Roland Kelly (M50) - 03 August 2019

John Boyle (M50) - 18 September 2021

The big day, we’ve made it to the start - always an achievement in my book. There’s four of us. My good mate, training partner & fellow Joss contender Paul Stopford and the two fellas who are to see us superbly through the first two legs of our challenge; Jon Morgan & Simon Patton. In 2019 the plan was for Jon, Simon & I to all have a go. It wasn’t to be - only Jon had a crack & delivered a storming run to dip under twelve hours. The pace Jon set on his run made me realise what a challenge this truly is. 

The gate pillars are our start line, at 7am we toe the line & are off, tentatively across the fields, up through the Germanic-ally organised caravan site & out onto the open fell, it felt pleasantly familiar – we’d recced it twice. The forecast was for low cloud lifting by 10:30, light SW winds and a bit of wet. Sounded alright. Steadying up to Arthurs Pike we chatted nervously away, though visibility was soon down to about 20m, it was great to be on the hill – we all know how valuable time like this is & how privileged we are to be up here, it’s a great feeling, the four of us trotting along in our own little bubble of clag – guided only by the compass needle. 

We know what views we should be enjoying, but none can be seen and the familiar summit cairns are all that we have to confirm our passage – even Thornthwaite Beacon, normally visible from High Street and beyond, can’t be seen until we are practically under it. At least we know the easier running line off the top and are soon down to Threshthwaite Mouth & climbing to Stoney Cove Pike. Checking timings we confirm we are pretty much on schedule for a 2:45 leg 1 – pleased with that as I always felt it was a fairly quick schedule & was feeling alright. 

We slithered our way down to a wet Kirkstone and the welcome sight of our road crossing team; Kev and Tom Saville along with Rainer Burchett V70 champ & our JNLC meet & greet. Grabbing a tuna & sweetcorn sarnie & downing a Yop we are swiftly on our way up Red Screes, about 15 minutes into the climb, young Tom suddenly emerged panting at our sides – we’d forgotten our second map – what a fine effort legging up after us. Having both supported & recced this leg I’d hoped to put this knowledge to good use with a few optimum lines, however, lack of visibility meant it was not to be & we stuck like limpets to the well trodden paths. 

Arriving at Dunmail it was time to say good bye to Simon & Jon who’d done sterling work providing the banter & navigation in challenging conditions. Quickly fed & watered we were passed onto to Messrs Saville Snr & Junior. The Senior Saville - Kev has both a JNLC valiant attempt & a successful completion on his CV and Tom has considerable pedigree including a very impressive Winter solo 99.9% BG (except 200 yds on Bowfell!) – so we were in capable hands. The climb up Steel Fell is always a challenge, but lack of visibility at least meant we never had the opportunity to keep looking at how far we still had to climb. The slog across the bogs to High Raise had always been the section where I thought I’d have to dig deep, having suffered here on an earlier leg 2 & 3 link up with Paul – whilst navi was challenging and we wandered a little, my regular snacking seemed to have staved off hitting the wall and we rumbled on toward Rosette. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Paul who despite having been the stronger of us in training in the months leading up to the attempt had suffered a knee injury 3 weeks earlier, and it was with a tinge of sadness that we said our goodbyes at the foot of Bowfell. 

With Paul & Kev headed for Angle Tarn it was left to Tom & I to make head way. For the first & as it transpired only occasion of the day there was a brief break in the clouds & we were able to make out the hulking mass that is Bowfell, it was only a brief glimpse, but it was enough – we ploughed on up the zig-zagging path toward the summit. Tom let me know I needed to start making in-roads on the schedule as I was about 8 minutes down – we cracked on and by the summit of Great End we’d clawed 4 of those minutes back. I knew that I could get another two in the bag if I nailed the decent to Styhead – having recced it 3 times I reckoned I had it dialled – Tom handed me the controls, the first 150 yards from the summit went swimmingly, I recognised every rock, however with my usual landmarks of Sprinkling Tarn and the flanks of Gable lost in the mist I was rudderless and eventually led us way too far left, traversing the whole of the Band & dropping onto the corridor route. We scrambled our way over to our waiting support crew at Styhead, now about 16 minutes down. I had some work to do. 

No time to stop other than welcome the newcomers; Richard Bradbury, Mike Bourne and Steve Mathews who’d made a massive effort to come from the Peak to assist. I managed another Yop and a third sarnie on my way up Gable – the steady stream of grub was working & I was pretty pleased with how well my legs were still feeling – they needed to have some running in them if I was going to succeed. We knocked along catching the race route lines, soon we were heading for Haycock, & then legging it down the runnable lines towards Pots of Ashness I’d pulled back most of the time deficit and felt it was doable if I could keep knocking on up the last two. In a bit of a blur we found ourselves under clearing skies with the bridge at Greendale in sight, I could see familiar faces & hear friendly voices shouting encouragement. The bridge was touched at 6:55pm Joss wasn’t there to meet us, but his neighbours very kindly were. 

 The line that Joss chose is a cracker, the time set is tight – for me it’s been a proper challenge, as these things should be. It’s been a pleasure to do the training / preparation & the run in the company of great friends and to be able to make a donation to an organisation; 1st Burnmoor Scouts, who along with my parents first gave me an interest in the outdoors and showed me what the pointy bit on a compass is for.

Guy Illingworth (M55) - 05 September 2021

Ken Murphy (M55) - 26 August 2021

 A pre-3.30am breakfast was a rude start to the day, but it surely improved from then on. A short drive up with Phil, my first pacer, with radio 3 playing and a deserted car park in Pooley Bridge, which must be a rare thing. Bats were flying around and after a ‘to the second’ countdown to 5.30am by Phil we were off from the newly rebuilt bridge, just about managing to see without using the head torch.

