Barry Wilkinson (M55) - 28 June 2024

 Barry Wilkinson

Borrowdale Fellrunners

M55

28^th June 2024

Pooley Bridge

Heading out from Pooley Bridge with Craig Smith and Steve Angus the weather was not ideal, and although a headwind was predicted all day, it was forecast to improve. Not bad considering the biblical downpour of the previous night, but a little disappointing considering the attempt was finalised a week out when the forecast was ideal.

Thornthwaite Beacon

Anyway, we made decent progress and Craig’s Leg 1 experience saw us arrive at Kirkstone bang on schedule to link up with James Harris for Leg 2, and Leigh Warburton on Road support.

We set off up Red Screes immediately, and with only a little clag at the summit, and the constant headwind, still continued to make good progress, hitting each summit on the 12 hour schedule, whilst still having the energy for a nice chat.

A comfortable descent off Seat Sandal bought us to Dunmail a little ahead of schedule, and, due to a slight mix-up picking up Scoffer, no road support in sight. No panic. I knew Leigh wouldn’t be too long, and the JNLC envoy was there to keep us company and provide support.

As expected, within 5 minutes Leigh arrived, and after a quick pot of rice pudding and a banana we were powering up Steel Fell, Scoff leading the way. There is no-one I would rather have as support on leg 3, and we moved along to High Raise and Rossett Pike smoothly.

It was now that conditions started to deteriorate with intermittent sharp showers and a stronger headwind. This was at its worst on Bowfell, making the already treacherous rocks even more so. And sure enough on the descent my foot went on one of the frictionless surface and before I knew it I was down, banging my head heavily. Rising stunned but clear headed, with no time for a head injury assessment, and using a buff as a makeshift bandage, we were back underway with minimal delay. It was then onto Esk Pike and Great End, still climbing strongly, before the direct descent to Styhead, still very much on a sub 12 hour schedule.

Dunmail Raise

Dave Lund and Dava Williams were here to shepherd me home on leg 4, and we set off into the Great Gable clag. It is here that it started to get difficult mentally, fooling myself that I was slipping below my schedule, but inspiration and positivity was taken by thinking of Joss, and how he would relish these conditions. This was all I needed to keep me going and after the difficult descent to Beckhead Tarn the terrain and conditions became more sympathetic. The last real challenge was the descent from Haycock which was beautifully navigated by Dave and Dava and saw us enter the Pots of Ashness and onto Seatallan, before the final push to Middle Fell.

Leigh coming to meet us at the Col was a pleasant surprise, as was the lack of cloud on Middle Fell, and again thinking of Joss on the climb, and a realisation that the schedule was there, gave the opportunity to have a clear sight of Wsdale and a stress free descent to the finish, and reflection on how much the challenge meant to me, and how much I was indebted to my whole support team. Coming into Greendale was emotional, and the finish time of 11:28 was extremely satisfying.

Greendale Bridge

It was on the homeward drive out of the valley that we learnt the sad news that Joss had passed away, but that because of Leigh’s updates he was being made aware of our progress. Finding out at his funeral that his time of passing was the time of my completion, it seems that he was holding on until he knew I was home, and if so, and considering the conditions, I feel that it was a very fitting crossing for the occasion, and I feel extremely proud to have had him rooting for me at the end. RIP Joss, you will be sorely missed.

With thanks:

Leg 1: Craig Smith & Steve Angus

Leg 2: James Harris

Leg 3: Scoffer

Leg 4: Dave Lund & Dava Williams

Road: Leigh Warburton

Ros Blackmore (W55) - 22 June 2024

 As a guest at the presentation meal in October 2023, I was lucky enough to sit on the ‘power table’ with Natalie Hawkrigg, Josie Greenhaugh and Angela Wilson. Swapping stories of challenges and achievements, I was inspired to finally get on with attempting my own F55 crossing. So just two days before my 57^th birthday, I set off from Pooley Bridge at 5am, with a surprise visit from Joe Faulkner, to put me in a good mood.

Pooley Bridge

Two became one in terms of my Leg 1 Support due to illness, but who could be more competent at this than Matt Neale? I was always concerned about Leg 1, it’s a little too runnable for me and I was worried that I would go off too fast and ruin my chances later in the day. My big challenge is always about taking in food and keeping it down and the more I exert myself early on, the harder this is. Matt, however, paced it beautifully, as well as carrying virtually all my gear (except snacks and a water bottle), recorded timings, took a photo, messaged the team and guided me across the required summits perfectly. With just a little clag, that quickly cleared, running conditions were perfect and we arrived, smiling, at Kirskstone 6 minutes up on my 15hr 40 schedule.

