Only 3 weeks after a successful Bob Graham Round, it’s normal to laugh at mere “people” like us thinking the 3 Peaks was an ‘epic’ this year. But Alan Billington hadn’t had enough after running his way into this elite club in early September. It’s fair that he didn’t focus totally on the 3 Peaks in the circumstances.
A 4:43 finish after aiming for under 4 hours on most years would sound dissatisfying, but in the circumstances and on a really crappy day, there’s still a resounding ‘well done’ from me.
This year we had a very very strong side wind too to contend with. Going up the really steep bit with “the fence”, my climbing legs were in neutral and so I felt quite wobbly with the wind threatening to whip the bike from my shoulder at every opportunity. Soon we reached “the stile” and I knew it was serious as mountain rescue were there to take bikes from us as we stepped over the slippery stile into a headwind. Boy was I grateful for them as no sooner than you lifted the bike over your head than the wind took it away from you. Not good on a slippery stile in SPDs
