FRA Relays

18th October 2009, North West Lakes

Photos

What a difference a day makes!

Yesterday glorious sunshine; today utter pish.

An early start from Glasgow saw us eating al fresco breakfast in Cockermouth at 8.30am. Then down to Kirkland where the weather was already looking grey and dismal. By the time the race kicked off at 10.30am the clag had descended and smirry rain had moved in.

David and I took over from JD to run Leg 2 with plenty of teams to chase. We set off steady and passed about 20 teams before hitting a fence junction. I was utterly confused... There was a marshal and dibber boxes, but it wasn't our checkpoint and the marshal gave no clue as to where we were or which direction Checkpoint 1 on Leg 2 might be.

We didn't realise at the time, but in our haste we had completely overshot the point where we should have branched off towards Gavel Fell, but in thick clag we didn't realise this and now by trying to cut across the hillside we were only making matters worse by going even further off course. My head was spinning from the exertion, and I couldn't make any sense of the compass bearings or where on the map we could possibly be, since now we had flipped over onto the other side of the hill, we were in fact running away from Gavel Fell.

If we hadn't bumped into Jane Robertson and Lorna Ascroft, I don't know where we would have ended up, but instead we doubled back and climbed what I thought was Gavel Fell only to discover we were on Blake Fell, which had no marshals or checkpoint. Thoroughly cold, wet and fed up we then headed back to our previous point of confusion to pass the marshal at the fence junction a second time, and finally found our way up Gavel Fell after adding on an extra 2 miles.

From here the route was pretty obvious and we passed around another 10 or 15 teams, some of whom we were passing for the second time. We caught all 3 Carnethy teams and also passed the Westerlands ladies Cat and Ellie who seemed amused that we were appearing from behind!

The moral of the tale is to get the map and compass out sooner and actually use them, and don't just blindly follow folk up the obvious path.

Dalehead Fell Race

20th September 2009

Results

Three Shires wouldn't be complete without Dalehead the following day. Luckily the weather was much brighter today.

Ricky Lightfoot made up for getting lost in the mist yesterday by recording a convincing win over Borrowdale local Simon Booth. British ladies fell running champion Philippa Jackson put in a storming run to finish 6th overall.

I finished back in 10th place in 56:43, a good bit slower than I've run this race before, but quite enjoyed the run anyhow. After halfway up the climb I didn't catch or lose any places, so it felt a bit like a solo training run.

Three Shires Fell Race

19th September 2009
18km, 1500 metres ascent

Results

This was my 5th shot at the Three Shires Fell Race, and I still get fairly confused about the fine details route, especially when it's super misty like it was today.

The race is 18km with 1440 metres ascent (11 miles, 4700ft climb) - a bit different to the advertised 12 miles, 4000ft. So technically the race shouldn't be classified as a Long race, since it's well under 12 miles.

Luckily the field for parking had dried up enough so we didn't need to use Hodge Close Quarry like last year, although it is a nice walk through from the quarry.

The race starts with speedy downhill tarmac to a perfectly functional footbridge which had been declared "dilapidated and unsafe", so it was early wet feet for everyone with a wade through the river.

After a mile of so I was settled into about 10th place with a bunch of Borrowdale vests in front, just blinding following when we all suddenly realised we had missed the obvious left hand fork of the main track that heads towards Wetherlam. There was much amusement from the massed field behind as we had to thrash back up to the correct track.

A few moments later at 3km when we crossed the fell intake wall the field began breaking up again. Some runners cut up early, whilst other carried along the track. Apparently cutting early is the best option.

The 550m flog up Wetherlam is the biggest climb of the race, and I found myself in familiar company with Tim Edwards (Clayton) just ahead and Gary Thorpe (Ambleside) and Mike Johnson (Bowland) just behind. The final section of the hill was cold and misty and I turned at the summit just in time to see Dan Duxbury vanishing into the mist. I had no sense of the right line, so waited for Gary Thorpe to pass and then followed.

Again it was cold, misty and rainy coming off Swirl How, and here Mike Johnson passed, so I used him to direct and pace me down to the Three Shires road crossing. We picked up Tim Edwards en route who must have taken a detour.

After the road crossing I took a gel and some drink and tried to take stock and run strong with the idea of dropping Gary Thorpe and catching Mike and Tim, however this never happened. Instead I was caught by a Chorley runner, Dominic Raby who dragged me up the hill, almost getting back to Mike by the summit of Pike o'Blisco.

The initial descent off Blisco is always pretty confusing but Mike's orange vest provided a good beacon to follow. I was trying to keep in contention with Dominic but he was getting away. Bit by bit I could sense Gary closing me down, and when he took a sneaky high level route across some hummocks he finally popped out in front just before the stile leading into the descent to Blea Tarn. The descent was desperately slippery and I fell 2 or 3 times on greasy rock in bracken.

After the second road crossing I tried hard to catch Gary on the way up Lingmoor, knowing he would know a good route off, but couldn't quite get up to him. Instead I reached the summit of Lingmoor with last year's winner Ricky Lightfoot powering on through, he must have taken a major detour, and I was impressed he hadn't just dropped out. I didn't follow Ricky's route but tried dropping rightwards to pick up the big contouring track. This perhaps wasn't the best move but it's the route I've taken in the past.

I didn't see anyone on the descent from this point, but couldn't have been that far behind Mike Johnson timewise. I finished 22nd in 2:11:49, about 17 seconds slower than last year, but in far more challenging conditions with mist and greasy rock.

The race was won by Chris Steele in 1:57:42, followed by Jim Davies, Nick Fish and Mark Roberts. The first 4 runners were all from Borrowdale and all within 11 seconds of each other.