Stoney Cove Pike

Jess Palmer was providing my road and Styhead support, ably assisted by Chris Hare, and did an excellent job in providing all of the food that I had carefully specified, knowing full well that this was probably going to be a completely thankless task. His first job was to provide me with a soft boiled egg in a soft white bap! Which luckily totally hit the spot, as it was all downhill from here in terms of food intake. I decided to use a couple of my saved minutes here for my digestion’s sake but 6 minutes later set of with my awesome Leg 2 Support, of Mike Keavney, Tracey Hunter, Stu Clarkson and Claire Stewart, all from Swaledale Runners, my lovely club in the Yorkshire Dales. This was the first time three of them had undertaken running support on the JNLC, which is great from the club’s perspective as it increases opportunities for others undertaking Lakeland challenges. As we climbed Red Screes I was feeling good but was a bit nervous that the sun was now fully up and the day was heating up. I needn’t have worried though, there was a cool breeze on top and the temperature was perfect. Mike ably led us across the mountains and the group company was great, with lots of chatting and laughing. Stu even played me ‘Running Up That Hill’ by my favourite artist Kate Bush, to further inspire me! We arrived at Dunmail Raise in good spirits, but I could already feel that my appetite was waning. I forced myself to eat a quarter of a sandwich, but found the fresh orange segments the most appetising.

Dunmail Raise

The hard pull up Steel Fell at the start of Leg 3 passed quickly enough, with my new Support crew of Ian Oldham and Jon Beyer. Ian did an excellent job of navigating the leg, but poor Jon had the equally difficult task of looking after me as inevitably I started to feel sick. The trudge up High Raise was probably my lowest point of the entire crossing. Feeling the need to change something in order to increase my chance of success, I decided to use my strategy of ‘kill or cure’ by taking on a gel. It would either make me vomit, or get some calories in. I am sure the manufacturers have no idea that their products work like this, but it produced excellent results,(much more pleasant than sticking my fingers down my throat) and I was able to throw up as I ran downhill (a skill I am proud to have mastered) . I instantly felt better and was then able to laugh at Jon’s poor jokes and listen to him singing as we wended our way across the mountains to the more challenging ascent of Bowfell. Ian chose an excellent line up this and we soon found ourselves meeting up with Phil Hodgson, the Great End descent specialist who had come up to help. This was my favourite descent, scampering down Phil’s great lines, feeling confident and arriving at Styhead at 15.37 , 10 minutes up. 

Great End Descent

There was quite a crowd waiting for me. Along with my Leg 4 Support of Neil Bowmer, Tim Grimwood and Caroline Graham, and the food crew of Jess and Chris, all of the Leg 2 crew had come up to greet me and share another mountain with me. I think I managed 1/8^th of a sandwich and a cherry tomato and some tea and coke, but was feeling pretty ropey as I ground my way up Great Gable. Worryingly I lost 2 minutes to the summit, but an interesting choice of descent which ended in scree meant I had to concentrate hard and took my mind of my nausea. However, I knew I couldn’t tackle Kirk Fell strongly feeling like I did, so once again I resorted to a gel, which once again instantly made me vomit. Feeling a bit better, I regained my lost two minutes on the ascent of Kirk Fell and then had an enjoyable section over Pillar and Scoat Fell, where I was 17 minutes up on schedule. I most enjoyed listening to my crew chatting to each other and not needing to talk. At the out and back to Steeple, Tim took a break, since he had already run the Wasdale Fell race route out to Styhead before joining my crew on Leg 4, so he was able to take the obligatory summit photo. My lead haemorrhaged away on the next mountain, Haycock as I was again feeling very sick and this time I needed to stop to deal with this. But I also knew that if I just kept moving, I could complete in my 16 hours, so I just kept plodding on. Neil led the perfect grassy line on the Haycock descent, and the sight of Mandy Goth and Ian waiting half way up Seatallan really lifted my spirits. 

