Having completed the round in 2015
as a M55 and attended the dinner which was memorable I thought it was
time to have another go in the M60 category. I had initially
attempted a M50 round but failed to meet the schedule so now with 18
hrs available and recovery from persistent injuries it was game on
for another attempt.
My club is Bitton Road Runners in
Bristol so obviously I was on the wrong surface but there are a few
in the club who like their trail runs but even fewer who run in the
mountains – we are not a fell club! One such member though who I
have convinced it’s the best running to be had is Lynette Porter
with whom I have formed an off-road running partnership, and over the
years and have got to understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses
and characters in adverse conditions. Lynette was really keen to
have a go however, as a F50 it meant a sub 14 hour schedule and a
target time of 13hrs 40mins was used.
Being based in Bristol, and also a
road running club it is not easy to get supporters and more
importantly those who would know the route. After explaining this to
Ian Charters it was agreed that we could have an official attempt
supporting each other, although he did add that history was not on
our side as pairs often are incompatible and the attempt usually
falls apart. Anyway for us it meant game on and the date was agreed
in roughly 3 weeks’ time. There was no time for any recce’s or
specific training it was simply a matter of turn up and see how
it goes, - ‘better get on it’ – Lynette
would say.
My ever supportive wife – Hilary
would be the road support and we fortunately had two friends on
holiday in the area who could meet us at Sty Head for a re-supply
only, so that was the team a real skeleton crew. It meant having to
carry all your kit inc. food and fluids not the best plan for your
fastest crossing attempt but if that is the only way to have a go
then so be it and thanks to Ian for agreeing to this!
The summer of 2018 will be
remembered for a prolonged dry and very hot spell and as we neared
our planned date we were hoping for cooler conditions, and hopefully
a bit of cloud cover. Well sometimes you get what you wish and the
weather gods turned up trumps.
 |
| Pooley Bridge |
We
set off at 6.00am from Pooley Bridge and having got through Park Foot
campsite successfully – always worth a recce having got lost in
there before – we emerged on to the fell in thick mist. As we
neared Arthur’s Pike we broke through the cloud into a fantastic
inversion. This lifted the spirits I just wish I had time to take a
photo but I knew the schedule would be touch and go so stops would
only be the necessary ones. This is often said to be the easiest
section of the route an combined with fresh legs it can apparently be
too easy to get way ahead of your schedule and so say have time in
the bank. Not for us though we seemed to be chasing the schedule all
along this section and were often losing time. This was dispiriting
at this stage as it already instilled doubts about getting around in
time. I have had this before and even on recces so I questioned my
schedule and think I would amend it for future attempts – yes there
will be other goes as we move through the age category’s. We
arrived at Kirkstone Pass 10mins down and we realised that this was
going to be a relentless day if we were to claw back this time or was
it going to gradually slip away to make it sub 14hrs, I was Ok though
with 18hrs to complete but I so wanted Lynette to achieve her target
time.
 |
| Kirkstone Pass |
Hilary
was there with all the goodies laid out and also a meet & greet
in the form of Rainer Burchett which was a surprise and especially
for my wife, someone to chat with. It felt really unsociable as we
hurried through in 5mins trying to keep focused on what we needed –
drinks, food, fresh map and timings, dump the rubbish we had enough
weight to carry. It’s really easy to lose too much time at the
control, time we certainly did not have! Lynette being a triathlete
reminded me that my transitions were a bit slow!
We
tried to limit the amount of fluids we would carry, I stuck with one
500mil bottle and Lynette would fill her bladder from a bottle as
it’s too easy to carry too much in one of those. There still
seemed to be streams flowing despite the hot weather, maybe they had
more rain than down south so refills were possible en-route. Once
over Seat Sandal I managed to find the path off the summit for the
first time having usually dropped into the gill, we managed to claw
back 2mins so we were now 8mins down on the schedule but things were
going he right way at least.
