VALLEY STRIDERS SUMMER READING 2014
Reports in alphabetical order of event. Get out your
deck chair, put on your sun-cream and hat, make an iced drink and settle down
to read (or if you’re holidaying in the UK, sit inside, make a cup of tea, and read
this while you wait for the rain to stop)…
Index
·
Bob Graham Round (from Simon
Redshaw)
·
Bob Graham Round - A Supporters
View of Leg 3 (from Mick Loftus)
·
Coast
to Coast Cycle Ride (reports collected by Ged Coll) (from Steve Wilkins,
Dan Price and Mick Tinker)
·
E U Sprint Triathlon
championships (from Howard Jeffrey)
·
Saunders Lakeland Mountain
Marathon (from Mick Loftus…)
·
Scafell Trail Marathon (from Kim
Threadgall/Spence)
·
Settle Hills (from John Marsham)
·
Skyrunning
World Championships (from Steve Dixon)
·
Wasdale
Horseshoe (from John Marsham)
·
More reading (more events from
earlier this year)
Bob
Graham Round (from Simon Redshaw)
Friday
27th June 2014
6
months of training and planning had gone into this but I had been thinking of
attempting this for the last 5 years. I had a good build up in terms of
training, doing some great races and recce’ing the
route several times with all my helpers. Including doing the entire route
over three days, which was the toughest thing I had ever done up to that
date. I think Christine and the kids are used to daddy just going on one
of his long runs but I had tried to keep the impact on my family life as little
as possible.
On
the day I had eleven people helping me out at various points, there has to be
someone there verifying that you have successfully reached each summit.
Christine (my wife) drove the support vehicle, not an easy task when you have
to be awake for the whole 24hrs! Actually this is quite a stressful job.
I
drove up to the lakes on June 27th Friday morning and sat in a cafe in Threlkeld having a coffee and a piece of cake with a
stunning view over Clough Head but feeling a tad concerned as it was 18 degrees
and bone dry. Water could really be a problem. I had slept well and
never really got nervous, I knew what was expected and that I would be in pain
at some point and felt well prepared.
Disaster struck when Mark Robinson my helper for Leg 4 rang to let me know he
was too ill to make it. Fortunately I had Ann and John ready for leg 4
who would have to cope, I couldn’t cancel now.
I
set off with Rob Spree (work colleague) my first helper at 6pm from the Moot
hall along with another lady making an attempt on the same day at the same
time. Jenkin Hill is never a fun climb in my
book, I'm better at descending than climbing but we were in good spirits.
Rob prompted me to eat every 30 mins in order to keep my blood sugar levels
constant and everything seemed to pass by quickly. The lady I had set off
with was a couple of hundred metres behind and dropping further as we moved
along.
I
arrived at checkpoint 1, 29 mins ahead of schedule for 7 mins of planned rest
and made two mistakes, one was wolfing down a Pot Noodle, something I would see
again later! The second was leaving my head torch for leg 2 through the
night! Fortunately Richard Knell-Moore (LBT) who arrived at the
checkpoint with 5 mins to spare had a spare kid’s torch with him which did a
fine job. It was pitch black over Helvellyn and
the Dodds, no moon light at all and the cloud came
down making navigation difficult. Fortunately we had an expert Navigator
on leg 2 in Catriona Purdy (Abbey Runners) who did a fine job.
Arriving
at check point 2 for leg 3, I was definitely feeling a bit tired but going
well, however not looking forward to climbing up Steel Fell, a steep climb up
from Dunmail Raise. However this seemed to pass
quickly with my new help in the form of Mick Loftus (VS) and Richard Wigley (orchestra conductor(!)).
The conversation from me was dropping for sure; I was really just trying to
focus where I was putting my feet. A minor bit of confusion here by me
caused us to lose a bit of time, I was sure we shouldn't be going downhill; it
just shows you how easy it is to forget! Anyway we reached Broadstand and I had a big smile on my face as I met my two
climber friends Mick Would and Rob Rushworth.
They had camped up Scafell overnight ready to rig up the climb onto Broadstand. Mick went on ahead through 'Fat Mans
Agony' and climbed the 'Crux' leading the way for Richard and I to follow. We reached the summit of Scafell and
continued on the long descent into Wasdale. It
was at this point I became very aware of my two big toes. They were very
painful which would slow me down on all the descents from now on.
For
Leg 4 I met John Marsham (VS) and Ann Kohler (VS), two very experienced fell runners who were to carry me through the leg that could
either break or make me. Yewbarrow or 'Yewb*st*rd'
as it is more aptly named merges into Red Pike for one hell of a climb out of Wasdale up to the Mosedale
horseshoe. Ahead of me I could see a team that had set off an hour in
front of me from Keswick and it wasn't long before I caught them up on the turn
at Steeple. The long descent from Pillar allowed me to pass 'Ian', which
gave me a boost, but I was very conscious that it wouldn't be the sort of boost
he needed! It did not seem to have a bad effect however
as he caught me on my arrival into Honister!
