The Young Feller

The Nine Standards Rigg.  A unique set up on the summit of Hartley fell near the boundary between Cumbria and North Yorkshire, just a few miles from Kirkby Stephen, which is where the race starts from.  The race is always on New Years Day and from my own knowledge, has always been the same 8 mile course. Nine Standards - 9 cairns atop of Hartley fell (photo credit Kreuzschnabel, Wikipedia) In it's 28th year, after being established in 1989, the race records are held by Carl Bell, 51:44 in 2013 and Victoria Wilkinson, 58:48 in 2016 and the race is currently organised by Howgill Harriers. It is a race I've wanted to do since I began fell running around 2 years ago after hearing about it so fondly from both my Grandad & Uncle.  I didn't really have it planned in my race calendar as my lack of driving license doesn't give me the most flexible of options, especially on New Years Day, but, I got a text from Bill Beckett on New Years Eve, asking if I fanci...

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...