We soon climbed into cloud and from then on leg 1 was mostly in light cloud with the hairs on my arms and legs catching dew drops, shining against the two layers of white factor 50 sun cream I’d applied earlier. The leg was soon chatted through and Jan, Jules, Rainer and Ellie+Erin welcomed us to Kirkstone Pass car park. Porridge, tea, a change into a dry shirt and plenty of encouragement saw Jules and I off up Red Screes with the sun now through and the morning getting hot. What a beautiful morning to be on the hills. Sunny, mild, with a gentle breeze and even that was blowing in the right direction. I suddenly felt slow when Jules ran on ahead with no effort down Seat Sandal to warn the Dunmail crew of our arrival. A small group of walkers helpfully did their best to stand aside in the bracken near the road and shouted encouragement after asking whether I was the support runner or the contender.

More porridge and tea at Dunmail served by Hilary then Paul and I were soon climbing Steel Fell to be surprised at the summit by Andrena+bump. What a great surprise. My factor 50 sun cream was really coming into its own now and the run through to Great End felt easier than the previous two legs. Dropping off Great End was as tricky as ever, but Paul got us down to Styhead with no problems. Emma fed me more porridge and after a swift hand-over Jim and Jim took on the pacer duties and we were off up Great Gable, the only summit on the route I’d not recently been over. Going up was fine, getting down was far more difficult. Thank goodness to be down and on to Kirk Fell. My drinking routine was also struggling now with a flat-coca-cola-based diet providing calories and fluid but doing me no favours. The views however were fantastic, with the sun at an angle as the afternoon was progressing and a cloudless sky it was as perfect as you get.

Haycock was beautiful, Seatallan was hard work, Middle Fell was good to see and Paul was on the summit cheering us on, this despite him having another JNLC leg 3 support to run tomorrow! A hug from Hilary at Greendale Bridge was just fantastic and the best end to an enjoyable but hard run. The bacon and egg butties cooked up by Hilary and Emma whilst we sat on the grass at Greendale as the sun lit the screes with red rays, went down well with Paul, Jim and Jim as I sat in a deck chair with a big grin on my face and legs that seemed to be doing their best to carry on running.

A good run in the hills with a great bunch of friends to share the day with, and the best weather – it doesn’t get any better.

Rae Pritchard (M55) - 27 August 2021

 Sixteen years after finishing the Bob Graham round and vowing never to do anything like that again I find myself standing at 5am on Pooley Bridge. A combination of events in the last two years including a fractured pelvis and covid chaos meant all my travel and mountaineering plans had gone west. With a birthday looming the JNC @55 seemed a good focus so the die was cast. Although not a runner I had been acquainted with JNC in the past. I supported fellow RC members Paul Murray and John Richardson years ago on their rounds and once the Rucksack Club did the entire round as a day walk Meet with Andy Howie, a very long day's walk if a remember correctly.

No sooner had we set off and there was a quick pit stop at the park foot campsite toilets probably caused by nervous tummy! Climbing to Arthur's Pike with my support man Mike the daylight started emerging and my worries over navigating this section began to subside. The mist was swirling around but we stayed on course and despite the unscheduled stop earlier began to gain a bit of time on the schedule. At Kirkstone pass Helen my wife and our collie dog Pip took over support, as we descended Fairfield the last of the mist finally evaporated away leaving a beautifully sunny late summers day. Down to Dunmail having picked up a bit more time and once again Mike took over support. The killer climb up Steel Fell was now hot work in the blazing sun but all was going well Mike constantly producing food and drink from his rucksack and nudging me along. The climb up Bowfell seemed particularly hard work to me but Mike confirmed we hadn't lost any time. I thought I was starting to hallucinate at Esk Hause as a man wearing nothing apart from a rucksack and shoes appeared.  Is this the famous naked rambler we wondered! Many schoolboy discussions ensued about sunburn to certain parts etc.. this passed the time before the crashing descend down Great end to Sty Head pass.

Here Helen had brought up supplies and after a very quick rice pudding stop myself and Mike now accompanied by Paul and his very bouncy vizsla dog called, appropriately enough Joss, started the slog up great gable. The next leg went very well with two friends and two doggies in tow and a comfortable time cushion I felt as relaxed as you can on this sort of thing. I remember from the reccies the climb up Seatallan been hard work and so it proved to be but once out of the way we trundled along and down to the conclusion at a sunny Greendale Bridge. 

I was very pleased to see the Bridge and the great man himself was there to meet us. After a handshake with Joss we all had a good chat about the route and dogs and life in general. Pauline and Ian Charters had also come along to welcome us back.

I quick look at the times suggested I had gained on the schedule on the climbs rather than the flatter runny bits which is why I'm not a runner! Also, I didn't really stop at any cross over points. 13 hours 50 mins, how anyone does it in under 12 hours is beyond me!

A great day out in Lakeland on a varied and interesting line, thanks to Joss, lan and Pauline to welcome me in was great to see everyone. Many thanks also to my support Paul and especially Helen and Mike without who's huge efforts this whole enterprise would not have been possible. I'm sure after this experience all three of them will be doing the JNLC in the years to come. 

Schedule as published start 5am. finish 6.50pm.

Running Support 

Leg 1 Mike Zeidan Rucksack Club

Leg 2 Helen Pritchard RC

Leg 3 Mike Zeidan RC

Leg 4 Mike Zeidan RC & Paul Slone

Road Support 

Helen Pritchard RC