It was on the descent from Pillar that I made a new friend ‘Adnan’, I had no
idea who he was when he shouted out my name ‘Go Simon’, apparently he is a
friend of Mark Robinson’s and had heard about my attempt via facebook and had put two and two together.
Here
I met Duncan Reed (Pudsey Pacers) for the last stretch of 11 miles and three
summits into Keswick. Mick and Rob arrived with their Mountain bikes to
follow me in as well. At this point I was 14 minutes up on my planned
time which meant I had a 40 minute cushion to get to the finish (My attempt
time was planned as 23 hrs 34 mins). I was very
confident of making it. Ian took the lead here and the last I saw of him
was at the bottom of Robinson a good half a km in front me at the start of the
Road. He had just 1 hour to make it back to Keswick before his time ran
out. He did it with two minutes to spare!
I
arrived in Keswick not having worn my rain jacket all day! I managed a
sprint up past the busy market to touch the Moot Hall steps in a finish time of
23 hrs 24 mins. It all felt a bit surreal
really, I had achieved an ambition which I had built up for a good five years
so felt a real weight lifted from my shoulders. I felt like a celebrity
when several strangers shook my hand along with my new friend Adnan who had
waited to see me in. In true Wallace and Gromit
fashion it was a Grand Day Out ;-)
The
lady who I left with unfortunately did not make it. She lost a lot of
time on leg 2 in the dark and cloud that descended on us and I believe she gave
up at the end of leg four having run out of time.
Some
Interesting facts:
The
distance I took was 72 miles.
I
climbed 27,000 feet (almost Everest!)
I
climbed England’s Highest Mountain, Scafell Pike, along with all
of the top 10 and a lot of the top 40 highest peaks.
I
didn’t sleep for over 38 hrs.
One
of my helpers fell ill the same day and did not make it unfortunately.
One
of my helpers had already completed the round.
One
of my helpers flew in from the States the day before!
Another
of my helpers travelled up from South Wales the same day!
Another
of my helpers moved house the same day!!!!
I
wouldn’t have achieved any of this without the commitment of all my helpers.
Bob Graham Round - A Supporters View of Leg
3 (from Mick Loftus)
The
Bob Graham is 42 peaks and somewhere between 63 and 74 miles with between
26,000 ft and 28,500 ft of
climbing depending on where you look, either way it is very long and very hard
and it is to be completed in under 24 hours ideally. The route is split
into 5 legs and runners typically have supporters on each section to carry the
gear, food and drink.
I
was due to support on leg 3 from Dunmail Raise to Wasdale, a 15 mile jaunt through the heart of the Lakeland
fells including Scafell Pike with over 6,000 ft of
ascent. Simon set off from Keswick at 18:00 on Friday night. I
travelled to Threlkeld to see Simon go through the
first pit stop at the end of leg 1. He was ahead of schedule, which
caused a little confusion with the support crew. I had to chase after
Simon as he started leg 2 to pass on some forgotten kit.
At
around 22:00 I headed off to Dunmail Raise to park in
a layby and try to get a little sleep. At 01:30 we moved up to the
changeover point. This was a busy little area with two other support
teams waiting for their runners. We checked kit in the dark, there was
little wind with slight cloud cover. We felt a little chilled in the
night air.
Then
we spotted lights on the fellside above. Simon
and two supporters were coming in on time. The radio crackled some
mumbled instructions from Simon as he descended. I felt a little nervous
considering the pitch black hill to be climbed behind us and the need to get
everything right. The team arrived and Simon dropped into a chair all
smiles. They had had a little navigation issue in the mist and had lost a
few minutes but they were still 20 minutes up on Simon's schedule.
His
short rest time was soon up and we set off. It is a stiff climb from Dunmail up to the first hill, Steel Fell. We had our
head torches on and I soon warmed up. Simon having had an 8 hour warm up!
With
the first hill out of the way we began running in earnest. Once our eyes
had adjusted I realised that the night wasn't very dark. My head torch
probably needed new batteries (I did have spares!) but I didn't really need it
much. Simon and his other supporter Richard knew this section like the
back of their hands and ran confidently from memory, with a little help from
Garmin.
The
pace was steady but relentless, I had expected it to
be slower. After about an hour the head torches became unnecessary as a
beautiful dawn began. By the time we reached the Langdale
Pikes area between 04:00 - 05:00 it felt like we had the fells to
ourselves. In fact we did not meet a single walker or runner the whole
way although we saw some in the distance later.
