A few Moorfoots were in action in the northern Lake District.
Caitlin Richardson and Ben Brough did the Keswick Mountain Festival 50K Trail Ultra Marathon - actually 32.5 miles/ 52.3km with 5,500 feet / 1,700 metres ascent. Here's Caitlin's summary of their excellent performances - great stuff:
Sunday morning at the Keswick Festival brought perfect race conditions: dry, a gentle breeze and an electric atmosphere at the start line of the Terrex 50km race. The first climb of the race did not disappoint, looking back from the top we were treated to a beautiful sunrise over Keswick. The route was excellent - interesting (but run-able) terrain, thoroughly way-marked, 10/10 scenery, and five well-stocked feed stations. In total there were around 200 racers, and a good mixture of abilities. I would definitely recommend the route as a first off-road 50km race. Moorfoots were represented by Caitlin Richardson, who was the fifth woman to finish with a time of 6:07, and Ben Brough, who was 8th male in a time of 5hr36.
Full results here: https://resultsbase.net/event/5390/results?round=12710
Meanwhile Pete Hall on the Saturday did the Keswick Mountain Festival 25k Trail Race. Here's his report of a very respectable run:
Running for my English club, Cumberland Fell Runners, I took part in the 25km trail race at the Keswick Mountain Festival last weekend. This was my first ‘race’ back for a while after lockdown and the inevitable lure of cake, biscuits and pies 😊.
The route was a clockwise loop of Derwentwater, starting and finishing on the edge of Keswick, taking in Ashness Bridge, Watendlath, Rosthwaite, Portinscale and back into Keswick. 25km/16.5 miles, 2000ft climbing….yeah, a nice day out. With conditions set for 18/19 degrees, with high humidity, it was going to be a little tough for me (‘I’m a 5 degree runner’….as one chap said to me as we ran together)….with an entry of 460 on the day, setting off in small groups, we headed out at 11ish. Steady running was the order of the day, hence I set off steady….slowed on the hills…continued steady and eventually slowed to a walk towards the end. A great day out with great scenery, good crack with the other runners and drink station helpers and a less-than elegant crumble onto the grass at the end. Makes you realise you do need to do a little more training that I had but that you can do it. 3:16:37, a little slower than the sub 3 hours I was thinking but hey….I’m still doing it. And its great training for the 3 Mealls Race @ the Glencoe Skyline weekend this coming weekend…surely I can only improve?? 😉 btw…winner did 1:48…..nice time
Full results here: https://resultsbase.net/event/5390/results?round=12709
Colin Williams was also in action in the Lake District Mountain Trial
Described as 'Classic mountain navigation race over challenging terrain in the Lake District. The Trial is an annual event held at different venues in the Lake District in mid-September. It is considered to be one of the major events in the fell-runner's calendar. All courses will be severe tests of route choice, navigational skill and stamina in difficult mountain country. Competitors on the Classic route will often cover 25 miles with 8000 feet of ascent and descent. The Medium route will be shorter (about three quarters of the Classic distance). Owing to the severity of these courses, applicants are vetted for fell-running experience.'
I was scared off by the Classic course as the medium still represented a considerable challenge to me. A smaller entry than previous years but I'm delighted to say I won the medium course in 4h08 - to be fair the big guns were in the Classic and the winning time on that course wasn't too far behind, but I'll take it all the same and was glad that my orienteering navigation seemed to be up to scratch apart from one poor route choice. All in all a great day out on the fells iand contouring across rough ground was the order of the day. Full results here: https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/LDMTA/2021/LDMTA/
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