You wait 20 years for a Viking reunion than they all cone along at once. Back at Fieldhead campsite in Edale with my boys. This year there are many more tents and more at Cooper's. More banter, and more pre race/walk drinks to steady the nerves or fuel the fires as we catch up.
I get a Justin shaped lodger in our tent and he tolerates our ethnic British squalor with his new found Scots understatement.
Friday night is cold, I end up cuddling my youngest who was to be found curled up under a blanket complaining of the cold, having wriggled out of his sleeping bag. By dawn everyone is awake anyway. So we all get up to find ice on the tents and the ground. Fried food followed by indoor fried food makes the day seem warmer. Soon there we are stood outside the Nags Head waiting to see who will show this year.
A big team of 30 odd walkers gather, old Vikings, a smattering of Iceni, partners, parents, children, pets. You say hello, shake hands and try and remember who everyone is, whilst pretending to be certain as you do it. At 1 the walkers are on their way followed by Max Arguille and family, who having come the least far are obviously the last to arrive.
That leaves those of us daft enough to attempt the run to the trig point. Only a little over a mile but there is a thousand foot of ascent to add a little character to the proceedings. Not a fell race really more a fell sprint.
Word reaches us Pete Vale and Paul Martin are unavailable do to injury or family commitments. I will place higher in a smaller field, I figure.
James Ward ambles in to view looking suspiciously thin and fit, as does Ian Shaw in much the same state. That leaves My Brother James and Paul Shrimpling making up a fit looking (if you don't look at me) field. I figure I will be very lucky to finish last. Ian Shaw and James warm up for twenty minutes, imagine having 20 minutes spare energy?
2 o' clock and we head off, the first few hundred yards by Grindsbook are easy, we jog along as a group, then the Zig Zags up onto the side of Ringing Rodger arrive. A new order is imposed instantly. James Ward leaves me with "As soon as you can't speak start walking", and heads off at a fair pace.
For me it is like hitting a wall a mile high, and and in a 100 yards I'm walking not talking, Ian Shaw eases past. My Brother cuts a corner and when we meet up again at the ridge crest my brothers short cut has got him maybe 20 seconds on me. Ian has maybe a minute gap and James Ward is already starting up the side of the rocky ridge of Ringing Rodger, still running at quite a pace (how is that possible?) Merely walking is making me taste blood in my mouth. Paul Shrimpling is breathing down my neck and apparently gaining, for me last or DNF seem very likely outcomes.
As we climb the steep rib of Ringing Rodger I manage to close down my brother and as we hit the plateau we are just about talking between death like gasps as our bodies crave rest and more oxygen.
Mr Ward and Ian take the path left, myself and James decide to try a high risk direct across the moor.
As the trig comes in to view Ian is closing in and I figure James must already be there. My brother puts in a burst and goes away I try and follow, jump into a grough and lose a shoe in the peat. I retrieve it and the race between us is won. He would have had me in a sprint anyway, but it would have been nice to have seen if I could make him work a little harder.
We arrive at the trig and James Ward is not to be seen. Ian is a clear and popular winner after his difficult year. Paul Shrimpling is with us in less than a minute and then over the horizon comes James Ward, still at speed but having run a good deal further than the rest of us. I waited 25 years to beat James Ward in a running race, Doubt it will ever happen again.
The kids run around like loons in the peat getting covered and having a ball. They pretty much run down the hill to the pub.
Thanks to everyone who came, you made it fun, I liked it a lot.
A great day, the Peak looked as good as ever. As we put a few away at the Nags Head and later sat round a clandestine wood burner, thoughts turned to next year. We have some ideas on how to make this shebang bigger and better next time. As ever we will let you know.
Dave Prince September 2014