We
fed Simon every 30 minutes or so and kept him drinking. He was moving
smoothly and most importantly we kept exactly on schedule with the occasional
minute gained or lost between peaks.
The
next big challenge on the route was the climb of Bowfell
from Angle Tarn. We followed the almost indiscernible 'Billy Bland's Rake' diagonally up through rocky ramps gradually
higher. We topped out onto the ridge near to the summit of Bowfell. The next section, practically all the way to
Scafell is very rocky, taking in Esk Pike then via Esk Hause to Great End, Ill Crag
and Broad Crag.
The
visibility up to now had been perfect but as we approached Great End the mist
descended. This area is a rock wilderness. We reached the summit
but then Simon's Garmin inexplicably pointed in the opposite direction to
Richard's and my compass. The rocky slopes around us didn't fall in the
right direction at least for the short distance we could see. After a
little debate and confusion we went with the majority of the navigation aids
and then at the same moment a break in the clouds confirmed the direction with
Scafell Pike looming nearby. We pressed on to Ill Crag, looking back
Great End was soon completely clear and it was hard to understand our
confusion.
The
rocky ground continued up to the summit of Scafell Pike, the high point of the
Bob Graham Round. Simon was climbing strongly and was still ahead of
schedule although we had lost a few minutes in confusion on Great End.
The
traverse from Scafell Pike to Scafell is a famous problem. The two peaks
are close in height and close together but are difficult to travel
between. Simon had arranged for a couple of friends to fix a rope up
'Broad Stand'. This is the direct shortest route between the two which
involves one very small but exposed climbing manoeuvre. This arrangement
worked perfectly. I ran ahead a little and was secured in a harness and
climbing before Simon arrived. He quickly followed behind me and we
pushed on to the top with Richard chasing behind. We were soon on the
summit of Scafell and then headed down on the big descent to Wasdale.
Simon
kept pushing hard all the way and was still over 10 minutes ahead of schedule
by the end of the leg.
I
was then able to relax now but Simon was only just over half way through.
We met John and Ann, his next support team. After a 10 minute break they
set off up the killer climb of Yewbarrow, otherwise
known as 'You-b*st*rd!'
Simon
went onto complete the round in 23 hours and 24 minutes, an outstanding
achievement.
Bob’s
notes:
Simon
becomes the fourth Strider to complete the Bob Graham Round
·
John
Marsham completed it last year (his report is at http://valleystriders.org.uk/up130810.htm
)
·
Mike
Nelson completed it in 2006 (he wasn’t a Strider at the time, and is 2nd
claim with us now)
·
Martyn
Hopson completed it in 1987. He did with Frank Wilkinson – many of you
will recognise that name from his “Walking with Wilkinson” weekly column in the
Yorkshire Evening Post. Martyn was also an excellent runner on the road –
he won the Leeds Marathon and had a marathon PB of 2:25 but has now retired
from running
·
1,848
people had completed the BG Round by the end of 2013 (compare this with 3,142
who had been to the top of Everest by 2010)
·
For
more details of the Bob Graham club see http://www.bobgrahamclub.org.uk/
Finally
to mention that Simon is type 1 diabetic which adds to the
“challenge” (as he puts it).
Simon has a Just Giving page for Diabetes UK https://www.justgiving.com/Simon-Redshaw2/
and I’m sure more donations would be welcome!
Coast to Coast Cycle Ride (reports
collected by Ged Coll)
Hi
Bob
Here
are three C2C reports. One for each of the groups on the
road. It would be great if you could squeeze these into one of your
upcoming VS updates.
Steve
Wilkins – A
After
sneaking four hours sleeps in the noisiest dormitory I have ever been in (bunk
beds and weak bladders are not a great combo!) I was glad to start (up at
0430!) our 150 mile challenge to get from Seascale to
Whitby in a day, taking in every possible climb the organisers could
find!
After
dipping the front wheel in the sea, we set off to tackle the first climb of the
day, the impressive Hardknott Pass with scary 30
percent gradients! Whilst descending we came across a fellow C2C’R who
had crashed and was airlifted to Hospital (stark reminder on just how tough the
route was and how valuable the air ambulances are).
The
day passed fairly smoothly racing through some stunning countryside, with
backing vocals being provided by Andy and Dan (makes the legs go round faster
trying to drown out the noise!) and the usual banter mainly focused around the
self- tan, I had apparently dunked my legs in.
A
scary moment just outside Hawes when Jon and Tony came crashing down (a few
gravel rashes but both bikes okay) did little to dampen our spirits, with the
group passing on hazard warnings in a strange Scottish accent?
