Great day out at this well run, small, friendly event. The tough road / trail (mainly trail) course consisted of 5 laps up the scenic climb up Rivington Pike, bookended with an out and back section from race HQ. Just a 1 day "blow-in" entry from me and I was totally amazed by the strength and perserverience of the marathoners doing this 5 times in 5 day - that's a total of 25 laps of the hellish hill! Colin from Ilkley set the tone off the line and was great company for the first half of the race. We yo-yo'd the lead with Colin showing his super strong descending skills over the rough ground to pull out a short lead on the way down the first 2 laps. A hearty effort was needed on the flat (ok - flatter!) section through the woods to reel him back in ready for the next climb. Over laps 3 and 4 I pushed on to build a small advantage which I managed to hold on to until the finish line. About 3km from home I realised there was a sniff at the course record so thoughts of an easy run in were abandoned and I went all-in to the finish. A win for the day and sneaking the record topped off a great mornings work! Thanks to the team and marshalls for putting on such a great event, including inclusive beans, soup and toast at the finish line!