Dalehead Fell Race

21st September 2008
7.9km with 725 metres of ascent

Results | Photos from Borrowdale Fell Runners

My legs felt fine after the Three Shires, so I thought I'd give the much more low-key Dalehead race at Borrowdale Show a bash on the Sunday. The show had been cancelled due to water-logged fields, but the hill race still went ahead with about 66 runners.

Jonny Bland won the race for the umpteenth time, which follows more or less the exact same route as the final descent of Borrowdale Fell Race, but as a straight up and down. I trailed along in the second group of runners with Keswick's Mark Denham-Smith providing entertainment by constantly swearing at himself the whole way up the climb. I waited for Mark at the summit cairn to let him show me a good way off, avoiding any nasty rocky bits, then followed him all the way back to the river crossing before nipping in front for the sprint to the finish to grab 1st V40 in 6th place overall. Managed a PB of 54:10, despite the route being a bit longer than usual.

Three Shires Fell Race

20th September 2008
18km with 1480 metres of ascent

Results

4 Westies ventured south of the border for this classic Lakes race - myself, Keith Adams, Jason and John Hamer. At 18km, or 11.2 miles, this is the shortest and most enjoyable of the Lakes Classic series. Car parking at Hodge Close quarry made for a social pre-race amble to the Three Shires Inn where the race starts. A massive turnout of 334 runners made for a slightly delayed start.

Once the race was underway, to avoid getting trampled I lead the field for the first 800 metres or so, down to the bridge crossing, before letting Ricky Lightfoot take over to win the race for the 2nd year in a row, in a time of 1:57. I had a reasonable climbs up the first couple of hills - Wetherlam and Swirl How - before getting caught by Mike Robinson, Janet McIver, Alan Smith and Steve Birkinshaw. After the next hill - Pike o'Blisco - I managed to follow Alan and Steve across to Blea Tarn and up Lingmoor without dropping any more places, despite Mike Johnson of Bowland and Dave Birch of Keswick getting close to my heels. I finished in a 5 minute PB of 2:11:34 in about 15th position I'd guess.

Latrigg Fell Race

16th May 2007
Results | Photos

Damp and rainy evening in the Lakes.

Latrigg is one of those races with an unbeatable Kenny Stuart record of 16:37 - dating from 1984, the same year he set the unbeaten Ben Nevis record of 1:25:34.

I pottered round in 21:27 to finish in 13th place, 3rd V40 and 5th runner called Chris. At one point on the climb there were 4 Chrises in a row - Doyle, Robinson, Upson and Knowles.

Like last Wednesday's race at Dockray, Borrowdale Fell Runners got positions 1, 2 and 3 with Ben Bardsley finishing first in 18:15, followed by Simon Booth and Andrew Schofield.

Dockray Hartside Fell Race

9th May 2007
Results

Dull and cloudy evening.

The race started with a mile or so of uphill tarmac before reaching the open fellside. Ben Bardsley and Morgan Donnelly set off at a cracking pace, followed at a distance by Scoffer Schofield, Dave Birch and myself. Bit by bit Scoffer and Dave pulled away, but I thought I had a reasonable lead on the group behind. When I reached the top of the High Brow, I had no idea which way to go and got sent in totally the wrong direction by the marshall. This added a good detour which allowed the group behind to catch up and more or less overtake.

After that minor error I decided to stay with Mike Robinson over the next 2 summits of Hartside and Common Fell. Mike was pulling away on the descent and I was catching him again on the climb.

I just about caught Mike at the summit of Common Fell, but he easily got the better of me on the long tussocky descent, opening out a good lead.

Caw Fell Race

2nd May 2007
Results | Route

A stunning sunny evening at Broughton Mills. 50 or so runners lined up outside the Blacksmiths Arms for the downhill cavalry charge along a few 100 metres of tarmac before reaching the hill. I lead for the first 200 metres or so before stepping aside to allow Lloyd Taggart to bound off into the distance.

Mike Robinson & I were shoulder to shoulder at the summit of The Knott, then ran together through the boggy hummocky ground to Caw Fell and back. Shortly before The Knott on the way back I switched on the after-burners and opened up a 20 seconds gap on Mike, which I just about managed to hold until the end. Finished 5th in 52:34 just behind Matt Reedy and Nimrod Lockwood who I hadn't seen at a race in ages.

Lloyd finished first in a new record of 45:57. Jackie Lee was first lady in a joint record time of 56:27, finishing one second behind Dave Ward.

Loughrigg Fell Race

4th April 2007
Results

Ran the Loughrigg Fell Race just over 2 minutes faster than last year. Accidentally sent off a bit fast, and was in 2nd place running up the initial steep tarmac. Danny from Kendal was the only runner to set off faster. Nick Sharp pulled alongside after a while and I paced him for a bit before getting dropped. Then Ben Abdelnoor pulled alongside and I paced him for a while before getting dropped.

Nick won the race and Ben came 3rd. I eventually got caught by the cavalry charge just before the summit where there was some jostling and manoeuvring to get round the trig. My lines were repeatedly blocked on the descents as runners cut in front and obstructed my view of the ground.

I more or less held position on the run back and very nearly pipped 2 on the line but was nervous of totally wrecking my hamstrings with the big sprint finish. Ended up 12th in 29:48 and got beaten by the first V40 by 2 seconds!

Ian Hodgson Relay

1st October 2006
Results  |  Westies Report
The first Ian Hodgson Relays under the new management of Scoffer Schofield and Jon Broxap. Once again Borrowdale Fell Runners emerged victorious, in fact for the 11th year in a row. Ambleside pipped Dark Deak by 10 seconds for 2nd place, with Pudsey & Bramley 4th.
First ladies team for the 3rd year running were Ilkley Harriers.