A
huge effort (especially from the support crew who had also been on the go all
day) saw our group complete the challenge in just over 9 hours riding time, 11
½ hours in total (had to wait at the last few feeds for Jason to charge his
phone!).
Finishing
in the Whitby sunshine with all the ten riders we started with, was a great
achievement and we even managed to entertain the locals at night (a group of
non-smoking cyclists googling how to smoke a celebratory cigar? a rare site
indeed).
Dan
Price – B
After our relatively short time as Valley Striders CC members and
our very last minute decision to take part in the Coast to Coast, neither my
wife Alison or I really knew how we were going to cope with the 150 miles that
we’d have to cover between Seascale and Whitby to
complete the ‘Coast to Coast in a Day’ Sportive.
It certainly proved to be the longest and most challenging ride
that I’ve ever done, but the teamwork, encouragement and support from
VSCC and the group that we rode with made sure that the event was also
one of the most enjoyable and memorable days I’ve spent on a bike.
The advance organisation and planning by the VSCC team was
fantastic and included great choices of accommodation, transport arrangements
and a great dedicated support team on hand throughout.
Mick
Tinker – C
The VSCC C2C-in-a-day group C didn't exist
for the first 40 miles of the ride, as we started out with just an A and a
B group, but it became obvious after a few hours riding that 3 of us from
the B group were slower than the rest and it was only fair to drop off
into a C group.
Two of us had had slow ascents of the Hardknott and Wrynose passes and
the other had slow descents. For my own part, I stalled on the initial
steep ramp onto Hardknott, failed to unclip from the
pedals and toppled gently into the ferns at the side of the road. No harm done
but a bit of pushing was required followed by some riding and a bit
more pushing. Wrynose was nowhere near as bad
but required a short push part way up. Respect to all the other VSCC riders who
got up without dismounting (or falling off!).
After the C group formation, the three of us
(2 Pauls and Mick) tried to work together to share the work, which worked fine
on the flats and certainly helped, as the wind (albeit light) was
everywhere but behind. The mainly quiet roads and fantastic scenery certainly
kept me going, along with the great laid-on food stops where we always met up
with our brilliant support team.
After 14 hours a glimpse of the North Sea
was a very welcome sight and as dusk began to fall it was time to switch on the
lights for the final downhill run into Whitby.
As we rolled into the finish area, the
support team were again there to greet us, as along with my wife Lynda
and our neighbours, who were there to share an apartment with us in Whitby for
the week. But to my surprise, my wife had also arranged for 2 of my sons to be
there for the weekend too, so a great end to an epic day.
After photos and farewells to my team mates,
it was back for a bath, more pasta and a bottle of beer before turning in for a
good night's sleep (certainly when compared to the previous night in a 15 man
dorm at the Wast Water YHA!).
All in all a great event with fantastic
organisation and support by my VSCC colleagues - but I will be back when I've
got a lighter bike with some lower gears so that I can get up those hills
ON the bike.
Bob’s note:
21
Valley Striders riders started and 21 Valley Striders riders completed the
route. They were Alison Price, Andy
Stoneman, Bill McCaffrey, Dan Murray, Dan Price, Ged
Coll, James Tarran, Jason Procter, John Shanks, Jon Pownall,
Mick Tinker, Mike Furby, Paul Felton, Paul Sanderson, Richard Adcock, Richard
Pollard, Shaun Cust, Steve Wilkins, Tony Mills,
Victoria Whitehead and William Sims.
The
support team was Becky Murray, Gillian Felton and Richard Clough.
They were also doing this to raise money for the Yorkshire
Air Ambulance Service (a Valley Striders supported charity) who need every penny to keep their two helicopters in the air. They have exceeded their target of £2,000
but I’m sure further donations would be welcomed at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/VSCC .
E
U Sprint Triathlon championships (from Howard Jeffrey)
I
had another tilt at those foreign chaps again in the E U sprint tri champs last
Friday in Kitzbuhel Austria: Some of them are awfully
good! Again I lined up in reasonable shape but the swim was into the water and
GO! I need a few minutes to get accustomed so the chest seized up and I thought
I was not going to be able to continue. Relaxed a bit and breast stroked for a
while and eventually got the motor going. The floundering cost me a good four
minutes but I did not exit the water last.
The
rain had started to lash down for the bike leg and at the mount point I
realised I had not put on my number. To go back or risk penalty or DQ? I
reckoned the referees would have their heads down in the deluge and not notice
a missing number and I could put it on for the run and finish, so I pressed on
(made the right choice!). Was having a storming bike ride on the flats and
surprisingly up the winding alpine slopes (very very
steep and the effort was chest-bursting) till I missed a gear change (levers on
the TT bars) and the wheel locked up and I had to dismount! The slope was too
steep to remount and get moving so I had to run (yeh
right!) up the mountain till I got to a flat bit and mount up again. Another
four minutes gone! I managed to pass everyone who had overtaken me but had lost
touch with an English guy whose scalp I was after (next time!). The descent was
manic with a warning sign and men waving flags at every hairpin. I managed to
rocket past a load of more nervous riders although had to hit the brakes at most
sharp bends. ( A number of riders came a cropper).
