11 miles is way too short to bother and I should be perfectly capable to get up and down without them (and I was).
09:30 and we were off. The Pendulum consists of two out and backs, the first one up to the summit of the Cheviot (815m). After touching the trig and receiving a wrist band from the MRT marshal as evidence you have to retrace your steps down to the start/finish in the valley and start the second climb, up Hedgehope Hill (714m), another trig to touch, a second wrist band to collect, and back down to the finish for your medal. The course was partially marked with little flags, and otherwise follows fairly obvious trods through the ever present bogs so navigation was easy on this clear day with perfect visibility, there were also plenty of runners to follow. There was a .gpx file, which I didn’t need to refer to in these conditions. With a partially flagged course, and with poles (reluctantly 😉) and gps being allowed this is not a fell race in FRA terms, but for a trail race it’s a tough one. More trod than trail really, and plenty of bogs, but thankfully no bashing through the heather without any trod or path at all, like we had to do at times on the Goat. Though I had climbed both these hills on the Cheviot Goat you approach them from a different direction in the Pendulum so it was all new to me (and not covered in snow this time).
The climb up to the Cheviot, which takes 3.5 miles, commenced shortly after the start, after an initial little sprint along the road. Whilst the racing snakes at the front no doubt ran much of the ascent, the steadier end of the race including myself power hiked most of the way. The first climb is to Scald Hill (548m) after which there is a slight descent before the climbing resumes all the way to the summit plateau, where you run along the flagstones to the trig point. I had been one of the runners deciding against wearing my windproof or waterproof and had started in my merino baselayer plus t-shirt (and definitely gloves), but as we got higher and the wind picked up I was getting colder despite the significant effort of the ascent. Just before we reached the flagstones I therefore briefly stopped and put my waterproof on, which was the right decision as it stayed on for the rest of the race. I find my waterproof better in changeable temperatures (it did not rain and never threatened to) as it is super breathable (Montane Spine jacket) and I can open the zip all the way. My OMM windproof (Sonic Smock) is fantastic in keeping the wind out but as soon as temperatures rise (like they would do crossing through the valley) it tends to have a ‘boil in the bag’ effect.
Reaching the plateau I actually saw ice in a couple of puddles, evidence that I was not imagining the cold! I ran along the flagstones, as fast as I dared. I had to remind myself this wasn’t an ultra and I should actually apply whatever speed I possess (which is not a lot)! This being an out and back the faster runners were coming back the other way along the flagstones (the lead runners had already come bouncing down whilst I was still below the plateau), so there was care to be taken not to accidentally push each other off the path. There were two members of the Mountain Rescue marshalling on the top (very cold work! though they did have a tent as shelter), I showed my number, should have pinned it to my tights instead of my t-shirt, now obscured by my jacket, but these were my brand new tights which I didn’t want to put pins through! I was given a wristband and set out on the return. I met plenty of runners still coming up, so whilst I was well down the field I was reassured there were still quite a few behind me. Not that it would have mattered actually even if I had been at the back, as you can only run your own race.
The descent was straightforward enough and very runnable, it got warmer too which was quite nice, and I cruised through the start/finish area to start the second climb. The winner of the race was just coming down to finish as I hiked up the first section! 7 miles done on the out and back to the Cheviot, so the second climb is is only just over 4 miles in distance. Whilst the summit of Hedgehope is 100m lower than the Cheviot, the ascent is steeper. On the Goat we had approached from a different direction so this was all new to me. It was a tough haul up but nothing I can’t deal with. Lots of runners coming down too and everyone was encouraging each other. At the summit I was pleased to meet another two MRT members, one of whom turned out to be Drew, who is also the RD on the Cheviot Goat. I did recognise him but was helped by the fact that he had a name tag on his jacket. So whilst I tightened my shoe laces for the descent we had a quick chat about the Goat, I also said that the Pendulum didn’t really play to my strengths as I am not very fast nor agile on my feet, and I don’t come into my own until after about 25 miles when I might start to overtake people. He said I was very welcome to go around again and they would wait for me 🤣 Cheered by the banter I set out down the hill and had an uneventful journey down, again very runnable once I was past the steepest bit. My turn to encourage those still on the way up. I reached the finish in 3 hours and 19 minutes as 88th (out of 114 finishers) and 18th out of 28 women, whilst the men’s winner (Courtney Ryan, Dark Peak Runners) made short work of it in 1:51 and the first woman (Lauren Boucher) took 2:18. Results here. There were no age categories listed but I am pretty sure I saw no woman of my V60 vintage, they all looked very young!
I was given my Pendulum medal, it’s a really nice one! There was food and drink (including special Pendulum Pilsner, shame I have given up alcohol for Lent) available at the finish. Thankfully we had been warned to bring cash as there is no signal at all in the valley. I had the largest slice of cheese and potato pie I have ever set eyes on and managed to eat it all! The nice sunny weather meant I could sit around and chat to other runners, and cheer on others still coming down the hill and through the finish, before getting back in the car and heading back to Yorkshire. I am sure I will be back for more Northern Fell Running events!
