Woke up and first thought was how hot is it ? Anyone who did last years race in searing heat was probably also hoping for cloud cover. Good I thought - it's overcast. Next it was down to the dolphin centre to catch the bus taking us to Castle Bolton. (Or Bolton Abbey as the driver wanted to go to - which is near Skipton !). Arrival at the castle was interesting - the marshall didn't care where we parked as long as it wasn't in the car park ! Cue the old bloke who owned the village, who guided us to a lovely piece of road to park on - omitting to realise that this was blocking the race route !

Plenty of Quakers turned out for the run for what is a generally well supported event - with runners from many far flung clubs clubs attending including York and even Scunthorpe.

The weather was much kinder at the start - just as well as the first 2km are uphill and I mean seriously uphill. Most people who had run previously had forgotten that after the big hill came another few km's of serious undulation, but this made the run much more interesting before a good downhill stretch and a final flattish few fields back to the castle. A shower or two of rain along the way helped keep the runners cool.

Waterstops were plentiful - including the 'help yourself' buckets at the finish. Lack of goody bag or even momento loses the event a point or two - but it is raising money for charity so can be forgiven.

Everyone I spoke to seemed to have recorded a much better time than last year - over 9 minutes better in my own case - and a lot of this shows what a difference running in seriously hot weather can make to your time!

After getting changed the coach then took us to Leyburn for rehydration - different choices on offer were coffee and cake, cask ales, cider or a combination ! Thanks to Diane for providing the flapjack.

We managed not to leave anyone behind and all safely arrived back in Darlington late afternoon.  A good time had by all - or at least I never heard anything different !

Anthony