On
to the run leg and (complete with number) I still had some zip in my legs so
pulled back a number of my peers on the undulating route round the lake. There
was a long flat drag back to the finish and in the distance was a German who I
thought I could overhaul. I got up on my toes to the cheers of ‘Come on GB’ and
got up quite a head of steam. The cheers alerted the German about 300 yards
from the finish and he looked round and started to sprint. ‘Come on GB you can
do it’ helped me find overdrive and I passed not only the one I was chasing but
another one who was taking the cheers from the supporters. Two Germans for the
price of one and a finish position of 16th out of 27 in the age group. Lost time forgotten and a satisfying conclusion.
Looking
forward to lining up after the requisite amount of training and a hiccup free
race, if such a thing is possible, to break into the top ten and above!
Saunders
Lakeland Mountain Marathon (from Mick Loftus…)
The
SLMM 2014 was on the Helvellyn range this year.
There were a couple of Strider's family teams
competing, Alun Davies and his son, and my son Ronan and I. We went for
the Kirkfell Class which is the second longest team
event and the Davies entered the Carrock Fell.
One
hour into the event we found ourselves sweltering on a very steep climb to
'Hole-in-the-Wall', a well-known spot on the route up to Striding edge.
We weren't climbing the well graded tourist path
up, however, we were slogging up the steep flank of the hill. The weather
was beautiful, for sitting next to a mountain stream or for sunbathing perhaps,
for us it was just hot.
We
ran as hard as we could sustainably but there were long stretches of contouring
or gradual climbs over tussocky
ground. This was particularly energy sapping and
demoralising. The hours passed and we realised that we would be out
on the hill for a lot longer than the year
before in the same event and class. We consoled ourselves with the
knowledge that other teams were not streaming
past us so we must be holding our own.
At
around 5 hours we were faced with the choice of re-climbing Helvellyn
(almost) to the top on good paths or performing
a two mile traversing contour over uncertain ground. Our battered feet
persuaded us to go for the climb and descent. Even with this leg
completed there was still more contouring until
at last we were able to descend to the finish.
The
overnight camp turned out to be about half a mile from where I had waited in
the middle of the night for Simon on this Bob Graham Round a couple of
weeks before.
Day
One had taken us 5:50 and it had felt a long day but it turned out to be a much longer day for others as we ended up in 5th
place. The last team to finish took 09:42 in 67th place. The late
finishing teams also had to contend with deteriorating weather. The hot
sun of the morning had turned to persistent rain by late afternoon. We
were sheltered in our tent and had eaten before it started. We passed a
rainy but still night comfortably and the rain conveniently fizzled out before
the day 2 start.
Day
2 suited us better with little contouring over rough ground but lots of
straight up and down with good runnable ground
in between. We visited the Helvellyn ridge again and
the steep sided St Sunday’s Crag. We plunged down from the latter using a
'seated glissade' manoeuvre on precipitous wet grass (rather than the more
orthodox snow or ice), also known as 'a*s*-ading', also known as falling on your bum and sliding down
the hill. Using this method to descend in a safe and controlled manner
(with health and safety risk assessment duly completed) with gained several
minutes on some of our competitor teams who were descending the slope with
excessive (or sensible) caution.
All
the controls appeared more or less where we expected them and we pushed on with
fewer and fewer teams around us. The final
descent was a rocky quadriceps quivering plunge until we
finally emerged into the finish area. Our day 2 effort had lasted
4:42 resulting in a pleasing 3rd place on the
day. The prize for this was a detailed kit check through everything we were
carrying, including proving that we were carrying our rubbish.
We
hadn't done quite enough to get into the top three overall but we were
delighted with 4th place out of 75 teams
starting and 55 completing the course.
Nice one Mick, and big congrats to you
and Ronan for a seriously good result in a challenging class.
We found it tough this year –
definitely the hardest Saunders Saturday I’ve done, and not just because I’m
unfit. 1600m of climbing on really hard, steep terrain: in reality it was
probably more like 2000m as like you and Ronan we couldn’t face that long
traverse on the steep side of Helvellyn and chose the
up and over option for the last couple of controls. We also got caught in
the rain over the top which was not pleasant. 8.5 hours. I was so
knackered I didn’t even have the energy to blow up my balloon bed.
Sunday was easier but I was still hammered
from Saturday and struggled to keep food and drink down which didn’t
help. 5 hours.
