Untitled - Dark Peak Fell Runners

potterer. He said he wasn't worried about being done -for speeding -there wasn't a police car that could Keep up with him. I knew we weredoing quite well when we passed an Inter City 125. (The train being onthe railway line and us being on the motorway, you understand.)1 M.Rigby. (Amb.AC) 2.465 J.Blair-Fish. ?17 R.Ansel 1. 3.16(70 started)Rick Ansel 1************************** a************* ***********-** + ****•»**•-*•*ALLEZBOHNZI!The streets reverberated to the cheers o-f the large crowd whohad come to see their local Italian heroes. The small town of Zogno,nettling in the foothills of the Alps to the north-east o-f Milan, hadcaught fell running fever; and the Kings of the Mountains had come toshow the rest of Europe what they were made of.The English had brought their own 'King Kenny' of course, buthaving been soundly beaten by Bohn:I (the best of the Italians, andincidentally smaller than Kenny!) at Snowdon in the summer, he wasdubious of his chances.The course, about 9km in length, was soft by English standards.The ascent formed 7km of the course and was all on well made mountainpaths, tracks and roads. After an initial stretch through the streetsof the town, the course rose steeply through al1otments,farmyards andmeadows on a winding and very narrow, stoney track. Obvious tacticsseemed to be, to blast it at the start, thereby assuring yourself of agood position on the ascent. Before all this we had been kept on thestart line in the main square, waiting for the previous race tofinish. After some heated argument amongst the Italian officials s wegave this up as a bad job and set off, cutting out a 1km loop of therace immediately.After 600m it was a solid Phalanx o-f red and white, as theEnglish rushed to the front. We couldn't believe it when the Italiansdidn't sprint for the track. Perhaps this was to be their downfall. Soit was, that a certain sharp-elbowed runner, found himself amongst theleading group as the field snaked up the hillside.Passing a thousand "Allez Bohnzi" screaming Italians was quite•fun, but I thought they could have slipped in an "Allez Bodger" too.Eventually and inevitably Bohnzi and his gang forced their way past,as I gasped for air. However, King Kenny had already disappeared intothe distance, leaving the Italians with a lot to do. It proved verydifficult to cope with the change in rythym between steep mountaintrack and the fast road sections. The Italians are used to this sortof course (as a lot of alpine races are uphill only, often all onruad!) kept on coming. By the time the high point was reached, almostall the Italians (A and B team!) were ahead. However they hadn'treckoned with the English super—descenders. On a steep and tortuousdescent (1200ft in 2km) we recklessly cut corners, leapt walls,crashed into trees, bowled over irate officials and generally createda stir. Unfortunately there was another kilometre through the backalleys and streets of Zogno before the finish in the main square, andmost of the Italians managed to regain their positions lost on thed esc ent!However a little over 38 minutes after the race began, the crowdon the streets were cheering not a local blue vest as they expected,19