Rombalds Romp trail/fell race, Ilkley – 13th Sept.

22nd Overall/20th fell runner Ali Nash (6th V40) 53:41
64th Overall/22nd Trail runner Steph Wilson (2nd lady trail race) 66:48

Full results

Ali Nash reports …

On a truly gorgeous, sunny, still morning on Ilkley Moor, Abbey Runners & North Leeds Fell Runners presented the race in a race – ‘trail runners Vs fell runners’ at the Rombalds Romp. If you want bog, tussocks and a bit of the hard stuff then it’s fell all the way. If you want a scenic race over Ilkley Moor on more agreeable paths then it’s the trail. Either way, you pit yourself against your fellow runners, the opposition and the Moor! Starting down at the bottom of Keighley Road, the first section for both sets of runners was the (bloody steep) Ilkley Incline (sure there’s still bits of lung on the route from earlier in the month), with the ‘trailers’ dodging off early, and the tough fell runners climbing higher before cutting off cross country all the way up, up, up over High Crag, and then a bit more ‘up’ to Rivock Edge Plantation, where peaty, black, knee depth slop and branches really started to take its toll.

More climbing to Keighley Gate and then a hell for leather slither-fest downhill towards the Badger Stone, stream crossings, gullies and rough ground, crossing Keighley Road again for more rough, narrow, slick track. The final descent (turn off brain, use bad language a lot, forget you’re in trail shoes, grab at bracken as a rudimentary brake) brings you finally onto a decent path and the last half mile blast into the finish. What a bloody great race, brilliantly organised and marshalled, beer and cider at the end – recommend it to anyone next year.