Hilary topped
up the supplies in our sacks – fluids and energy bars etc and this
time the full fat coke cola came out and cheese rolls – a burst of
energy and some slow release carbs. We bade farewell for a while now
as we would not now see her until the finish and set off up the
steepest climb of the day – Steel Fell. These days with the
popularity of the Bob Graham and countless recces there is a good
track to follow. It took me the whole climb to get the cheese roll
down, I seemed to be chewing it all the way up but being a steady
plod it was the best time to be doing it.
 |
| Dunmail Raise |
Once over the top the track was
fortunately quite dry, still boggy in places but nothing compared to
what it can be like! High Raise was the usual pathless tussock haul
which makes you think that you are losing time, but the schedule was
working out ok, we lost a bit but then gained on the climb to
Bowfell. Reaching this point is significant for me the whole nature
of the route changes to much rockier terrain and steeper climbs. In
the back of my mind I was thinking what route we should take off
Great End as I didn’t want to go backwards towards Esk Hause to
drop onto the path. Lynette is not too quick down steep terrain and
you really need to be to make up time on this section. We could also
possibly lose time if we picked a poor line down having not been here
since my 2015 crossing. We agreed to go straight over and see what
happens, we managed to pick up the cairns for a while, until I bailed
out and headed for the path so a composite route down to Sty Head was
made, was it faster I don’t know, when we arrived we were still
9mins down which is not a lot and we had a 20min cushion but it was
the wrong way and we didn’t like that
Two friends were waiting with
supplies together with a bunch of Mountain Rescue bods who were
marshalling the Borrowdale Fell Race. There was now a lot of
encouragement to help us on our ascent of Great Gable. In the
seemingly frenzy of the moment we both forgot to top up our fluids, I
think it was the pleasure of firing cans of coke down that we lost
focus. Not having support this is typical of things that can go
wrong once the power of rational thinking goes.
The cloud had dropped onto the
summits and I thought we were in for rain at which point I realized
that I had left my waterproof jacket back at Dunmail Raise, so
hopefully the rain would not come now especially when we were the
most tired. We were now totally out of water and managed to get a
refill from some still pond, not the best but with a zero tablet it
seemed to taste alright, it was a lifesaver in reality. We felt
buoyant as we were pulling time back however I seemed to lose the
schedule and map on the descent off Great Gable so we were
effectively running blind and now only had the finish time to focus
on which was not helpful.
Pillar is another significant point
on the route, the final major climb done but where were we on the
schedule? We could only keep pushing and hope that we were still on
the target time. We got the right descent off Haycock over to the
right from the summit to miss the boulder field and onto the Pots of
Ashness which were nice and dry and runnable all the way to Seatallen
– the sting in the tail. Once on the descent Lynette could see
Middlefell and her heart sank as it seemed such a long way with the
time remaining but I explained that its deceptive and after a short
climb it’s a long flat ridge to the final summit. It was now going
to be continual encouragement to have a chance of beating the 14hr
deadline, and to miss it by a few minutes after such a continuous day
of effort was not going to happen. Once on the summit I mentioned
that she would have to cut loose on the run down and risk falling
over, all or nothing. When we eventually saw Greendale Bridge she
thought it still looked too far to make it in time but it’s a great
run in and I knew we were on for it by a reasonable margin, I didn’t
let her know though as I wanted to keep her pushing hard right to the
end. Round the right side of the house this time straight to the
bridge and when Lynette realised she was going to make it she got
quite emotional and who can blame her especially with Joss Naylor
waiting on the bridge to welcome us in.
 |
| Greendale Bridge |
It was a perfect ending to a
memorable day, our few friends – Hilary my wife and Bill and Claire
Graham were there and finishing with 11 mins to spare in 13hrs
49mins, smashed it as far as we were concerned!.
Joss was generous with his praise,
what a star and he also pointed out that from the crest where you
first become visible there is another track – ‘see that track he
said, ‘takes minute and half off your time that’. What great
advice for the next time!
Bryan
Stadden
Lynette
Porter
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