More club members in race activity this weekend:
Lakes in a Day Ultra https://www.lakesinaday.co.uk/
50 miles, 4000m ascent – a journey on foot from the very top of the Lake District at Caldbeck to the very bottom, at Cartmel, via the stunning Helvellyn Ridge and the western shoreline of Lake Windermere.
Anna Rutherford and Ross Grieve were taking on this excellent ultra in rather bleak and overcast weather. Anna had a storming run for a well earned podium place less than a minute ahead of the next woman in what seemed a real tussle based on virtual dot watching on the live tracker! fantastic running.
Anna's summary:
Thigh deep in heather, which was only broken up by vertical wet rock, I resigned myself to sliding down backwards and hoping for the best. I was definitely lost but could hear the river and knew that eventually if I waded along the river I would end up back on the route. I was utterly miserable, Not only was I doing this by choice but I had paid for the privilege. I got my money’s worth - covering 4 extra miles in the end with numerous wrong turns.
LIAD 2021 - the year of the mist - the year of not being able to see your nose in front of you face. And it’s pretty unnerving up there with nothing to help you navigate your way along the tops. A 50 mile fell race of two halves from the Northern to Southern Lakes. The first 27 miles to Ambleside have around 3000m of ascent with the remaining 23 a much more runnable 1000m. Runnable perhaps apart from around Windermere which was indistinguishable between Lake and path.
This is a really hard 50 miler - perhaps the hardest I have done. Parts of it were enjoyable - especially the last 23 miles which were much more familiar to me in terms of terrain. The first half spat me out - it was so hard - so un-runnable and in the mist so difficult to navigate.
The checkpoints were super and well stocked (pizza at Ambleside - yes please!), the organisation was second to none and finish line food was delicious. The cut off times are also very generous. Would I recommend it - yes. But would I do it again - absolutely not!
Ross' comments:
Lakes in a Day is a great day out. Weather's always going to be unpredictable and this year was moderate wind/ rain on the tops , some flooding of lake Windermere, then thick claggy conditions as it descended into darkness, making for slow going under torchlight. Good fun though. Would highly recommend this event.
More photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=openadventure&set=a.10165748878125503
Results: http://results.opentracking.co.uk/event/lakesinaday21
Meanwhile in the western Lakes Andy Cox was having a great run at the Wasdale Show Fell Race to climb third spot - congratulations
58 seniors and 45 juniors set off from the start for our final championship race of the season. Whilst for the most part the day stayed fine, the low hanging cloud made route finding off the top trick for some seniors.
http://bofra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/races/wasdale/results/wasdaleresults2021.php
Pentland Skyline
The Pentland Skyline (Distance 26.6km / Climb 1890m https://www.carnethy.com/carnethy-organised-races/skyline/ ) was on Sunday and Heather Young, Alan Elder and Simon Hammond all had very solid runs ,well done. Results here: https://www.webscorer.com/racealldetails?pid=1&raceid=256871
Simon's report:
My first Skyline was good fun. It was dry and clear after some heavy rain the day before. However, the wind had picked up and I was fearful of a long day fighting a headwind. In the end it was only really windy on the tops (all 16 of them!) except for a nice tail wind for the last quarter. I was hoping to beat 3hrs and was on target to do so until the short but very steep climb up Bell’s Hill sucked the last energy from my legs making the final 4km or 5km tough; not even the strong tailwind could save me. I lost a few places on the last stretch from Allermuir to Caerketton and in the end came home in 3hr 3mins. Some great support along the route, along with some very confused looking ramblers, and very well organised. Not even the MOD’s threat of live firing on the Castlelaw firing range stopped us! It sells out fast but given it's reasonably local it’d be good to see a few more Moorfoots give it a bash. Despite looking very similar to the Two Breweries on paper with more ascent it’s definitely easier....they even have beer at the end too if you can stomach it (ps I couldn’t!!).
Alan's report:
This was my 3rd excursion around the Pentlands in pursuit of something I have yet to define.
I know it’s not an outright pleasure, and the pain, usually lingering for 4 or 5 days afterwards, isn’t the reason either. So, it must be something in between. Whatever it is, takes me 3 years to get over, or gather just the right quantity of insanity to take it on again. 2015, 2018 and now 2021 and I have not learned to appreciate the debilitating nature of DOMS.
Like the Two Breweries (2 weeks back) , The Pentland Skyline has a decent distance and climb to deal with (17miles and 6000ft on the Skyline). The Breweries delivers its pain in 4 nasty climbs – each seemingly worse than the other – but the Skyline packs in 16 varying hills across its 17 miles. Both different creatures that drain the life from your legs in two completely different ways.
My preparation had not gone well, picking up Covid shortly after The Breweries and having to lock down for 10 days. So, I was relying on the fitness that had been built up before I ran the Two Breweries. The plan was to beat the cut off at the Drove Road and ‘get round’ without engaging with any rocks in the process.
I loaded my kit back the night before and it weighed in at 820g – I put 180g of water into my water bottle and rounded off at 1kg – I then popped the water in the fridge to cool overnight. This was to help wash down the two trusty Tunnock’s Caramel Logs that I was packing as run fodder. I skipped the two water stations, and the first log was munched as I climbed Black Hill. Reaching for my water to wash down the desiccated coconut and…yes…it was still in my fridge. Not ideal!
The run went well until the slog up Bell’s Hill, but from there, the left and right piriformes started to express an unhappiness with my forward motion. This meant some running and walking for the last mile or two. The final descent off Caerketton is always hard to resist, especially when you can see other runners in sight. So, throwing piriformes and quads to the wind, I manage to catch 5 runners before the end. Three days later, I am still wondering whether this was a wise move!
The race is always well organised and marshalled.
And this year, it was good to spend some time running with Moorfooter, Heather Young, who had a good run and came in around 4 hours 6mins.
Roll on 2024!
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