Ended up 81st
out of 125 teams. At least we finished – 27
didn’t. Luckily Elliot was very patient with his old man and dragged me
round J. Great event nonetheless, a really enjoyable atmosphere and the
Lakes was as spectacular as ever.
Scafell
Trail Marathon (from Kim Threadgall/Spence)
Three
weeks ago Ross Bibby and I ran the Scafell Trail Marathon which starts and
finishes in Keswick with the half way point being the
top of Scafell Pike which makes it the highest marathon in England. Ross
had run the marathon in 2013 when the weather was pretty bad and the majority
of the field had gone the wrong way. My navigational skills aren’t the
best so Ross, John Batch (as part of his training for Mont Blanc) and I
travelled over to Keswick a couple of weeks prior to the race to recce part of
the route. The weather was brilliant that weekend, hot, sunny and clear
skies with only a bit of mist on top of Scafell. I don’t always like to
recce race routes as part of the race for me is about the element of surprise
and discovering new routes. However, after the very rocky descent off
Scafell and into Seathwaite the terrain gets a lot
easier and faster. I knew that if I didn’t blow up on race day then I
could make up a lot of time on the last section back to Keswick.
Fast
forward two weeks and the weather was still very hot
but the forecast on top of Scafell wasn’t so good. The first 6 miles or
so is very easy trail running, nothing too technical with amazing views of the
lake and the hills in front of you. It was very hot though and I was glad
when we started running up hill as it started to cool down. Ross and I
were running pretty close to each other at this point although I was always
slightly in front until we hit the rougher mountain terrain and he took off…I
must admit I slightly cursed him as I realised I wouldn’t catch him going up
Scafell where I had been hoping to follow him through the mist!
We
reached the ‘Stretcher Box’ which is the start of the big climb up Scafell
although I couldn’t see anything in front of me at this point.
Considering the field had spread out from the start I was lucky in that I
always seemed to be in a little group of other runners. I don’t think we
picked the best line heading on to Scafell but it probably only cost us a
couple of minutes. I knew I was leading female at this point and couldn’t
see anyone in front of me so I just relaxed and grinded my way up
Scafell. Not far from the top though I turned around to see another
female catching me and before I knew it we were level with about 15 metres to
go to the top…..any other race I wouldn’t have bothered but there was a prize
for first male and female to the top of Scafell. Suddenly we were both
sprinting to the top of Scafell (not what I had planned…) – I thought there is
no way I am going to lose out on this now, I literally beat her to the top by a
few seconds and dibbed first…managing to secure the ‘Queen of the Mountain’ prize!
It certainly woke me up and made me go faster for the rest of the marathon…
Coming
off Scafell is tricky, it is very rocky but navigation is also a problem.
Once again I was lucky as I followed a guy with a ‘yellow Keswick’ running vest
who seemed to know the area quite well! I followed him all the way down
to the bottom of Scafell until he stopped with cramp….I felt bad for him but
kept going back to the Stretcher Box and continued on the rocky descent back to
Seathwaite.
It
was nice to get off the mountain section and see Ian and Becky waiting to cheer
us on. I asked the marshall for some coke but
he said we drank it on the way up! I kept going to the next junction to
see Ian and Becky again and this time Ian had run into the hostel and bought me
a half pint of ‘coke’ which I downed easily (I had trained for this moment with
a half pint of beer at a previous race…). I kept pushing on not knowing
how far behind Sally Ozanne was and although Becky
told me Ross was only a couple of minutes in front as I couldn’t see him I
didn’t think I would ever catch him. The next section really suited me as
the terrain wasn’t so rocky and apart from one climb the running was fast
although undulating. It was nice to get to a road section with a view of
the lake which I recognised from our recce as I knew we were nearly back….there
was quite a fast downhill section on the road before it hill the trails again
and then on the lakeside with about half a mile to go to the end. I kept
pushing and before I knew it I saw Ross ahead of me….I caught up with him and
muttered something to him about getting this thing finished with and I was also
about to say let’s finish together but
1.
I
didn’t know how far behind Sally was so wanted to keep pushing and
2.
My
competitive instinct took over….
I
finally crossed the finish line, first female in 5 hours 6 minutes 13 seconds
(14th overall) and new course record with Ross finishing in 5 hours 7 minutes 4
seconds - 15th overall and knocking off 1 hour 5 minutes from his time last year!.
Ricky Lightfoot was expected to win overall but unfortunately had gone slightly
wrong with his navigation on Scafell (even though he lives in Cumbria and has
done the marathon before) and was beaten into second place by a runner from
Spain!