Seatallan

I closely followed Mandy’s ankles up Seatallan, then she led us on a great line off it and up to Middle Fell. Sadly I was once again feeling sick, which was frustrating because my legs were feeling pretty good. My planned glorious run-in to Greendale Bridge therefore became a walk, I touched the bridge, turned off my watch, acknowledged my lovely friends then went round the corner for a final spew! I completed my Joss Naylor Lakeland Challenge in 15.39, (one minute ahead of schedule!) surrounded by my friends after a fabulous day in the hills, just as Joss suggested. Thank you to my wonderful support team, all of whom were chosen for both their mountain skills and being people I wanted to spend time with.

Greendale Bridge

Of course, this occurred 6 days before sadly Joss Naylor passed away, leaving family, friends and the fell running community bereft. I only met him a few times, later in his life but he seemed to be so supportive to runners of all abilities. It has been an honour to be one of the last people to complete the challenge in his lifetime and I hope it is a challenge that will inspire many others in the future.

£100 donated to my usual charity, the Meningitis Research Foundation, in memory of my nephew Ethan Jon

Ian Smallwood (M60-Repeat), Harry Longman (M60), Vinny Booth (M60) - 22 June 2024

Jann Smith (W55) - 31 May 2024

 

I first attempted the JNLC on 18/07/2019 when I was 50. It was bad weather and I felt bad reaching Greendale 14 minutes over the time of 14 hours as the lovely Joss was waiting for me.

Sty Head

I re-attampted on my 55th birthday setting off at 4.05am. Things got off to a bad start with a very upset stomach, some pretty spicy weather and a fall, however at Dunmail Raise 2 immodiums were shoved down my throat and I was told to man up!  After that the weather got much better , I force fed myself some food and drink and started to really enjoy it. I got stronger and was really pleased to make up 1.5 hours, finishing in 14hr 25 mins just 10 minutes slower than 5 years ago.

Greendale Bridge

It was a low key affair with just one runner supporting ( my partner Paul Carman ) and just one road support at Dunmail and Styhead from John and Julie Carman who also provided dog-sitting ....Thank you!!

Selfie

Carol Morgan (W50) - 16 March 2024

On a scale of achievements, I will never win an award for sleeping. After a restless night, we had an early morning start from Pooley Bridge and were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise as we climbed up Arthur’s Pike. Never one to make things too easy on myself, I wanted to try to do the challenge in under 12 hours (a late personal celebration of International Women’s Day on the day before Paddy’s day). The first leg is essentially a hard fell race. An introvert by nature, the quiet of the leg was comfortable for me, if probably seemingly uncharacteristic for the friends who were with me: I was working hard to make the splits. The beautiful start was replaced by clag around Kidsy Pike, next time I could see in the distance was around Dunmail Raise. Having trained all Winter in the wind, rain and clag, I was comfortable to trot along in it while the navigation wasn’t today, mine to worry about. We hit the little known tops that were seemingly randomly added and dropped down a grassy line to Kirkstone. So claggy it was that the support team were alerted by the supporter who had dropped off there, while the new team struggled up Red Screes complaining about their lack of time to finish their tea (I had little sympathy, I don’t like tea :)). The navigation challenges soon focused their brains and tea was forgotten about as banter about missed Hodgson’s relays lines was passed around. I felt a bit fatigued after the fast start and was happy to be cocooned in the clag and listen and enjoy the hills and banter. While admiring the skill of those who can navigate much much better than me.

Dunmail Raise arrived, along with some hugs, curry noodles and a fast turn around before the small matter of Steel Fell was addressed. Up, up and away over the bogs to High Raise. A brand new support team and more chat, the excitement of a new dad was palpable by all: a line discussion here and there: the beautiful Langdales fells and surrounding fells tantalising visible here and there through the clag. The achievement of finding a decent line off Great End and spotting the orange coat of the most enthusiastically dressed supporter at the stretcher box. Leg three over in flash! Another new team and the short climb up Gable, followed by the scree drop downwards: the rising winds which was in an unhelpful and unforecast direction (Southerly, rather than South-Easterly). The long climb up Pilar with a brief stop for waterproof trousers, a blowly Steeple and a husband hug all over in a flash. Memories of sunshine and Wasdale Fell Race reccies and the paradox of the beautiful descent being also longest climb on tired legs up Seatallan.

A hop, a skip and a jump down Middle Fell towards the lovely old bridge with watery eyes about another beautiful day out, a challenge achieved, but mostly about having brilliant friends to make it all happen.

Thank you all. Carol x

Photo credits: Kim Collison, Simon Franklin, Simon Mills, Jess Richardson, Debs White