The Young Feller

I recently received a message from the team at Limitless Pursuits, a website dedicated to delivering stories of men and women from around the world who show great spirit and strength to achieve things they never thought would be possible.  Sounded good to me!  They asked if they could interview me in the form of a Q and A.  I'd never answered one myself before but once I saw the questions I was immediately intrigued and went ahead.  I've copied the conversation below with the images used on their website.  The link to the official posting is here;  https://limitlesspursuits.com/land/fell-running/the-young-feller-calvin-jake-fergusons-ambition-to-take-the-fell-running-world-by-storm/ The interview took place in September 2017 and was published in October 2017. Traversing Lords Rake, Lake District, while supporting a Bob Graham Round attempt (pic by Ross Spalding) CALVIN JAKE FERGUSON took part in some fell running when he was just five years ...

Usually I don't review my running shoes as I tend to buy them in cycles i.e. when my old ones are ready to be retired, so I often end up with shoes half way through or towards the end of their seasonal cycle and by that time, the shoes have already been reviewed time and time again.  For a change I've got a pair of the X-Talon 225's from release and with them being so new, thought I would take a bit of time to review them, or at least give people an overview on the new model of fell shoes and rather than just looking at certain aspects of the shoe, I'm going to honestly look at them from my own experiences of actually running in them, rather than a typical "shoe review" post. If I'm honest, the first thing that made me take a closer look at them was their actual appearance.  Now you're probably thinking why are you bothered about what they look like when they'll be several foot deep in bogs, splashing through mud and scraping on rocks fo...

Following on from yesterday's race round up, I did mention that I'd dramatically increased my racing experience in the Lake District as of late.  The main reason behind this was due to the fact that I don't really consider myself a strong enough runner to run a time I would desire, or more importantly, I don't feel strong enough to take on a lot of the races.  Obviously everybody has differing standards in terms of what they class as being acceptable, in every walk of life, but for me I want to be able to push myself to the limit, which in turn, makes it an enjoyable experience, while at the same time running a somewhat respectable race time.  Like some of us, I get the most out of myself when I am pushing beyond my comfort zone, obviously only to a certain extent...I won't be going for a Bob Graham round next month or attempting Wasdale fell race any time soon, but never say never! After giving Kentmere Horseshoe a go last year, along with Scafell Pike & L...

Since my last update, I have been busy working & racing - nothing new, I guess!  Although I now represent Calder Valley on the fells, as well as continuing to represent the Dashers at road, trail & cross-country events.  I have also since had my birthday and what better way to celebrate than doing a classic up & down fell race in the Lakes?  More on that one later... Bleasdale Circle was the first on my list after Windy Hill and that put us all to the test.  The weather was possibly the worst I have raced in to date (touch wood there won't be much worse any time soon!).  At the start it was the typical four seasons of conditions & very wet underfoot from the previous days downpours.  I dabbled with my waterproof on and off, decided against racing with it on as I get warm very quickly, especially when running uphill.  95 hardy souls were bouncing up and down on their tip-toes, ready for the starters orders.  We held a perfectly...

The title says it all on this occasion. We often choose to challenge ourselves and enter in to battle against the hills and mountains, after all, that's a major part of fell running, arguably that's what fell running is! So, I thought, well if I'm going to climb England's highest mountain for the first time, why not race it?  Why not do the fell race that takes in the mountain itself and climbs all the way to the summit of England.  Well, I found the race on the FRA calendar and posted off my entry form & entry fee and there we had it, I was up on the pre-entered athletes list on the CFRA website. My biggest amount of race ascent was on the Kentmere Horseshoe, around 3,300 feet, but Scafell Pike fell race is touching on 3,000 feet...not much difference you may think, but, Kentmere is over double the distance of the Scafell race & a lot of other factors come in to play.  Scafell gives you around 1 mile at the start which is runnable, before you h...

As most people know by now, racing is my favourite pastime.  I've done my fair share this season, clocking my 60th race after Sunday's Garstang half marathon, along with race 59 on the Saturday, after running the Great Langdale half marathon.  Saying that, another thing that most of you will now know is that I'm not a road runner either!  Now some of you might be thinking, well running is running, you use your legs & lungs while battling psychologically to push through the pain barrier, but, more seasoned runners will know that there is a difference between the fells and the roads, both in terms of terrain and the type of running you do. Anyhow, this double had been planned for a couple of months, with all my racing I keep a good check on my race calendar and my diary is planned well in advance but my training doesn't always match up to certain races.  I'm a firm believer in training to race & not racing to train.  By that I mean I will train hard a...