It
was also the second race I had won as part of the European Mountain Marathon
Series (the first one was in Tenerife back in April) so I need to do one more
to try and win the series. So I may go over to Europe in the next few
months to run another one…
Settle
Hills (from John Marsham)
Slightly
less epic, Settle hills on Sunday.
Sunday
provided a hot and sunny day for the Settle hills race. This was in 2010 one of
my first ever races and I was intrigued to see whether I had got faster in the
last 4 years. It starts in the town square and packs some steep ups and downs,
some fast tracks and grass and some awkward limestone and tussocks into its 7
miles. A fun race with something for everyone. Valley
Striders had a successful day with 2 out of the 4 of us competing getting
prizes: Steve Webb getting (Vet50) and Keith Brewster (Vet60) Overall
1 Mark McGoldrick
Wharfedale Harriers Man 55:46
7 Lindsey Brindle Horwich
RMI Harriers Lady 1:01:37
8 Steve Webb Valley Striders MV50 1:02:02
19 John Marsham Valley Striders Man 1:06:22
25 Kim Spence Valley Striders Lady 1:07:36
56 Keith Brewster Valley Striders MV60
1:16:17
Conclusion:
I have got slower since 2010 (01:04:37 then), but I blame supporting Simon on
his BG the day before.
Skyrunning World Championships (from Steve
Dixon)
The
World's best ultra and trail runners were in Chamonix for the Skyrunning World Championships, either for the 80 kilometre
ultra event or the marathon.
Valley Striders were also out in force! We shared our apartment with Chapel A
runners Nick Keen and Liga Magdelonaka-Keen
and with Latvia, Germany and Norway making up our numbers we became Team
Yorkshire International Sky Runners for the week in Chamonix.
The Championships kicked off at 4am on Friday morning with the 80 kilometre
race. This involved 4 huge climbs linked by high level undulating contouring
trails on the edge of the Mont Blanc Massiff.
This was truly 'sky running'!!!!
3 Striders woke up for this and switched on head torches for the first climb
zig zagging through the lower wooded slopes along
with over a thousand others. In a little over an hour we were treated to the
sight of Mont Blanc across the valley in the first light of dawn. That was
really special. The day was then set for a day of sunshine, unbelievable
scenery and ecstatic and at times agonising running.
Eirik
Stanges (VS Norway) came home first in what was seemingly a very slow time of
18 hours 58 mins in 222nd place but those 80K stretched to 87K over very
difficult terrain and with over 6000 metres of climbing thrown in. Only 570 of
the starters were able to finish with the remainder either withdrawing or being
timed out. The cut off times were extremely tough and unfortunately Sarah Smith
(VS Yorkshire) fell foul of the rigid enforcement and
was timed out after 50K of running.
I staggered in 2 hours after Eirik in 369th place. I say stagger but that was
only until I was met by the Team Yorkshire International Sky Runners who ran in
with me through the now dark deserted streets of early morning Chamonix, waking
all with a cacophony of cow bell ringing and whoops and hollers. The best
finishing experience ever!!!
Winner
was Luis-Alberto Hernando of Spain in an amazing 10hrs 25mins. First Lady
was Sweden's Tina-Emile Forsberg in an equally amazing time of 12hrs 38mins.
I
was in the running for 1st M60 but faded in the 2nd half allowing Chamonix
local Jacky Peche to gain almost an hour on me on the
final climb and descent. It didn't stop me having the honour to stand on the
same podium with the likes of Kilian Jornet and Anna Frost to receive my trophy for 2nd place.
Saturday
was recovery time for those in the ultra race and
preparation time for those running the Mont Blanc Marathon on Sunday.
Preparation for John Batchelor was possibly more manic than planned as luggage
containing all his racing gear did not leave Heathrow!!! Begging borrowing and
shopping (rather than stealing!) got him to the start line at 7am along with
Andreas Mayer (VS Germany), Clive Bandy, Liga and
Nick.
Rain,
low cloud and threats of storms led to the course been altered to avoid higher
exposed sections and moving the finish to Chamonix town centre rather than the
high level finish above the town at Planpraz. Heavy
morning rain saw the two thousand plus runners clad in wet weather gear and
with the clatter of hundreds of walking poles they were off into the drenched
snow clad mountains.
Honours
went to Chapel A's Nick Keen who made it back to Chamonix in 4hrs 46mins in
194th. Clive was next to finish in 5hrs 25mins in 492nd. Andreas was 5hrs
31mins in 543rd. Liga 5hrs 40mins in 653rd. John
5hrs 50mins in 741st.
Kilian Jornet won in
3hrs 26mins - of course! First Lady was Italian Elisa Desco
in 3hrs 53mins in 32nd. Tom Owen was highest placed UK runner in 3rd.
2167 finished.
The
weekend also hosted a vertical kilometre race, cross du Mont Blanc and a 10K
race. A great long weekend with relatively cheap
flights and accommodation. There was also free beer!
Link
to full results and video: http://www.montblancmarathon.net/en/
Wasdale
Horseshoe, 12 July 2014, from John Marsham
A long report on a long race (which
obviously suited Jasmin Paris – it’s not that often you see a women finishing
third in a field of over a hundred).
1 Simon Harding Macclesfield 4:09:38
3 Jasmin Paris Carnethy 4:13:05
40 John Marsham Valley Striders
5:21:31
93 finished. 16 retired
It’s a small and laid-back crowd that makes
the long drive to Wasdale. I didn’t think I’d know
anyone else starting, but before I’d left the campsite I’d met another Leeds
runner, and at the start I met a friend-of-a-friend from Black Combe (Mike). He
told me that it was “all about eating enough” and that I’d got the line of the
final descent wrong on my map. I saw that another Black Combe runner had a cheese
sandwich in his bum-bag – how long did this race take? My collection of seven
gels (one out of date) started to look slightly meagre.
The first climb was relaxed - lots of chat
about recent and past collisions between cows and fell-runners, as well as cows
and dry-stone walls. Then straight back down to the valley - I realised the
race would be about having the stamina for the descents as much as anything.
2750m down would takes its toll and I began to not look forward to the last two
miles and 900m down from Scafell Pike.
There’s lots of water on the route, but I’d
forgotten spare drinks powder for the way round, and although it was overcast
(so far), it was hot and humid and thought I’d need all the help I could get.
Luckily, Joss Naylor was giving out squash at the road crossing (not so far
from his house?), and that meant I could have a bottle of more than just water
for the next climb.
A short down, and I
caught Mike on the traverse across to the base of Pillar. It was hot - I was
rationing my gels and splashing myself in every available stream. Up Pillar –
great views - the strange pain in my foot had gone – so no excuses now. Down
Pillar, round Kirk Fell - it was all becoming a bit of a blur. Up Gable (on the BG route – getting quite used to this ascent).
Then the unpleasant rock/scree/path all the way down to Styhead. The descent really started to hurt – quads
burning and legs not doing what they should. A horde of small children at the
tarn wanted to give everyone jelly babies, which suited me as I only had one
in-date gel left. Just had to ‘manage
the exhaustion’ for one more climb and descent now…
Nearing the summit of Scafell Pike I saw
Mike catching up – it looked like I was going to have a handy local guide for
the way down. He claimed to be delirious, but seemed remarkably chatty for
that, suggesting I might burn him off once I knew where I was going – he’d
clearly not guessed how much my legs hurt on the previous downhill. I’ll never
find Mike’s route off the summit again, but it found some grass between the
rocks and I just about managed to hang on as we traversed out to the last fast
grassy downhill ridge. It wasn’t that fast for me though – legs just refusing
to run anything like normally until I was off the steep ground again. I even stopped
at one point, until my brain processed the realisation that when I stopped the
finish didn’t get any closer, and the pain would be over quicker if I just kept
going. By now Mike was 3 minutes ahead enjoying the free sandwiches.
We’d met Ann on the way down. She’d not
raced as her knees were playing up and she’d done the route using walking poles
on the descents. I was grateful that she hadn’t overtaken me on the way down.
We followed the other runners to sit in the stream, while bemused tourists looked
on. “Iconic” as Mike called it – certainly a race to do if you like long
Lakeland races, but perhaps the three-and-a-half hour drive might
(fortunately?) keep it off the Striders’ Fell Champs list. Although, saying
that, it feels like it was fun already.
More
reading (all events from earlier this year)
Sarah
Smith’s Fellsman (60 miles) http://valleystriders.org.uk/up140510.htm
Richard
Adcock’s Marathon des Sables (6 days across the Sahara)
http://valleystriders.org.uk/up140404.htm
http://valleystriders.org.uk/up140409.htm
http://valleystriders.org.uk/up140411.htm
http://valleystriders.org.uk/up140424.htm
James
Tarran’s Sierra Leone marathon
http://runforyourmoneyblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/sierra-leone-bound/
http://runforyourmoneyblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/the-2014-street-child-sierra-leone-marathon/
And
finally if anyone reading this thinks that Valley Striders only do long
distance events, some statistics to contradict this:
In
the first 6 months of this year, Valley Striders members completed 1,200
parkruns (that’s over 3,700 miles). 146 different Striders (including 20
juniors) have run, and 57 different events have been attended.
And
not forgetting our the junior parkruns – 120 runs (150
miles) completed by 24 different junior Striders.
So,
Striders, if you run, no matter where you are, no matter how far, please send
in a report for inclusion in a VS Update!